{"id":20680,"date":"2024-01-18T22:19:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T06:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/?p=20680"},"modified":"2024-01-20T22:48:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T06:48:27","slug":"tile-kitchen-countertop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/?p=20680","title":{"rendered":"Tile kitchen countertop"},"content":{"rendered":"

The next step in the Mansard Victorian’s kitchen is the countertops.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Looking back at the inspiration picture, the countertop is white tile with a black border. The backsplash is subway tile, but you can’t tell in this picture what the countertop tile looks like.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I found a picture of another kitchen with a similar countertop. In this one you can see that it’s square tile on a diagonal, like I did on the floor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

I bought a 1\/4″ square paper punch (the equivalent of 6″ in half scale). The squares are cut out of scrapbook paper, and I folded black squares over the edge of the wood to make the border. I left a small space between each tile to simulate grout lines. (I had painted the wood white before starting this process.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One side finished. After taking the picture, I went around the sides and back with the nail scissors, cutting the tiles flush with the edge of the wood.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The black tiles got pretty gooped up with glue crumbs. I touched them up with a black Sharpie.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The cabinet will sit on top of the countertop, like this.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Next I applied clear Gallery Glass paint to each paper tile, to make them hard and shiny.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Looks pretty good. The tiles have a nice sheen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I did the other side the same way and set them in place. This could have been the end of it. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But of course it wasn’t.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The cracks between the tiles with the white paint showing is a reasonable approximation of grout. When I made tiles like these for the Victorianna’s kitchen<\/a>, and again in the bathroom<\/a>, I was happy with how that grout looked. But I got it in my head that I should add real grout.<\/p>\n

In my defense, I first did a corner patch that would be covered up with a cabinet, just to make sure I liked it. And it looked good! Or so I thought. But as soon as I spread it over the entire piece…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This was a bad idea. The grouted version (on the left) is now matte and bright. Also, the corners of the tiles lifted up from the moisture.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here they are in place, the grouted version on the left again. I don’t like how bright the white grout is between the black tiles.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I was ready to throw the piece away and start over, sure it was ruined, but I had nothing to lose by trying to fix it. <\/p>\n

I got out the Gallery Glass again, this time painting the square tiles with Cameo Ivory since the white grout had brightened them up so much. I used Charcoal Black on the black tiles, also painting the grout lines between them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I like the grouted version better than the ungrouted one now! My only complaint is that I didn’t use quite enough grout to fill some of the cracks (but you can’t tell when it’s in the back of the kitchen).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I repeated the process on the other counter piece, using both the grout and the Gallery Glass paint a bit more liberally.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This one has cleaner grout lines. The paint came out darker, which is noticeable side by side, but won’t be when they’re separated by the range. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Will this kitchen ever be done? Next up will be the subway tile backsplash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next step in the Mansard Victorian’s kitchen is the countertops. Looking back at the inspiration picture, the countertop is white tile with a black border. The backsplash is subway tile, but you can’t tell in this picture what the countertop tile looks like. I found a picture of another kitchen with a similar countertop. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,39,100],"class_list":["post-20680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dollhouses","tag-half-scale","tag-kitchen","tag-mansard-victorian","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20680"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20720,"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680\/revisions\/20720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emilymorganti.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}