Painted Tiles... this works well for the truly ugly backsplash!

If you are tight on your budget, painted tiles can cover up a truly ugly tiled backsplash.

At your local hardware store, you need to ask for "high adhesion primer".. there are a few makes out there, but basically this is primer that will stick to glass!..

Next you need to clear off that counter, and really clean the old tiles with a degreaser. Do this a couple of times, because nothing will really stick well to grease. This can be a difficult task, as you may need to crawl on your counter, depending on how deep your countertop is.. this can become your workout for the day!

Then mask off the counter with some painters tape and paper so you don't spill the primer on the counter, as it is high adhesion, and will not come off unless you get it right away while wet. Take a small roller and paint all the tiles and the grout..until you have painted tiles all in the primer.. probably looks better already, right?.

Once this is dry, and you have put on a couple of coats of the high adhesion primer, then paint it with a soft color of your choice. Remember you are trying to blend this ugly backsplash in with your kitchen. You can use a latex paint here, just make sure it is truly dry before the next coat. A gloss would make it shiny or a satin would make it have a slight gleam, which is what I did. I did not want to draw too much attention to the backsplash and gloss will show all errors.. keep that in mind.

Now that you have blended your backsplash in with your kitchen, you should stand back and pat yourself on the back for saving the money, and now just becareful with it, until it is really good and cured, which is about a week or more..

This should last for quite a while, or until you get the backsplash you truly wanted, but at least you are not staring at those ugly tiles from before.