Backsplash choices (and also, we closed!)

[Susie]

We closed on our purchase today!  Woot!  

The sellers forgot to bring the keys and garage door openers to the closing, and the lawn looks bizarre.  The grass had gotten long-ish, and there are random intersecting straight lines cut with a mower across it, but not in any kind of discernible attempt to actually mow the lawn, and also not like "oh we got X far and ran out of gas."  I'm just miffed, like WTF?  But whatever.  The house is ours.

Right after closing (and getting the keys, lol) I brought my paint chips and tile samples in to the kitchen.  I picked up 4 tile samples last week:







2x9 Amadis Boston in vanilla (on the board)
3x6 Masia Ivory (3 tiles)
3x12 ivory crackle (laying flat in the top pic, pretty sure it's out of the running)
3x12 white crackle

So far I've ruled out the ivory crackle because it was too yellow with the paint chip we liked best once we got there (SW Worldly Gray).  I think the 3x6 is similarly out because it looks peach with the gray paint.  So that leaves the white crackle 3x12, or the vanilla 2x9.  I think I'm feeling the color and slight variation of the 2x9.  Thoughts?  And if I did that how would you lay it - 1/2 offset or 1/3 offset?

1/2 offset:


1/3 offset:


We have a milllllllion projects upcoming, but I'm looking forward to starting!

[silvercrayon]

Love your picks! My favorite is the, 2x9 Amadis Boston in vanilla (on the board) and I would do 1/2 offset.

[lolalolalola]

Congrats!

We have offwhite 2.5x9 tiles on a 1/3 offset and I think it looks great!

Attachments:

[ktw]

Congratulations on closing! I agree with everyone above - think it will look great!

[maudefindlay]

I like the tile on the board best and 1/2 offset the best. The 1/3 offset looks too busy.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I can't really tell a difference in color from the pics. I think I like the 3x12 size best for that space though.

[nicolewi]

Congrats!!! Agree that I like the 1/2 offset b/c less busy and I think I like the tile on the board, but it's hard to see a difference in the pics.

[simpsongal]

I like the 3 smaller tiles best (there's a little more warmth in the color, which I think compliments the granite and the cabinets). The board tile is good too, a little more on trend. Penny tile is too busy in the space.

Congrats on closing!!

[darby]

May 27, 2021 10:53:29 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

I like the 3 smaller tiles best (there's a little more warmth in the color, which I think compliments the granite and the cabinets). The board tile is good too, a little more on trend. Penny tile is too busy in the space.

Congrats on closing!!

I agree with all of this.

[magic]

Congratulations on closing!! The granite and cabinets are warm so I'd pick one of your warmer tile options (it's hard for me to really see the tile colors on my screen). I'd also consider pulling out ONE of the lightest colors from the granite for the backsplash. It looks like the previous owner went with that idea except they pulled out all the colors!

Also, what does your floor look like? I like to play with scale so if it's a larger tile or wood planks I'd go with a smaller tile on the backsplash (but not as small as the penny tile, too busy with the granite). If it's something smaller scale I'd go with a larger backsplash tile.

[aspentosh]

Also agree with simpsongal. I like the warmer tile better for that space.

Congrats!!

[libbygrl109]

Congrats on the closing! I like the tiles on the board best. They caught my eye as soon as I saw the picture. Is the color you chose for the walls a true gray or more greige?

[Susie]

The granite does have a fair amount of gray in it up close, it just washes out a bit at a distance and gets lost against such warm tones in the cabinets and the rest of the granite.  Right now I think the 2x9 tile on the board is my favorite.




libbygrl109, after much debate and many paint chips, we went with SW Worldly Gray.  Definitely a warm gray to griege.



And when I say we went with... I mean we went big.  There's apparently a paint shortage right now, due to underlying raw materials shortage.  My home SW store this AM had no Duration or Emerald available at all, I had to get SuperPaint instead for DD's room.  They called around and found me two 5 gal buckets of Emerald an hour away.  I went for it because if I didn't I'd lose them.  Tomorrow I'm going to a 3rd SW store to track down a gallon of Pro Classic semi gloss for trim, I reserved it by phone and had them tint it for me tonight so it wouldn't get sold.  I had no idea to expect this... it's wild.

[libbygrl109]

May 27, 2021 18:59:26 GMT -5 Susie said:

The granite does have a fair amount of gray in it up close, it just washes out a bit at a distance and gets lost against such warm tones in the cabinets and the rest of the granite.  Right now I think the 2x9 tile on the board is my favorite.




libbygrl109, after much debate and many paint chips, we went with SW Worldly Gray.  Definitely a warm gray to griege.



