13 Of HGTV Star Erin Napier's Most Creative And Stunning Backsplashes

Erin Napier is well aware she's not everyone's cup of sweet tea. And she's entirely unbothered by the opinions of those who don't drink up every drop of the charming, homespun renovations she churns out on her HGTV series "Home Town" alongside husband Ben Napier. "When it comes to using bolder colors in a room, you just have to not care about other people's opinions," she explained to Homes & Gardens of her penchant for cooking up kitchen remodels in saturated shades. "In an episode of 'Home Town,' one of the homeowners, Iris, loved bold colors and patterns, and she wanted it everywhere, so I gave it to her. So many people watched that episode and said they could never live with a red kitchen, but in the end, all that mattered was that Iris loved it."

In other words, yes, Erin is going to continue serving up her signature cottagecore designs, complete with daring, I'd-never-considered-that backsplash. She chose perfectly imperfect glazed zellige for the Mississippi kitchen she shares with Ben and their two daughters. But in her 10 seasons of "Home Town," she's whipped up everything from a textured wallpaper backsplash to fluted wood paneling, proving she's willing to test out any number of recipes. Allow her homemade creations to inspire your next renovation.

With a plethora of hues, patterns, and textures now on offer, wallpaper has had quite the glow-up since it was seen solely as an outdated choice best reserved for grandma's place. Which means you don't need to, uh, wall yourself in when it comes to your kitchen decor. "A backsplash can be a wallpaper," Erin shared in Season 2, Episode 3 of "Home Town," explaining why she used a teal Spanish-style wall covering in place of a more traditional tile. "As long as it's applied really well, and done correctly, and it's a wallpaper that's scrubbable."

Which means there are tons of kitchen wallpaper options that will add charm to your home and serve as a budget-friendly alternative to tile. But when you're picking the perfect wallpaper for your kitchen, you'll want to consider factors like budget, style, and durability. When dealing with a cook area's high humidity levels — and the potential of grease and oil stains — it's best to opt for something with a vinyl finish that can be washed. After dusting the area, you can treat with a mix of warm water and a small amount of a mild liquid cleaner. Then follow with clean water to wipe away any soap residue.

The cherry on top of Erin's kitchen makeover in the Season 9 Episode 9 of "Home Town"? The geometric tiling she used to brighten up the area above the stove. "I was second guessing constantly," Napier admitted of her choice on Instagram, "but I think she liked it all!" To put it mildly. Instantly clocking the vibrant design as the work of illustrator Mary Engelbright, homeowner Kathy Turner raved, "We talked about wallpaper, and this is so much better." And Erin let the whimsical, textured backsplash serve as inspiration for the rest of the home, sharing, "All the colors in the house really come from the tile."

And to truly enjoy the fruits of your labor, make sure to avoid the mistakes everyone makes when buying a backsplash. Measure carefully and order an extra box or two to ensure you don't run out mid-project, particularly as there could be slight variations in colors depending on when the tile was created. This is why you want to check the boxes for the dye lot code to confirm they were all produced in the same batch. You'll also want to consider tile placement. In a smaller kitchen, it's best to cover the entire wall from counter to cabinets as that will make a space feel larger.

Not interested in forcing a round peg in a square hole, Erin did her research when they decided to renovate the kitchen in their own 1925 craftsman. "We wanted the cabinetry and backsplash to feel like a 2020 interpretation of 1920 design," Erin explained on her site why she swapped the worn-out particle board cupboards for a rift-sawn white oak and sought out a replacement for their existing subway tile. "In looking at historic kitchens from the era our house was built, I kept finding square tile stacked on a grid pattern with micro-thin grout lines," she noted. "To keep it from feeling too perfect and mathematical, I used glazed weathered Clé zellige tiles that have imperfect, irregular edges that throw the sunlight around."

Erin complemented the off-white tiles, known for their slight variants and imperfect handcrafted character, with unlacquered brass hardware, showing off the result on the "Today Show". But there are plenty of materials to pair with the glazed Moroccan tiles for a stunning kitchen. Thanks to their more natural look and glossy sheen, they play nicely with warm metals, like brass, copper, or copper and stones, such as granite, marble, and quartzite.

In making over a 1920s cottage on Season 4, Episode 8 of "Home Town," Erin really reached for the stars. "I wanted to have fun with color and texture and pattern," she explained of opting for Peronda's star-pattern ceramic style with a bit of a worn, patinaed fade. With the more modern-feeling, basil-hued cabinetry and grey hexagon flooring, she wanted to inject a bit of warmth. "The thing about going with this modern masculine look is it gets a little cold," Erin acknowledged. So in an effort to warm the vibe up "I wanted to bring in this worn, patterned backsplash tile."

