There wasn't much prep required for the wall itself—the tile adhesive would work well on the painted drywall. But maple trim pieces were needed on both sides to border the tile, and an aluminum channel was needed on the bottom to provide a neat interface with the counter's integral backsplash. I didn't do anything special for the upper border (the ceiling); I just ran the tile up all the way, leaving a slight gap, which was ultimately sealed with a bead of white caulk.
There was nothing solid to nail the maple trim pieces to, so I fastened them with construction adhesive, and held them in place while that dried with a couple of pieces of wood and some wedges. The aluminum channel was just cut to length and was fastened with the tile adhesive along with the bottom row of tiles. While the trim adhesive dried, I laid out the tile on the counter and measured the spacing to end up with equal width tiles on both sides.
This is what the aluminum channel looks like—it's the same thing I used for the border of the foyer floor, except this was 5/16" high, while the floor tile version was 1/2".
Because of the confined space at the bottom of the wall (and around the electrical boxes), I started tiling by applying the adhesive to the back of the individual tiles, rather than putting it on the wall (and using a notched trowel in both cases). I have a sliding-table wet tile saw with a diamond blade, which made the job of cutting the tiles a breeze, and making the cuts for the tiles surrounding the electrical boxes feasible.
The next photo shows the tiles ready to be grouted. I used a 1/8" gap between the tiles, and unsanded grout. Unsanded grout can be used for gaps up to 1/8", and sanded grout can be used for gaps as small as 1/8". Based on my experience with this job, I will use sanded grout in the future, as it seems smoother to apply and requires less work to clean off the excess grout and get nice even grout lines. Since I will be using the same tile for my master bathroom walls, it's a lesson that will be applied.
I used "bright white" grout. Home Depot also carries "snow white," but that was sold out so I couldn't compare the color samples on the boxes. (Both sound the same.) The bright white worked fine for my slightly off-white tile, but was jarring between the ends of the blue accent strips. So I dug out the white grout while it was still soft, and later, applied masking tape around the new small gaps.
The next day, I filled in those gaps with a medium gray grout (that I already had). The tape kept the gray grout from staining the white. That was my first unexpected issue. The second I encountered when installing the electrical receptacles. I'm using the "decora" style receptacles and switches in the kitchen. The faceplates for those are fastened with two screws (versus one in the middle for traditional style receptacles). The screws go in just above (and below) the electrical box. If you're screwing into drywall, that's not an issue, but with tile cut closely, the screw will not penetrate (obviously). So I had to get out my grinder (with a diamond cutting wheel installed) to cut away a little more tile.
With the electrical receptacles and faceplates installed, the job was finished (well, as always, needing a little more trim—between side panels and soffit).
Next, the bases for the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen get installed, so the quarry tile floor can go down. Getting there.
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