Finally, a creative solution for my kitchen backsplash? : Annie Elliott Design

Call it impending empty nest syndrome or simply a reminder to self that my house is my laboratory, and it is here that I should take risks.

I have a galley kitchen. The backsplash on the stove wall is AMAZING. As well it should be, since it was a journey to end all journeys until the marvelous artists at Billet Collins bailed me out.

Red Chinoiserie painted backsplash — Not to brag, but my backsplash made it into the New York Times. Ok, I’m bragging 😉

I blogged about it extensively, if you’d like to check the archives ;)

Red Chinoiserie hand painted backsplash — I love it every single day

I never got the opposite wall quite right, though.

It was naked for MONTHS – possibly a year. (You know how you get used to things.)

My thought was that I didn’t want to compete with the Chinoiserie. A normal person would have done white subway tile and called it a day.

White elongated rectangular ceramic tile — White ceramic tile in a slightly more interesting shape than 3 x 6″

But you know me. I *did* consider white tile in a different size, but with white cabinets and marble counters, it would have been so much white.

So I thought about different neutral tile that would work w/ the veining in the Belgia marble countertops.

Bronze colored subway tile — Bronze. Closer, actually, but dark

I even thought about red. But eew.

Wall with red glass subway tile — Never been a fan of glass tile, funnily enough. Panels, yes, tile, no

Then I saw Cameron Diaz’s green kitchen with a brass sheet backsplash.

There is some gold in the painted backsplash, so brass was a nice idea.

Red Chinoiserie painting with bird on glass backsplash — See the pomegranate? Gold leaf

Quite frankly, though, I didn’t know how to make it happen. Didn’t know the right artisan, etc. And I was running out of stamina.

White kitchen with brass — So clean and pretty, right?

So I called my friends at Billet Collins again, and they created a gold reverse-painted glass backsplash for me.

White kitchen with gold glass backsplash — The pristine version, photo by Jenn Verrier

It’s fine. Just…fine. No fault of Billet’s – they did exactly what I asked. But I never loved it. It’s so yellow. And I can see the circles where the globs of glue attach it to the wall. Others say they can’t, mind you. But I can.

Gold backsplash — Look carefully: you can see the globs too, can’t you?!

So I put my thinking cap on again. We recently put antique mirror tiles into a client’s extra kitchen to make the cabinets feel bar-like.

Fancy bar and dining peninsula — Sometimes a bar, sometimes a dining table

Close-up of mirrored mar — You can see the tile better here

Hmmmmm! I thought.

Then I discovered that there exists GOLD antique mirrored tiles.

Mirrored tile leaning against backsplash — Well, hello!

I know it sounds kind of gross. Kind of 70s, kind of shag carpet, kind of…well, I’m sure you have an adjective or two.

But I have a hunch. And it will reflect the pretty backsplash and make the kitchen feel wider.

Remember: my house is my lab. I’ll keep you posted.

Gentle Readers, this should have posted last week! I apologize! There was a glitch I didn’t know about until today. The post vanished into thin air. So this is the re-do. I hope you like it.

Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, DC, and we have offices in St. Michaels, Maryland, and Middlebury, Vermont. Be sure and catch our advice in House Beautiful about transitioning between design styles!