Backsplash is done!

I know it's been a while, but this post will be worth it.  We finally finished the kitchen backsplash.  The actual construction of the backsplash didn't take as long as we thought it would, but it had to be broken up with sufficient time to cure and dry between steps, so it was completed in about 5 days start to finish. 

Here's the wall we started with:

Lovely, right?  We made sure that there were no flaking pieces of paper, and that all of the major dips were covered.  Then we started laying the tiles.  We used glass and stone mosaic tiles that came in 1'x1' sheets.  The mastic (adhesive) was surprisingly easy to work with, and I got the hang of it fairly quickly.  Since there wasn't a lot of space in the kitchen to lay out tiles, we decided to cut them as we went. We started laying the tiles at 5:30pm.  Matt had to go to sleep at 9:30pm to get to work at 5 the next day, so I told him I could finish up myself.  Famous last words.  I ended up finishing around midnight, but the end result was worth it:

We had to wait 24 hours for the mastic to dry, but since I had finished so late, we decided to wait 2 days before grouting.  We used gray grout and Matt applied it while I followed behind him wiping up the excess.  This part only took about 3 hours, and when we were done it looked almost finished!

After the grout had sufficiently cured (48 hours) I put on 2 coats of sealant to help prevent stains, and carefully caulked around the perimeter.

Stay tuned for the completed kitchen reveal - we should have it ready this weekend!