I did, but my ceilings are only 8' high, so a simple stepstool/chair sufficed. :-)

One thought: I wouldn't remove the crown molding, unless you really want it to project out beyond the tile -- which might look odd compared to the depth of the crown elsewhere? I'd just tile up to the crown and use your silicon grout-colored caulk for the joint between them.

Happy tiling!

You may not have to take down the crown if you know someone who can use one of those Japanese hand saws that are used to undercut mouldings for new floor installation...

You know that the sumi-e mosaics are face mounted on paper, right? I say this becaue folks expect all mosaics to be on a mesh backing. Not so much. The face-mounted makes install much more difficult. You're sort of flying blind as to whether you are flush in depth with the neighboring tile, or keeping the right spacing above the last tile.

We did this DIY, but it was a huge hassle. And if you know what you're looking for, you can see where we made mistakes. So keep in mind that the extra cost is at least partially due (probably) to the face-mounted issue.

Yes, jakabedy, I do know that the sumi-e are face mounted on paper - I mounted a square on cardboard when I was deciding on the right colors. I do appreciate your ensuring I was aware....

I plan on doing it slowly. The only part that is time-sensitive is the part behind the hood - the hood cannot go in until the tile is in.

Would you share with me your mistakes?

Circuspeanut (love the name!) - I was not clear - I was not thinking about removing the crown moulding on the wall, but the crown moulding on the cabinets. I'd have to cut around the crown on the cabinets - easier to tile then install the cabinet crown, even if I have to take the cabinet crown down.

I have pretty much the same ceiling height. We decided to tile just the hood area to the ceiling. Might save you some time and $ if you like the look.

I'm pretty sure the contractor took down crown and cut it and put it back up.

pussuskattus -

I'm glad you knew. We knew, too, and decided to tackle it, anyway. It worked out OK, but there were/are some issues.

We had trouble with the consistency of the first batch of thinset (DH mixed it, so I don't know what actually happened). So the first sheet was really smushed into the stuff -- deeper than succeeding tiles.

Also, you'll be doing the bottom row first, then the next row, etc. There needs to be a mortar line between the rows that matches the line on the sheets. I would suggest getting some very small spacers, or something to act as those spacers. I thought we could hold the sheets in place fairly well, but they still settled down more than I would have liked.

You'll need to get special cutters designed for glass. You can get them at a craft store in the mosaic section. They have little wheels on them. You'll have cuts to make and they won't always (ever) be perfect. Plan to order a couple extra sheets of tile just for spares.

I figured out that it was best to cut out the edges of the sheets in little crennelations (sp?) to match the stagger of the tiles. That way you can see the actual edges of your tiles as you are butting that sheet up to the next sheet.

We were afraid that the pattern of the large "tiles" might be visible, so we staggered the second row in a brick pattern above the first, etc.. This worked out pretty well.

It will work much better if you have two people. Once can focus on keeping the thinset mixed and ready and the other can set the tile. And whoever is free can be working off the paper when the time is right. We didn't get the paper off soon enough. I think if we had I would have seen some of the alignment issues. We also wouldn't have had the problem of bits of brown paper stuck in the thinset between the sheets.

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Do you know if you are going to end on a full tile where you meet the crown at the ceiling? If not, that will be an awful lot of tile cutting all the way across the wall. I don't know how to remedy that especially, but it's something to think about.

As for the cabinet crown, are you taling about just where it hits the wall? Because I'm thinking that it might be easier to pull the crown off, then tile. Then you can just trim off the very back of the crown and reinstall it. Cutting glass tiles to meet crown is going to be an inexact science.

As for install, we covered the cabinets and range with cardboard, and then with a big canvas dropcloth. Then we stood on the countertops to do the work. You're probably going to want to do this, as a ladder might not get you close enough to the wall to do what you need to do.

As for tiling behind the hood, I had planned to do that, too. But I miscalculated the amount of tile and we were short about 2.5 sheets. Rather than have to wait and order those sheets, this was our ad hoc solution:

But you'd never know it (don't tell!):

Jakabedy -
Thank you so much for sharing your issues. You have a lot of really good advice. It sounds like I should double the time I first estimated to do the job!

Your work looks very nice from your pictures. I'm sure you see all the flaws, but probably no one else sees them.

Thanks again - I'll add all your advice to my planning.

Would love to see a picture of how this turned out. We are also considering tile above the cabinets.