A Little Improvement in the Kitchen

Our kitchen is a bit old and dated. The cabinets are dark and not in perfect shape. The oven is a disaster. I'm pretty sure the stove heats unevenly and the floor looks perpetually dingy. 

Mostly, there's not much I can do about that. We'll likely remodel, but not for at least a year, possibly two. So I have to find little things I can do to make micro-improvements. 

Enter the competing backsplash vs. counters. 

The backsplash is a tumbled stone/travertine tile that's pink, salmon, orange, beige. And the counters are salmon, pink, beige marbled maybe-stone (?). Possibly granite circa early 1990?

I can see how maybe someone thought they'd compliment but in reality they just fight for attention. In today's design, you usually pattern up one or the other. NOT BOTH. 

Here's what we're working with... 

I watched a number of quick youtube videos from DIYs are how SIMPLE it is to paint a backsplash. And cheap. Counters are less simple and cheap. So I went with the obvious. 

And of course, it had to be bright white. 

Here's the primer.... 

And then the final look ... 

The processes couldn't have been simpler: 

1. Use a heavy-duty cleaner, with degreaser, to clean the tile. And tape around the counters and cabinet. 
2. Use a good primer, like Kilz or Bin, to cover the tile. Use a brush and get in all the nooks and crannies. The Bin primer I used took all of 45 minutes to dry. 
3. Paint on a good quality topcoat. I used the Emerald latex paint from Sherwin Williams. You only need a little pint of each because you'll use so little ... so feel free to splurge and on the good stuff. 
4. I only did one coat and I was happy with the results. In a few months, if I notice any issues, I'll add another coat ... which is kinda a beautiful thing about this process. 

All in, it was probably $85 for supplies and 3 hours accumulated time. 

A little goes a LONG WAY!