Wallpaper Ideas for a Kitchen Backsplash | eHow

A creative, inexpensive alternative for your kitchen backsplash involves covering it with wallpaper. The backsplash area has 18 inches between the kitchen countertop and the bottom of the cabinets, offering endless decorating possibilities. Taniya Nayak, designer on Home and Garden Television Network (HGTV), suggests visiting the close-out section of the wallpaper store where you can find an ideal piece for your backsplash at a lower cost. Protect your backsplash from grease and food by painting over the wallpaper with a clear, water-resistant varnish.

If you have plain or solid colored countertops, think about having patterned wallpaper on the backsplash. The wallpaper pattern can include the countertop color to tie it together. Or, if your countertops have patterns and designs, keep the backsplash in a complementary, solid color--this keeps the backsplash from competing with the countertops. Since the backsplash represents a small wall area, you can experiment with bold colors.

Wallpaper comes in mural mosaics, which you can use to turn your backsplash into an artistic mosaic scene or image. Mosaic wallpaper would look best on a larger wall space, such as behind the stove. Some companies offer to create a custom mosaic tile wallpaper from your own photograph, using water-resistant ink.

The space behind the stove offers more space to work with than the countertop backsplash, providing an opportunity for you to add more drama in your kitchen. You can introduce a new wallpaper color behind the stove if you desire, along with wallpaper on the countertop backsplash. Alternatively, you can just add a dramatic wallpaper design or color behind the stove, making the backsplash a focal point for the kitchen, leaving the countertop backsplash bare.