DIAMOND BACKSPLASH
Michael Holigan: In just one afternoon you can give your Plain-Jane kitchen a bold new face. This stylish diamond backsplash is so easy, even the severely design challenged can pull it off like a pro. Heather Mason of MJ Designs and I are going to show you how. First, Heather and I mask off the areas that border the backsplash. Then we cover the countertop with plastic to protect it from paint. Now we're ready to put on our background color - a creamy beige acrylic. We use a rag to actually pat the paint on the wall. This technique allows some of the wall's original white texture to peek through, which adds dimension to the finished backsplash. Ragging is really easy. Just remember it's important to vary your direction. A random pattern looks best. Heather and I rag the entire stretch of wall that runs under the kitchen cabinet and over the stovetop. To finish up our backsplash we need to add our diamond pattern and it's a little darker color and I think it looks like you're mixing it right now.
Heather Mason: Right. What I'm doing is I just took the paint that we used for the backsplash and I'm adding a little bit of burnt umber acrylic to make it a bit darker.
MH: We know it'll blend in then, don't we?
HM: We're doing a tone-on-tone type look. I think this is dark enough for sure. I'm gonna add a bit of glaze because since we're using acrylic the glaze will help make it go a little bit further. We'll just add a little bit. Remember, it doesn't change our color.
MH: Ah-huh.
HM: Just makes it a little bit more transparent though.
MH: So now we're going to actually cut sponges for our pattern instead of putting up a stencil?
HM: Exactly. This is a sheet of sponge and so we can cut out whatever shape or pattern size that we want and for this particular we're going to use a four and a quarter inch diamond. Now, we're going to take these and just dip them right in the water and they'll expand to normal sponge shape.
MH: This is what we're going to use instead of our stencil.
HM: Right. And then, once you get them out of the water you'll want to have a paper towel or a cloth handy so you can blot them real dry. You don't want that excess water in there.
MH: We dip the damp sponges in our paint, then blot off any excess on a paper plate. It's best to begin your pattern against an edge like the side of the cabinet, then build your pattern from there. Be sure to pat all sides of the sponge evenly before removing it from the wall.
HM: Michael, I'm going to come back and lighten this up just a little bit. And since we've used glaze we can pull some of that paint off. It will give us that more tone-on-tone look. We just need to probably put a little bit less paint on our sponges. We both have a lot on there. I can get...or even a paper towel or whatever to blot it. Pretty easy, isn't it?
MH: Sure is, and it looks good too. I like it. It only took Heather and I about four hours to transform a plain white wall into a distinctive focal point for this kitchen. Best of all, this tone-on-tone backsplash is much cheaper to install than tile and it's low maintenance. A clear waterproof sealer will protect it from the kitchen splashes and ensure our custom paint job looks good for years to come.
Episode 64 1997 - 98 Season
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