I am doing the 3 tile set that is the "art nouveau iris" with the deep purple and green. It will be surrounded by some vintage fireplace tiles I bought a few weeks ago and then a black liner, so the vintage tiles (1 x 2s with faux crackle over light purple and green splotches) will form sort of a mat, like in a picture frame. I am hoping they help feature the middle. Our field will be gray subways capped by black bullnose edges. Luckily, our bs is a small area, so the cost is not overwhelming, but we want to make the most of the tiles we do use. The center and vintage tiles were a splurge, but I think they make the look :)

Thank you for your kind words...it is definitely a GW heavily influenced kitchen. :) I did my best with what I had for layout, etc.. It's more than I could have imagined it could be, almost like it's somebody else kitchen. I am so excited to see that crackle/polished/glossy wasn't vetoed. I have admired others for a while but wasn't sure it would work. It seems soft yet, not busy really. linelle-I've followed your backsplash posts (such a nice calming tile and matches your kitchen perfectly) and the lippage you feel could have been avoided at install. We are DIYing it so I'm a little scared about that. We've laid our fair share of tile but....that is right up front and center, know what I mean. Does it come on a mesh do you know? elizabeth-you cannot post a color name like 'wicked white' without sharing a pic! If you have any I'd love to see it. Your perimeter looks so much like mine. I really like the muted look of the leathered. So do you all think I should try to match the cabinet white? Not go with a soft neutral in the gray or taupish family? Thanks again for your input and sharing others that are similar to mine.

JB - Thanks : ) The faucet is made by Elkay and it's called "Victoria" (LK2546NK)in satin nickel. It's a single lever, no pull out or pull down. It's supposed to have an 11" reach, but it's acually 9" when mounted with the handle on the side. I bought it on Homecenter.com for $360. I contacted the Elkay Co. regarding the reach issue, and they were great and seemed concerned. They offered to pay for the restocking fee, but I loved the faucet so much, that I didn't want to send it back. The granite is called Luna Pearl. I've been told that it's sometimes called Bianco Sardo. It's 3 cm (also available in 2cm) and we got it through Anaheim Stone Works in Anaheim, CA. It's available at a lot of other granite yards, as well. I was checking the order form from Home Depot where we got our subway tiles. They are made by Dal Tile and called Rittenhouse, color is "white" and it says Semi Gloss. Even though it says semi gloss, they are really glossy imo.

Check out a line by florida tile-Pietra Art/Classic Mosaics. 3x6 subway /China White---you can get in polished or honed. Even the polished isn't super shiny. It's on one of the many boards I have home now.. I don't know price yet. We haven't gotten that far. I really like the looks of the product though. #1 for me right now. Good luck in the search. P.S.--there's also one on the board called White Statuary that looks interesting.