DIY Architectural Salvage Tiles

How I wish I could score on some real salvage tin tiles! But since I could not, I devised a way to make the look using embossed wallpaper. You may recognize the title image from my Photography Styling Challenge: Wall Vignette. It was my intent to make the wall look like salvage tin ceiling tiles. Here was the inspiration image:

Here’s the tutorial for how I achieved the architectural salvage tile effect:

Supply List

• Paintable embossed wallpaper
• Base paint color
• Black paint
• White paint
• Twine or string
• Disposable bowl for paint
• Painting sponge

Step-by-Step

If you’ve never worked with paintable embossed wallpaper before, or even heard of it, don’t be nervous! They’re great and easy to work with! To get the tile look, find a pattern with a grid like the one shown here. I also used this same pattern once in an apartment rental where the kitchen didn’t have a backsplash. I hung up this paper and gave it a Tuscan ceramic tile faux finish. It actually looked pretty good!

Step 1

Paint the entire wallpaper in the base color (I chose a seafoam greenish color). You may need to do two coats if the first coat comes out kind of light. You can paint the base color black if you want to imitate the inspiration photo.

Step 2

As I chose to faux finish my tiles in color, the next step is to take a piece of twine/string and dip it in black paint. Lay this string across the paper to indicate the “edges” of the tiles. The string won’t stick to the paper very well, so use your fingers to press the string down. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make a clean line. You actually don’t want to make a perfectly clean line! Make your line straight, but not clean. Understand the difference? Awesome!

Step 3

Using a sponge (I just used a regular kitchen sponge), dab black paint all over the paper. Feel free to add as much black paint as you want. Big black splotches are highly encouraged! Go off the paper, have a ball! Don’t forget to dab over the actual edges of the paper.

Step 4

After the black paint has dried, dab a final layer of white paint to the paper. This white paint adds an aged look to the finish, like the tiles have been painted over and over through the years. Again, you can add as much white paint as you want. I recommend trying to keep clear of the black lines you made because the “edges” of the tiles should be very black.

When you finish, you get something like this! The fun part of this project is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. The more you go wild with the paint dabbing, the more personality your tiles will have. I only wish I had the time to source a paper that had a large single grid pattern like the inspiration photo. This one that I got has a series of small grids, which makes for a great faux tile backsplash, but not as amazing for salvage tiles. I still think it turned out alright. What do you think?

Total time: I spent a total of three evenings painting this wall paper. The first coat of paint on the first evening, the second coat on the second evening, and the faux finishing of black and white paints on the third evening. I’d probably estimate those three evenings were an equivalent of 6 hours. I painted about 8′ of this paper.

Total cost: One roll of this paper will cost about $25, after taxes. I still have paper leftover that I can paint in different colors. The paper and paints came from The Home Depot.

I’ve linked up this project at these parties here.

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