Kitchen tile backsplash: Carrera arabesque + subway

We just finished putting in a new kitchen backsplash and I couldn’t love it more.  We went with a combination of mostly Carrera marble in an arabesque pattern with a little twist on traditional subway tile laying it in a herringbone pattern behind the stove.  I grin every time I look at it.

I have to tell you, I think tile backsplashes are one of the most overlooked, yet one of the most important elements in a pretty kitchen. About a year ago I decided that I could not handle my brown, outdated tile for even one more day in my kitchen, so I painted it. You painting ladies know what I am talking about.  When the urge hits you, you paint.  The end. That story is HERE.

We knew the painted tile was a temporary fix and that we would eventually switch it out, but it made me feel 10 pounds lighter and a decade younger for a little while.

A few months ago, we went out to the Tile Shop in Kansas City to start looking at tile. You guys, if you haven’t been tile shopping lately, you are in for a treat.  OMGOSH.  So many pretty, pretty things to choose from. I was salivating at all the options.

We brought these 2 sample boards home and I asked for people’s opinions on my Facebook page, but really it was a no brainer for me. The truth is, I really WANT to love subway tile, but I just don’t. It’s so…….. expected and overused and kind of dare I say, kind of boring for my taste?  Please don’t tell my friend Joanna Gaines.  It looks so amazing in every one else’s homes, I just can’t do it all over in mine.  Yet, I thought it may be nice to have some subway tile sommmmmmmmmmmmmmewhere in the project for resale purpuses, so we decided to put it in a focal area behind the stove.

Brandon at Aristocrat Tile, one of the Tile Shop installers, helped us to figure out this herringbone pattern for the focal area behind the stove.  Now THAT pattern I was excited about…. much more interesting laid in that pattern.

So we ordered the tile and had to get the old kitchen backsplash. What a mess.

And then I had the brilliant idea …………………..we needed a pot filler for behind the stove.  So I contacted Kohler.

Listen my friends, I love you enough to tell you this is NOT a project for the faint of heart. We hired Manley Remodeling to install the pot filler for us. They had to basically run new water lines under my cabinets and then cut a hole behind the stove to run the water out of.  I like to DIY, but I don’t mess around with plumbing. Leave that business to the professionals.

So after the plumbing was done, the pretty purple backboard went in. Ava wanted to leave our kitchen with the purple. She loved that. Ha.  The tile focal area was installed and see that hole right in the middle????  Yep, had to be drilled in for my pot filler.  Again, let the professionals do that.

And here is how that area turned out.  Isn’t that pot filler gorgeous???????????????  You can order one just like it at my affiliate link HERE.  Thank you Kohler for making such a beautiful product!!!

And then, it was approximately 1.27 hours before this happened.  For the love…………….

I did ask my kiddos to take a picture of me using the pot filler so that you can see I actually cook once a year. I was boiling eggs here. Lol. That’s as good as my cooking skills get.

I absolutely love the Carrera marble up against our Silestone countertops. You can read all the countertops HERE and our gray cabinet transformation HERE.  This pattern makes me so happy every time I walk in the room.

And let’s talk about the pattern for just a minute. People have asked me if I think I will get tired of this kitchen backsplash pattern in a few years and my answer is yes, I’ll get tired of WHATEVER pattern I put in there in a few years.  In the 12 years we have been in our home, our tile has been standard white, then a brown stone, then I painted it white and now this one. Yes, we’ll tire of it, but I will love the heck out of it until then. And let that be a lesson to you. So many of you KNOW what you love, but you worry about resale. You worry about tiring of patterns.  Yes, both need to be things you CONSIDER…. but don’t let those things make your selections for you.  Love what you chose.

In retrospect, I wish we had thought at the beginning of our kitchen backsplash project about having our switch plates and outlets a little more hidden.   Have you seen this pin???  Genius. And that would have made this job so much easier for Brandon, our tile installer.  Going around outlets with this arabesque pattern is no joke!

For those of you who are so kind to ask, that vintage farmhouse clock scale can be purchased on my affiliate link HERE.

So the people at the Tile Shop have been kind enough to offer my readers a 15% discount on an online purchase (It does have exclusions like it cannot be stacked with other offers/promotions and some large installation products do not apply.  Use the code JAMBTILE2016 thru March 31 to get the discount.

As always, feel free to pin all of these pictures of our kitchen backsplash so that you can refer to them later. I’ll have them on my Pinterest page asap!

Blessings,
Jennifer