Home-improvement expert Brad Staggs offers tips for creating a tiled kitchen countertop to fit your taste. The first step in creating a personalized tile countertop is deciding on a pattern. Find ideas in decorating magazines, and play around with patterns, using tiles or pieces of paper cut in tile shapes. If your pattern involves lots of small pieces, you may want to rent a wet saw to cut the tile. Use tile nippers to trim tiles to uncommon shapes to fit into corners and other areas. Spread tile adhesive on the countertop with a notched trowel, and set the tiles in place, using small plastic spacers to keep them evenly spaced. When the adhesive is dry, pull out the spacers, and smooth grout into the cracks between the tile with a tile float. Use a wet sponge to wipe away excess grout from the surface. The grout haze that remains on the tiles can be buffed off when the grout is dry. Brad advises misting the grout with water while it's drying to prevent it from drying too quickly and cracking.
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