while I remember, I'm going to write down how to tile in case I do a tile project in the future. (I always thought that the white stuff showing between the tile was just the excess cement coming through from beneath. This is incorrect, i learned).
1. mix your powder cement and spread it out about 1/4" thick on your surface...best if you use the tool with teeth as shown above. (when the tiles guy left and took his tool, I just used my pastry scraper and it worked fine.)
2. place your tiles. this can range for super easy to super tricky, depending on what your doing. you may have to use tile spacers and a tile saw. scary. the easiest thing is probably 1"x1" tiles on mesh. you can sneak around having to saw anything. (or if you do a mosaic full of randomness).
Parker did the entire thing above by himself. I just gave him more cement every so often and helped him pick out the scrap pieces of tile from the garbage (which he used in addition to a lot of samples I'd collect while looking for backsplash). I also helped square it up at the end.
-the big blue tile was a leftover piece from the kitchen in our NY apt.
3. wait 4 or 5 hrs (or overnight) and then mix grout. spread the grout over the whole thing REALLY thick. ( i used the same kitchen tool, but the real deal has rubber on the edges...on my counter below). slowly scape away the excess grout until all the cracks are full and there is just a thin layer of grout over the tile. here is a picture of what that looks like...
wait about an hour, then clean off the grout on the tiles with a big, damp sponge-rinsing often.
the end.
update: still LOVE the kitchen backsplash. it was a win-win, and I'm glad that craig made me hold out for the size we wanted.
