Faux Marble Backsplash

Rachel Parcel Inspiration

Rachel Parcel's kitchen is the inspiration for my kitchen. 

1. The marble brick back-splash

2. Marble counter-tops

3. White cabinets 

My Kitchen

The big difference, I wanted to do it all myself, on a very tight budget.

This blog post is all about my process. 

It looks like marble, but not one bit of it is real.  It's all faux.  

It is painted boards, counter-tops and cabinets. Everything is done with paint.

 Take what you have already, and just add paint to get the look you desire.

Before Cabinets

Before

Faux Tile is made with Hardboard Handi-Panels

Since the hard-boards are lightweight, paintable, and affordable, they became my go to choice for the back-splash. I knew I was going to do the kitchen and dining room so I had a large area to tile. I bought 10 large boards. There are many good you-tube videos showing how to paint faux marble, but the best thing to do is to find a picture of a marble pattern that you like and look at it as you are painting the boards. The best thing is, if you don't like how it looks, you can always paint over it and try again.

The boards are large but very lightweight
They are easy to move and easy to cut

Paint the entire boards with mixed gray and white paint.

Adding spritzes of spray paint here and there on the boards helps to get the look more organic.

Paint different vein lines.  Looking at a picture of a marble that you would like to imitate helps this process a lot.  Use a combination of paint brushes, feathers, sticks, or anything to help create random patterns.

Layer different colors of gray and white over the veins.

Next add a coat of glaze over the top. I used Stone Coat counter-top epoxy. This is also what I used to go over my counter-top. I would not recommend using this for back-splash like I did however. Although it works, there is a learning curve to use epoxy correctly. A back-splash does not need to be as solid. Definitely take the easy route on this part and go with polyurethane instead.

Polyurethane is perfect for the tile back-splash but will NOT work for the counter-top.

After the boards are completely dry, cut them to the desired tile size.  Using a table saw ensures the lines are exactly straight.  It is fast and easy work.

Faux Marble Tiles

Use wallpaper cut out to the size of the tiles and tape them to your wall to determine what layout you desire.

Attach the tile boards to wall with tile adhesive tape. Initially I tried using tile mud to attach the boards to the wall, but they warped and popped off. Tape is the only way to go when it comes to using tile boards.

Don't forget to use tile spacers

Grout the tile with un-sanded grout to help keep the tiles from getting scratched.

Don't forget to adjust outlets and switches to the depth the tile will be.

I used the same faux marbling paint Technic to paint my counter-tops, then applied Stone Coat Counter-top epoxy to the tops. There are many videos produced by the Stone Coat company on You-Tube if you want to do the same. This is the only part of my kitchen that is more advanced. I wouldn't have the first time you ever use epoxy be counter-tops because there is a huge learning curve and you only get once chance at this.

Stone Coat Counter-top epoxy is very solid when it is done.

Please leave questions and comments below.

Good Luck!

My Cabinets were painted with Valspar Cabinet Enamel, Ultra White.