The Classiest Backsplash

This project places third or fourth on the list of Classiest Things I've Ever Done. First place is that time i made/wore a bra made of electrical tape and made it my shirt for the afternoon. I know...i can't believe they let me be someone's mother, either.

Moving on, i want you to know that this is a huge tease for the bigger, better project that we completed. But you'll enjoy it...probably. Unless you're my dad who asked me to "please don't do that!"

Here is a view of our bar area when we moved in:

It went through new wall paint, new cabinet paint, and new hardware for the pantry, and left us here:

We knew we wanted it to have a backsplash since the rest of the kitchen would have one. But we weren't entirely sold on spending upwards of $80-$100 putting one there since there really wouldn't be any "splashing." So in an effort to save money and to put some personal touches on our home, we decided to put our collection of bottlecaps (we've been collecting then in a large snifter since 2008) to good use.

I started by making many, many patterns that took forever on a sheet of paper to find a layout i liked. Since Yuengling is our go-to beer, we have more of those caps than any other, and i wanted to "frame" out the backsplash with those:

 The part that took forever was the inside patterns as they were more spaced out. I mudded a little at a time so it wouldn't dry out too fast. Once i got the lines correct (the pic above), i filled it in:

I let this dry for 24 hours, then used a sanded grout (hot tip: use sanded grout as opposed to unsanded when your gaps are over 1/8", which these definitely are).

You see that gap between the counter and the wall in the pic above? That's because when they opted for the complete waste of space and money that is the 4" granite "backsplash" surround, they didn't bother to make the countertops fit correctly. So we had to improvise with some trim:

After the grout dried for 24 hours, i taped and painted:

 It's done now. Rumor has it that Jackie Kennedy did this very same thing in her Georgetown home.

 We really like it, if for no other reason that it saved us a good chunk of change. But also because of the memmmoorrriiiiesss.....

...even if we don't remember who brought this crap into our house:

 ...of a homebrew made and brought by a friend:

 ...of that time my family took good care of Chris:

 ...of completely unhealthy pregnancy cravings:

 ...of warm summers with good neighbors:

 ...of times we spoiled ourselves:

 ...of my sister:

 Here are your progression pictures -

So...who's thirsty!?