Going too similar with your flooring and backsplash is the sort of mistake no one wants to see in your kitchen. But to ensure your decor elements feel delightfully mismatched and not full-on clashing, you'll want the choices to feel cohesive. If you're adding a bit of patina, be sure to offset it with some newer, shinier fixtures. Even if you select shades that are similar, play around with texture, pairing a weathered-looking tile with glossy, high-shine flooring or vice versa.

Go ahead, paint the cupboards red. To meet the clients' desire for something bold in Season 7, Episode 18 of "Home Town" Erin went with rust-hued cabinetry that she labeled "just pure joy." And with the cabinets making a big statement, she knew she had to find the right recipe for the rest of the kitchen. Tasking local fine artist Adam Trest with designing a bespoke backsplash, she explained, "I want a backsplash tile in the kitchen that's the star." The resulting canine design was a "standout," she raved. "There's not another tile like it in the world." But to make sure she wasn't, uh, barking up the wrong tree with the rest of the space, she balanced the tiling with neutral floors and countertops. "Since we're going to have so much visual weight and interest with the red and then this very patterned backsplash, I wanted the countertops and the floor to be quiet," Erin noted. "That's why I went with white, like, as a palate cleanser of all the color and the pattern."

That's one of many factors to consider when picking the perfect kitchen countertop and backsplash combo. If you're struggling to narrow things down from the seemingly endless colors, patterns, shapes, and textures, think about your preferred aesthetic. Whether you're into a more industrial loft vibe, farmhouse chic, or sleek and modern, let that style inform each of your decor choices and balance them with neutral splashes to tie it all together. Even the most passionate maximalist needs some neutral spaces where their eye can settle in a busy space.

Erin truly got in the groove when redesigning a pond side cabin on Season 9, Episode 6. "This is very interesting backsplash material," she said of choosing pole wrap, a pliable paneling composed of fluted wood. And while the idea of wood paneling might bring to mind images of outdated 1980s homes, Erin's fluted style is very of the moment — offering a contemporary spin on a traditional design. That was the goal, for the kitchen "to feel modern and very clean and very warm and a little Scandinavian." Admittedly, the grooved wooden sheets "wouldn't work for everyone's kitchen," Erin acknowledged. But since her client was fastidiously tidy, "I know she's going to have no trouble keeping this backsplash clean. And it's also a great budget choice."

As the name suggests, the product was created to help cover unsightly basement poles. And turning it into a backsplash is just one of the ways to use pole wrap for stunning DIY upgrades. It can also be affixed to closet doors, dressers, cabinets, and headboards — really any space that you'd like to elevate. Simply buy a sheet like the Kokorona Natural Bamboo Wall Panel and some construction adhesive to help it stick.

To find the yin to her selected ivory quartz countertop yang on Season 8, Episode 17, Erin opted for a structural mixing of materials. Knowing she wanted custom cabinetry in a deep blue-green and light stone countertops, so she pitched the idea of using a natural wood v-groove backsplash and letting the counters extend over top of it. The goal was to balance two very different materials. The quartz with gold veining is "the feminine element," she explained of her vision: "the curviness and the ivory and the brass, but then the unexpected wood backsplash!" It's the blend of two disparate textures that makes it work, said Erin, noting, "The layering of the stone with the pretty curves on top of the v-groove is, I think, going to be so interesting."

Wood is a beautiful tile alternative that will give your kitchen a rustic look. And, since it's got a neutral feel, it's the perfect backdrop for artwork and other decor elements. Plus, it's generally cheaper and easier to install than tiling. But, since excessive moisture — say the sort of steam you might find in a kitchen — can damage wood, you'll want to seal it with a water-resistant polyurethane, polyacrylic, or oil sealant. 

The idea hit Erin like a ton of bricks: The traditional red Chicago brick from the fireplace in their clients' 1906 spread could have a second life as their kitchen backsplash. Uncovering the original chimney in the living area "inspired some things," Erin explained to the owners in Season 2, Episode 8 of the series. They reworked the brick from the old fireplace, though Ben noted, "We had to supplement a little bit." Paired with the classic gray hue of the cabinetry and honed finish quartz countertops, Erin added, it made the wall behind the stove "the total feature of the kitchen."

Having a brick backsplash or feature wall is certainly a stylish way to elevate your basic kitchen. And while installing one may feel akin to banging your head against a, well, you know, there are options that don't require gutting any walls. Instead of hiring a mason to literally install the wall brick by brick, you can opt for brick veneers. Thin sheets that attach to your walls in a similar fashion to tiling, the decorative coverings (made of sliced clay or concrete) don't offer any structural support. But they do provide that classic aesthetic you might be seeking, and they're lighter, cheaper, easier to install, and tend to insulate better than traditional bricks.

