We’re going to install a kitchen backsplash, and after a month of shopping around and online perusing, we found the perfect tile.
If you follow me on Pinterest, you probably saw a slew of white subway tiles. I found some mini subways, but when I got it home, I didn’t love the white on white. I mean, I kind of liked it, I just wasn’t super duper feeling it. Something about it wasn’t clicking for me.
We stopped by The Tile Shop, which has a location in North Raleigh. I found some tiles that I L-O-V-E-D, but they were waaay (WAAAYYYY) out of our budget. I loved the glassy gray though (just for $18+ per square foot).
We brought home a couple of samples. My biggest piece of advice when picking out a tile for your kitchen backsplash: take a sample home. The color online does not equal the color in the store and that does not equal the color with lighting in your house.
For example, this one was gray under the store’s fluorescent, but very brown in the house.
And I loved this blue penny tile online, but when I got it home, it was way too baby blue.
Here’s another example of colors not matching. This was so neutral online, but not in the store! (For the record, I might have shelled out $19/square foot for the online version. So purdy!).
We ended up with buying penny tile in moss for our kitchen backsplash. I almost overlooked it, because guess what? It was straight up green online! And then I realized we were straight up being copycats of Young House Love (they have a super fab backsplash with the same tile!), but hey, John and Sherry, if you’re listening, know this: you’re house is a muse and its decor seeps into my subconscious. Also, one time I had a dream that we met and you guys made me dog sit Burger while you went to explore houses during the Parade of Homes in Raleigh and I was really mad because I SUGGESTED DOING THAT and you DITCHED ME. Rude, guys. So, yeah. Maybe I should stop reading blogs right before bed?
Whoa. I digress. The point that I was trying to get across there: don’t go ordering hundreds of dollars of tile without seeing it in your house first!
We got lucky too. For Black Friday, The Tile Shop offered 40% off all installation materials and 30% off the tile. Jackpot. We got everything, plus extra, for $231 (not including tax).
We’ll be installing it this weekend. Have you installed tile before? In the kitchen? In the bathroom?
