Saving for the countertops was going to take some time.  In the meantime there was the backsplash…  For brown tile it was pretty good looking.  For my house it was much too dark – what to do?

I was intimidated by the tile, but I had a new dose of courage after painting the cabinets. So… I painted the backsplash.  I first cleaned the tile and then Kimberly to work with an all-purpose primer.  Just as I had to get that first section of cabinet painted to show that I meant business – we were working against the clock on this day to paint a section of backsplash before any other adult members of our family returned from work and denounced it as a bad idea.  Does anyone else do this?

The primer dried quickly and I followed with a high-gloss white paint.  I can’t remember for certain, but it was probably Benjamin Moore Advance (if that comes in high-gloss).  I loved it!  It looked like we had used a monochromatic color scheme but the tile had a lot of texture that made it interesting.  This lasted for a couple years and was easy to clean.

It did chip once when it was new.  I just patched it right up and we never had another problem.

The painted backsplash helped me deal with the countertops for quite awhile.  I liked my painted tile better than the tile with which I eventually replaced it.

It wasn’t until later that I realized I should have taken the light down and sprayed it.  This was quite a task – 11 foot ceilings look great, but standing on top of the counter on top of the footstool to paint this light certainly made me reconsider.  This chandelier had always been an eyesore to me, but the new paint improved it immensely.  Later I added a layer of “pearl” – and from that point on I actually liked it.  Note – never try to paint a chain… especially 11 feet in the air!