How to Design a Glass Tile Backsplash

Glass tiles come in a variety of colors and styles.

Glass tiles have been used in decorative home designs for hundreds of years. Glass tiles are versatile, colorful and can add light to your kitchen design.

With the dozens of sizes, styles and colors of glass tiles on the market, you may struggle at first with designing a glass tile backsplash. By taking a look at your kitchen design, the size of the space and the needs of glass, you will be able to narrow down your choices and come up with a design to suit your needs.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• White paper

Instructions

1. Consider the size of the space you are tiling and the size of the tiles. Glass tiles come in sizes from mosaic to 24 inches in size. Cutting glass tiles can present challenges; look to the size of the space to find the right size of tile for you.

   3-inch tiles, 2-inch tiles and 6-inch tiles fit into the majority of kitchen backsplashes with little cutting required. Mosaic tiles are also a good fit.

2. Tape a piece of white paper up to your kitchen backsplash. Ask a tile showroom for a loan of sample tiles, or purchase one or two sample tiles. Bring these tiles into the kitchen and hold them against the white paper beneath the cabinets. The white paper will allow the glass to show up the same color it will appear when it's been installed, allowing you to determine the best color or colors to suit your kitchen design. Have an assistant hold the tiles as you look at them from across the room to ensure the colors chosen work with the rest of the colors in the kitchen.

3. Place a piece of white paper down on a flat surface. Arrange loose, sample glass tiles on the paper in variety of directions and patterns, if combining tiles. Stack subway tiles on top of one another, or lay them in an offset pattern. Turn square tiles on the diagonal to see the effect. Combine one larger glass tile with a single row of smaller tiles as a border, and place the border at varying heights to see the effect.

4. Draw your kitchen backsplash to scale on the paper and sketch in the final design to see how busy it will look, and to confirm the design. Look at the design to see how many cut tiles there will be, and consider how difficult it may be to cut the glass you have in mind. Plan ahead for cuts and breakage of tile to have extra on hand before ordering.

References

• Kitchen Backsplash Ideas: Glass Tile Kitchen Backsplash Ideas
• Install Glass Tile: Cutting Glass Tile
• Countertop Specialty: Kitchen Backsplash Design & Installation