Y'all...... I finished painting my staircase yesterday (post to come), and as much as I love it and it made such a big transformation, MVP of our "mini makeover" projects is going to this $70 fireplace makeover. I can't tell you what an aesthetic difference it made in our living room. The tile we inherited with the house was a beige, ceramic tile with pink undertones. In some light it was truly salmon colored, and it just was not okay.
We had to replace the hearth tiles when we installed the hardwood floors (not included in our $70 budget!), and we chose a pretty, grey quartz to go in their place. Once the new hearth was installed, it only exaggerated the difference in the surround tiles and really made me feel like they needed to go.
We had considered painting the tiles, or doing something with a stencil (like this), but I've seen some DIY painted tiles up close, and the stencils tend to smudge. While that wouldn't bother me, it definitely would bother Mr. Details, so I decided against that right away.
With this being on our fireplace, I also wanted to be sure I had something heat safe, since it's now moving into winter and we plan to light fires in here all winter long. A little researching and I came across Tic Tac Tiles, and after reading the reviews, I was sold. They had dozens of style options to choose from, and all of the comments were that it looked real, was good quality, and was holding up safely. Score!
After a glass of wine, I Amazon Primed them right to my door. In hindsight, the wine was a bad idea because I mis-measured by literally half and had to order more, but we won't go there ;)
The box had some simple instructions for how to apply them, but it was also really self explanatory. We used a cutting board and a box cutter to trim them, and just assembled them as we went!
This project took us about 2 hours of installation (went a lot faster once we got the hang of it), and cost us $70 for 2 packs of 10 tiles. It's really easy - there's an edge that's meant to go against the wall, and then there's a part where they overlap. We messed up the overlap part a couple times, and almost ran out of tiles a second time, but we were able to peel them off and start again.
And now for the finished product... drumroll please!
A reminder of how far we've come with new floors, a new hearth, and furniture. Paint, window shades, and a new fireplace surround are on the to do list but we're fine with how it is for now!
The other awesome thing about these tiles is that they really do look and feel like tile. They're raised, and the "grout lines" are recessed so they have a really realistic texture. Here's an up close picture of the texture so you can see -- they're SUPER convincing, even up close!
The other nice thing about these tiles is that they are peel and stick - you can remove them easily! It did leave a bit of residue when we pulled them up, but I'm sure some Goo-gone would help get that off if you were renting or something and couldn't damage anything.
I am so, so happy with how this turned out, and I am dying to use these in other places where we plan a bigger makeover down the line but want something cheap to get us through for now. I'm currently looking at our kitchen backsplash made of fiberglass shower surround and thinking that's a dang good candidate....
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