And when I say we went with... I mean we went big.  There's apparently a paint shortage right now, due to underlying raw materials shortage.  My home SW store this AM had no Duration or Emerald available at all, I had to get SuperPaint instead for DD's room.  They called around and found me two 5 gal buckets of Emerald an hour away.  I went for it because if I didn't I'd lose them.  Tomorrow I'm going to a 3rd SW store to track down a gallon of Pro Classic semi gloss for trim, I reserved it by phone and had them tint it for me tonight so it wouldn't get sold.  I had no idea to expect this... it's wild.

That is insane! I had no idea that paint supplies were also affected by all of this. I really like that color. A light creamy tile will help to break up the darkness of the counters and cabinets.

[nicolewi]

What? There's a paint shortage now, too? Crazy times!

[ellipses84]

The one on the board is lovely at 1/3rd. I like the 6” at 1/2 as well. I don’t think you’ll go wrong with any choice!

[ssmjlm]

I know you've posted photos of the kitchen from the listing, but I would be concerned how you're going to do up around the cabinets and windows with the longer tile. The photo doesn't show much space and I think that's why the current tiles work for that small sliver of area. Or ignore me if you're just doing to remove and do the drywall repair.


I also had an issue with paint shortage. Apparently SW isn't selling any sample cans right now. I was hoping to get a sample to do my daughter's AG closet, but instead ended up with a quart (probably overpaid) because I was there and didn't feel like driving further out for just a can of paint from Lowes/HD. My SW is a 5 minute drive from me.

[TBM]

May 28, 2021 8:02:28 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I also had an issue with paint shortage. Apparently SW isn't selling any sample cans right now. I was hoping to get a sample to do my daughter's AG closet, but instead ended up with a quart (probably overpaid) because I was there and didn't feel like driving further out for just a can of paint from Lowes/HD. My SW is a 5 minute drive from me.

Your quart of paint will hold up to use better than a sample would, so it was probably good luck that they were out of samples.

[divanerd]

Congrats!

[Susie]

First project in the new house: painted my daughter’s room the promised purple (she chose purple, I chose the shade). SW Silver Peony.





It looks pinker under incandescent lighting, but I think It landed right where I was aiming.

Next project, currently in progress, is the family room with its vaulted ceiling.  I really want that done, and to be off the high ladders, before floors and furniture come in.





I also think I’m very happy with SW Worldly Gray for the family room.

[freshsqueezed]

May 30, 2021 9:39:03 GMT -5 Susie said:

First project in the new house: painted my daughter’s room the promised purple (she chose purple, I chose the shade). SW Silver Peony.





It looks pinker under incandescent lighting, but I think It landed right where I was aiming.

Next project, currently in progress, is the family room with its vaulted ceiling.  I really want that done, and to be off the high ladders, before floors and furniture come in.





I also think I’m very happy with SW Worldly Gray for the family room.

Question about your window trim - you just painted that white right? I looked back at an older photo and it looks like that’s a change you made. Anyway, are you leaving the floor trim and windows themselves the way they are? If so, are you liking the look? This is something we’ve been playing around with as we have this wood accent wall with windows and I think it would pop more and look better if we trimmed out the windows white as you have.

[Susie]

freshsqueezed , so the deal with the trim.  Most of the house has white painted trim and white painted wood windows.  All bedrooms, baths, living room, dining room, and foyer all have white.  It looks like the previous owners just didn't make it to the kitchen & family room; those are the only places that still have stained wood trim and unpainted wood windows.  The ones that were painted appear to have been done in a pure white.  

I prefer a softer, creamier white for trim, so as I paint rooms, I'm painting the trim SW Alabaster.  That was our trim paint for the last house, and we liked it against every room color, so we decided not to fix what isn't broken.  I'm not going to paint the white windows themselves though.  It's a lot of work, and realistically I foresee replacing with vinyl windows in the next 5 years.  I'm basically taking the same approach with the unpainted windows.  I'll paint the trim, but not the windows themselves.  

As for the baseboards, they will all be painted Alabaster soon.  But we are going to have hardwood floors installed before we move in, and the baseboards will all come off for that project.  They'll be easier to paint then than on the walls.

We painted all the trim white (Alabaster) in our last house, and selectively left a couple things unpainted.  This bow window, for example:



The trim around the window is a different profile than the rest of the trim in the room, so I felt it was ok to leave it with a different finish.  I did think about painting the trim, but never did.  I didn't want to paint the window itself though.

Our old kitchen also had an unpainted wooden sliding glass door.  There I painted the trim but not the door.



I'm going to do the same thing with the slider the new house's kitchen.