The kitchen is often THE space that potential homebuyers focus the largest amount of attention on when viewing a home for sale. More than ever before the kitchen has become so much more than a place where dinner is prepared; it’s also often a casual dining area, a homework nook and a place to gather informally at the end of everyone’s busy day. For these reasons and more, homebuyers really are focusing on getting a great kitchen more than ever before, so staging yours just right is a must.
One thing that can let a kitchen down is the lack of a proper backsplash, or one that has seen better days. If that is the case in your home it’s unlikely however that you are really all that keen to invest a lot of time, money and effort into a project you hope not to benefit from for too long. There is one however rather easy and certainly pretty affordable way you can get a good looking, serviceable new kitchen backsplash; creating one out of vinyl tile. Interested? Here’s how its done:
Begin by taking a trip down to your local home improvement centre and perusing their selection of vinyl tile – in most places it is very extensive and surprisingly affordable and yet of a higher quality than in days gone by. Focus on the peel and stick varieties if you can because these are the easiest and cleanest to work with.
Gather up samples of all the tile that does appeal to you (most stores provide samples free or for a very small charge) and take them home to try them out in your kitchen. This is a step that you shouldn’t skip if at all possible as the lighting at the store is very different to the lighting in your kitchen and what looks amazing in the shop may look awful in your place!
Once you have made a decision head back and purchase the tile you have decided on. Usually one or two boxes will be more than enough to tile the average kitchen backsplash While you are out and about shopping if the backsplash you are redoing has electrical outlets you may want to look replacement covers that better match the new tile than the existing ones and pick those up as well.
Before you do anything else, you need to clean the existing backsplash areas much as possible. The cleaner it is the better the tile will stick. Stubborn grease can be an issue but surprisingly a baking soda and water paste is perhaps the single most effective way of getting rid of such things on almost every surface, so there is no need for expensive chemicals at all.
The next step in this particular DIY staging project should be to create a template of your backsplash area to use as a cutting guide. You can use newspaper to save money on craft paper. Remember to mark the location of electrical outlets on your template and then lay it on a clear floor space. Now begin to lay the tile onto your template. By lay we do not mean stick the tile down but place it down as doing so will give you a clear picture of how all of these tiles are going to fit together.
Remove the covers from any electrical outlets in the backsplash area.
Now you can begin sticking the tile to the wall itself. Use a level to make sure that everything is coming out even. To help tiles stick better faster use a rolling pin to flatten them down (sounds a bit strange but it really works!)
Not sure that something as inexpensive as vinyl stick on style can do a good job? Check out the gallery below, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.