my “tile” backsplash: a step-by-step how-to

a vinyl backsplash is a great option for a temporary but beautiful solution to an otherwise drab kitchen. maybe you rent your space and have a bland wall behind your stove. or maybe you’re like us, and are awaiting an opportunity to really tile your kitchen but are short on funds or time (or both!). either way, i think this is a great solution. it solves the problem without permanence, and gives your place a sense of style and sophistication.

my previous post told the story of how this idea came about, and how the design originated. if you can get your own vinyl pattern made, or if you buy a pattern to use, below is the how-to of applying it.

IMPORTANT: your wall must be painted for the vinyl to stick, and be smooth. my walls were bare, so i patched up all the big holes and painted the walls with the same warm eggshell-finish white as i had already used elsewhere in the apartment. i didn’t bother to fix all the imperfections, because i do plan on tiling the wall for real one day. this should not be a very involved project, just one that is easy to do and makes you happy.

though i did this project myself, i would highly suggest having a partner in crime. it would go probably 3x as fast with just a little help. next time, dave can’t escape my home renovation clutches.

first, here is the before, after the painting and patching:

it looked way worse before i painted and patched. like, way worse. exposed sheetrock and old dirty plaster is really not a good look for a kitchen.

i did the plaster wall first, and it took forever. i made all my mistakes on this wall and learned a lot, especially since the plaster was very uneven and gave me a lot of trouble with the sticking of the vinyl. i’ll probably do another blog post another day with the mistakes… but let’s just put that aside for now.

HERE ARE THE RIGHT STEPS FOR THE PROJECT, should you choose to have a vinyl backsplash made for you:

1. cut your vinyl sheet into a manageable size, likely around 12″. tape it to the wall with painter’s tape where you would like to place the first sheet. either the bottom left or top left corner of your backsplash works best, but I like the bottom left corner — there is usually less to work around.

2. when you’re happy with the placement, release the top half of the section from the painter’s tape, keeping the tape on the bottom half for placement purposes. pull the backing off the top half of the piece and cut with a scissor. slowly but firmly apply the sticky backing to the wall from the middle of the sheet up, trying to smooth away all air bubbles as you go. when done, release the bottom half of the section from the painter’s tape and carefully pull off the remainder of the backing, slowly applying the sticky side of the vinyl to the wall from the middle down.

3. next, use a plastic applicator with a wide flat edge, like a plastic putty knife or a credit card, to ensure that the vinyl is properly stuck to the wall. start in the middle and work your way out, working your way over any imperfections in the wall evenness.

4. if you come to a difficult spot, like working around an outlet, a wire, or further up the wall where you hit the cabinets, just cut around the pattern accordingly. i liked to place my panel up on the wall with my painter’s tape and mark where i needed to make the cuts with my exacto knife or scissors. then i took the panel down, made the full cuts, and then placed it back up for adhering.

5. continue the same setup in small sections across the wall, to make your project quicker and more manageable. when the entire wall has been applied, with the sticky film still over top, you can leave it on the wall for a little while to help it adhere better.

6. before starting to remove the front film, make sure that you’ve done your best to work around wall imperfections. in my case, one side of my kitchen had sheet rock that was up without taping — we plan on tiling eventually, and we didn’t need to worry about taping for that. but this left gaps between boards. on the other wall, where the plaster was very uneven, there was difficulty in taking off the film without also lifting the vinyl up with it. i quickly learned to make cuts in the film and, in some cases, the vinyl itself, so that the vinyl had a better chance at adhering correctly. cutting along the sheet rock seams allowed for cuts in the vinyl so that it looked more like “tile” that had been cut to fit the space, rather than hovering over a gap.

6. finally, remove the film from the front. start in a corner of one of the sections and pull diagonally down. i found it helpful to do it in 2″ areas — the film tears easily so that this can be done. it actually goes faster this way because it’s easier to control the vinyl from lifting up as you pull off the film. also, the straighter down you can pull it, the better. again, there’s less chance of it lifting. if you need, take your plastic applicator and smooth down each section again before you remove the film.

and that’s that! if there are any ends of your vinyl decals that are sticking up, you can just smooth them down with your finger or nail. and you can actually lift off individual pieces of vinyl and shift them around without having trouble resticking them. i would make sure that there is overage of some sort so that if any pieces do in fact get damaged, you have extra to use in their place.