Thinking outside of the traditional subway tile box, Erin wanted to find something with a bit of dimension when making over a 1970s ranch on Season 2, Episode 2 of "Home Town". Playing off the traditional Shaker cabinets, she was after tiling that was elevated beyond the basic, explaining, "I wanted to have something that was very patterned but subtle." She found it in Heirloom Clay's glossy ceramic tile with a tactile, embossed feel.

Surfaces with a bit of dimension are becoming a popular tile trend. And not only do these 3D tiles give your space a fun feature wall, but the patterns can also be better at covering up smudges and stains — ideal in a space that gets a lot of action. For a more traditional vibe, consider TileBar's matte terracotta tiling. Or, go funky with Cemento's arched glossy tile.

Sometimes white tiles are anything but basic. Such was the case when Erin and Ben found a glossy Italian tile featuring flowers that looked hand-painted, on Season 8, Episode 12 of "Home Town". On the hunt for something that mimicked the look of fine China as they renovated a home that once belonged to the client's grandmother, "I found this tile that felt, to me, like broken pottery on the wall," Erin explained. Paired with neutral quartz countertops, reclaimed brick flooring, and blue-toned cabinetry, it truly made the space bloom. Said Erin, "If we're going to have this darker brick for the floor, then I wanted to lighten things up, up here."

While there are plenty of ways to dress up classic white tile, hand-painted tile in the bathroom or kitchen is a sure way to make an impact. There are a few ways to achieve this look. Go to an artisan ceramic shop like Pewabic Pottery for genuine high-end painted tiles. Paint your own white ceramic tiles with porcelain paint, which is "set" by baking in the oven. Or, pick up some tiles with a paint-inspired pattern like the Angela Harris tiles used by Erin and Ben.

Erin's goal with her design choices is creating a space that's a true reflection of the homeowners. And she did that in Season 3, Episode 10 of "Home Town" by crafting an affordable mirrored mercury glass faux finish. "How cool is this backsplash!" Erin raved. Though the vibe is certainly elegant, Erin noted of the process, which involves spritzing a glass panel with mirror-effect spray paint, "It costs, like, nothing to do! And we thought it was so cool."

The good news is you can very much try this at home. Working with a clean glass panel, cover the entire piece with a very light coat of a mirror-effect spray paint like Rust-Oleum Mirror Effect Spray Paint High Gloss Mirror. Then, spritz on a blend of 1 part white vinegar and 2 parts water. Finally, blot the vinegar with a sponge or paper towel so it slightly rubs off, repeating the process until you achieve your desired distressed effect.

Coming up against a bit of a brick wall in Season 4, Episode 13, the Napiers found a way to break through. Wanting to keep the kitchen's Chicago brick, they found a diamond in the rough in the form of a light and airy granite backsplash. When her client noted that the slightly weathered tile and terracotta grout went "really well with the existing brick," Erin responded, "That's my goal. Thank you for noticing. I did a terracotta grout so it would match the color of the brick." Ultimately, the intention was to create a space that felt "cozy yet bright and inviting," she wrote on her site, "but also creating an atmosphere in the kitchen that would be comfortable and easily accommodate all of their family and friends, that will often visit, became a must."

Choosing a colorful grout and tile has become a bold decor trend. Depending on your aesthetic, you can match up white tiling with a bold grout shade or pair two vibrant hues. Among the eye-catching combinations to consider: Dark blue tiles with pink, copper shades with bright blue, or white with terracotta, much like Erin's diamond design.

For homeowner Lauren Napier — as in the wife of Ben's baby brother Jesse — the grass had always been greener in one particular "Home Town" episode. "I told Erin that I love that dark green," Lauren recounted of the season 3 design in which Erin opted for sage cabinetry. "Erin and Ben just held on to these little comments," noted Jesse, "and then just exploded all of those ideas in our house. It's amazing." Aiming for a funky '70s vibe on Season 5, Episode 13 of "Home Town", they painted the v-groove backsplash — a tongue-and-groove paneling — the same shade of deep teal as the cupboards. "I just couldn't find a tile that made me happy, that felt like them," Erin explained of, uh, feeling groovy. "I know that they are a little quirky and off-beat, and I want this kitchen to be a little quirky and off-beat." As for the color, she explained, "Jesse and Lauren love deep saturated shades. We're going to take the colors that they love from the '90s and the colors that they love from the '70s and do, like, a 2020 version of that palette."

A modern version of shiplap, a v-groove backsplash delivers a warm, cozy vibe. And you can style it in any number of ways — painting it the same color as the cabinetry as Erin did, or going for a contrasting shade. A natural fit for a traditional-style space or interior with more of a cottagecore feel, it pairs well with vintage decor. Or, for a more modern feel, consider painting it a bold, dramatic hue to contrast with white or grey stone countertops.