How to DIY Faux Tile in an RV or a Camper – Subway and Herringbone

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I was browsing Pinterest for hours, when I was planning our RV kitchen backsplash. I had three things in mind: it had to be light weight, cheap and easy to make. First I wanted peel and stick 3D tiles, but I couldn’t find them locally and ordering from abroad was cumbersome because of the pandemic. Also, I have dreamed about Herringbone tiling in a kitchen as long as I can remember! So I decided I will make it myself.

Originally I was going to purchase some golden washi tape and make the “grout” lines that way, but none of the tapes I found were nice enough. Luckily I had bought some metallic markers and after a few test lines I realized this was the way to go.

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What you’ll need

1. Markers. I wanted golden ones to match my cupboard handles, but if you want more traditional look, black or grey work perfectly. Just make sure you buy quality pens, and I can’t stress this enough – I started with these ones from Bic, and when I ran out of ink I was hasty and bought a cheap alternative to the bathroom – and oh boy was it awful. So I’d recommend going for a good brand like Bic or Sharpie.
2. Eraser to remove mistakes.
3. Pencil for drawing the pattern out first.
4. Ruler. The longer the better.

If you make Herringbone

5. A set square. To get your angles right.
6. Sample tile, can be cut from cardboard. You can use a ready made tile or cut one from cardboard like I did – it is actually handier as you can bend it in the corners.

If you make Subway

7. Tape measure. You can use just a tape measure and a ruler or a spirit level and a ruler, I’ll explain more below.
(8. Optional but recommended – a spirit level.)

A few tips

1. Buy a quality marker. I tried a cheap option too, and it was awful. It didn’t make an even line and the color kept fading.
2. Remember that painting over might be difficult. I had a test go first and then painted over it with white paint. I ended up painting 4 (!) re layers as the oil based permanent marker kept pushing through the paint.
3. Don’t trust your camper’s walls are straight. I used the ceiling as a starting point and made even measures with a tape measure, but if you have a spirit level, it would be a great help.
4. Move in a chronological order. The pen I used was very “paint like” and first I kept spreading it everywhere. Hello golden fingerprints!
5. As you are drawing your own pattern, you have the total control over the size of the pattern you are going to create. I originally found some subway tile wallpaper, but the wallpaper pattern was based on a “real size” tile that would have looked way too big in my tiny camper kitchen and bathroom. So I chose size 6cm x 12cm (2,36″x 4,72″)
6. Pay a specific attention to the corners. Especially if the corners are not straight like mine aren’t.

How to Make Herringbone Kitchen Backsplash in your RV or Camper

I absolutely love Herringbone style, it makes the whole space look more sophisticated instantly.

I started here by painting the background completely white. Start the pattern from the ceiling – place your set square the long side upwards, place your tile or template on the angled side and draw the outline with a pencil. After you have drawn your “first tile”, you can carry on with the pattern without the set square, one by one.

Sometimes the pattern can get a bit confusing, I hope this helps.

Right, here we are, the pattern ready. Now it is time for the marker…

With a ruler, go over each line with a marker. Move in a chronological order, not like I did! You can see my finger prints there. After all the lines were done, I tidied up by erasing any visible pencil marks and painting over my mistakes and some unfortunate fingerprints…

And ta-daah! The backsplash is ready.

How to make Subway Tile

To make a subway pattern, start from the horizontal lines. As my tile size was 6cm x 12cm, I made lines all the way 6cm apart from each other. I personally didn’t have a spirit level, but if you do, it would make the process a bit faster. My ceiling was straight so with a tape measure I took measurements from 4 different points from up to down and then draw the lines together.

Now you do the vertical lines. You’ll find your own way of doing this, but what I did was I marked every other horizontal line with marks 6cm apart and then with a ruler drew every other “box”. Apologies for my bad explanation, I hope that the picture explains a bit better.

And then the same as with the Herringbone, just draw over the lines with a marker. And here you can see the final result:

That’s it, thanks for reading. Please leave me a comment below if you have any questions!

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