Painting a Kitchen Backsplash

Yes. Today I am going to talk about painting a kitchen backsplash. I know, it was kinda hard for my husband to digest as well. The mere mention of wanting to paint over the tumbled stone would be a bit shocking for most. But for a professional “non-professional ” painter I have a pretty extensive resume. From floors to furniture to cabinets I thought I had done it all…. until painting a kitchen backsplash that is.

painting a kitchen backsplash
Wanting an interim solution (the goal is to eventually do subway tile) to update the tile and not wanting to spend a dollar to do it, I painted my tumbled stone backsplash. And guess what….. I love it!  Painting it white, was a step toward trying to brighten the kitchen. You can read about my quest here. 

painting a kitchen backsplash
 
Here is my original tumbled stone backsplash. When we first designed  the kitchen 11 years ago the backsplash worked with my dark red and gold color scheme.  Then a couple of years ago when the color on the walls was getting lighter, I put a color wash over it to brighten it up, that’s on the right.
 
painting a kitchen backsplash
 
And then recently wanting to step it up and brighten it even more, this is the comparison with the white.  The white makes the backsplash look much cleaner as well. While I was painting, I used a soft paint brush to minimize lines and brush marks.
  
painting a kitchen backsplash
 
And here is the finished backsplash.
 
painting a kitchen backsplash
 
This is before painting a kitchen backsplash occured

  painting a kitchen backsplash

 And the kitchen backsplash painted….quite the difference, right?
painting a kitchen backsplash

 Never in my “non-professional” painting career did I think that I would be painting a kitchen backsplash. But who knew that a coat of primer and 2 coats of semi-gloss paint in white could give me the results that I was looking for. And it didn’t cost me a thing since I already had the primer and paint .

painting a kitchen backsplash
 Guess what else got painted in the kitchen. To see the full kitchen reveal, click here.
 
 
duke manor farm
 
 
Grateful for~ 
a nice lazy weekend with my family

 
 

 

 
 
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33 Comments

  1. Your backsplash looks great! I actually painted a hideous (baby-blue) tile floor in our powder room several years ago, using concrete floor paint. I painted the entire floor white, then with a foam roller added black for a checkerboard pattern. Slow work, but what a difference!

  2. Laura, that's fantastic. What a great low cost update. I can't say that I would like brand new subway tile any better than how this turned out.

  3. I LOVE IT Laura!! I was so happy to see this post. I'm planning on painting our laundry room when the kids go back to school and I have tumbled stone half way up on one wall in there and plan on painting white to brighten up the space. Love how great yours turned out…now I can't wait to do mine!!

  4. That looks great!! If you back track on my blog I did our kitchen tiles a few years before we just sold our home. Everyone loved it and you can look under kitchen backsplash done on a budget. I did a unique finish.

    Cynthia

  5. That turned out great, Laura. It really does brighten the kitchen up. Love it! I really need to paint my laundry room but am dreading the whole process- xo Diana

  6. Proof positive that pretty much anything can be painted. It's great when we can get such a big bang for our buck! It really brightens up the space and goes nicely with the wall color too.

  7. Wow Laura it looks wonderful! You are brave. I do not think I could have brought myself to paint our tile. It certainly does brighten everything up.

  8. Very nice – the white did make the kitchen brighter! I'm getting ready to use barnwood for a back splash. It's from my mother's 80 year old barn. We've found many ways to use it….but I thought a backsplash would be awesome. Wish me luck.

  9. Thanks so much for sharing this! I just came from another site where the author did a scathing review on NOT to paint tumbled marble. I feel better now that I have seen your amazing results. I want to paint my tile for the same reasons as you and seeing your kitchen has inspired me to move forward! Fantastic job! Christine

  10. I love how this looks!! How is the painted backsplash holding up as far as chips and peeling?

  11. Hello Laura! I just discovered your post through researching painting a tile backsplash. I am thinking of doing the exact same in my kitchen and was curious what type of paint you used?

  12. I just did the same thing in my kitchen and I love it. Did you use a clear top coat at all? I had the same sherwin Williams white semi-gloss paint on hand and wondering if it will hold up to wear and tear. Thanks so much for the idea s d motivation to do this!

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