Any ideas for a kitchen back splash on a tiny budget?

Question

Right now my back splash it just painted the same sandy beige as the rest of the kitchen and adjoining rooms.

Thanks for the great ideas!

Thanks to those of you who answered days later. I appreciate all of your ideas.

Answer 1

Yes, I got the solution for you!
It's called "tile board." It's similar to wood paneling but looks exactly like tile. I did my kitchen backsplash for $16 about 8 years ago. It cleans up nice too. It comes in a variety of colors/patterns. I chose basic 4-inch white tile. Looks great.
To install, just cut to length and attach with glue. No fuss, no muss. You will be done in about 1 hour.

Answer 2

I just saw this on TV...they used a plastic light panel that is normally used to cover ugly florescent tube lights. This one had small squares on it. The designer painted a handful of the squares w/ a silver paint pen. Then using a small roller, he painted the entire thing a different color. They just hung them up. It looked really cool and it was pretty cheap.

I don't know how much you need to cover, but you could also use a roll or two of that metal flashing - for a stainless steel look. I'm pretty sure it would cost more than the first option.

I hope you find something you like.

Answer 3

A cool, cheap idea is to buy different color tiles, crack them up as for mosaic, spread the adhesive on the wall (mark off the borders first), put the pieces on in a "decorative" way. Let the adhesive dry for the recommended amount of time, then grout with a color that compliments your tile colors.

Answer 4

We went to the family dollar store, and bought linoleum tiles and silicone adhesive Then just glued it to what was there (and oh so ugly). Then took lathe strips, sanded and polyurethaned, and put it along the top for a finished edge.Now we have a stone look and it cleans easily..

Answer 5

A friend of mine bought a set of tile coasters that matched her kitchen and glued them to a wooden board that fit above her stove. She inserted smaller pieces of tile to fill the gaps and grouted the whole thing. It looks great!

Answer 6

believe it or not when my first bf and I got our tiny apartment the place was so nasty. I put up linoleum and pinched it behind the cupboards and counter. It covered up the years of built on grease that I could not scrub off and whenever I splattered sauce I could just take 409 to it.

Answer 7

Go to DIY store and get spom silver mirror looking plastic tiles - they come in packs of 9 and you can cut them to size. Once they ore dotted all ove the bighten up the roomand you canmake it unique.

Answer 8

you can go to Lowes or Homedpot and get a rest pile of tiles ,which sometimes are very nice and not so pricey. I actually repainted my tiles on the backsplash and they turned out great and saved me a bunch .....

Answer 9

do it yourself tiles. it's easy and cheap depending on where you find the tiles. or get garage sale crockery and smash it into chunks and use plaster stuff to make a mosaic surface. that's nice too.

Answer 10

get some laddace, it is thim pieces of wood, or plastic to look like wood, and they criss cross, get it in white it will look good on the walls of the kitchen, then get some fake IVY, and inter twine it in the laddace, it looks really good, and it is cheap and LOW MAINTINACE.