Wednesday 6 March 2013

Painting tiles in the bathroom

The beige tiles are not working for us in the bathroom. Painting the walls crisp white just accentuates the 'beigeness' of the existing tiles. So, we are going to paint the wall tiles white to make it appear more seamless.
beige wall tiles and off-white floor tiles
This is a picture of our bathroom at floor level. See how the floor has been built up...we think there might be a couple of layers of tile under here...but we'll wait and see when we do a full bathroom reno later down the track.

I ducked into the local (sadly, not the pub) yesterday afternoon and picked up a couple of tins of tile primer and white tile paint. It wasn't a cheap purchase either, considering the tins are only one litre. Yikes. It's a fairly big bathroom, so double yikes!

Tile paint and primer

It should be an interesting experiment. I'm curious to see whether it will pass the test and look good or whether it just looks like sh*t....

As this is just a mini makeover to bide our time until we can afford to undertake the full-blown bathroom reno, it is a risk worth taking.

Has anyone out there painted tile? Any regrets?

We hope to get started on the weekend. One wall at a time. 

18 comments:

  1. Yes! When we moved into our house we knew we only had to live with the bathroom for a year or so (it will be three) and the tiles were hideous 80s pale grey and a bit mouldy. I painted them a creamy buttermilk colour and it worked really well. But yes you do need to prime and it is expensive. But two and half years on they have not peeled at all.

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  2. Sandy at paint me white did her kitchen and I know she was happy. Don't you spray them ?

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  3. I'm excited. I think tile paint has come a long way. Are you going to wait 'til it stops raining, or is this a good rainy day job?

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  4. Woohoo! is all I can say. That beige was distressing me and I don't even use your loo. Same way when your forest green trims went I was just as excited as when I have covered over another section of custard here at Betsy's. good luck with the tile paint, I have never used it either. We are lucky enough that Betsy's bathroom was done when white square tiles were in about 10-15 years ago so it is liveable, except for all the mud the kids traipse in. mel x

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  5. Can't wait to see how you go. We have some interesting coloured tiles in our kitchens (purple checkerboard) and bathrooms and I've been pretty keen to give it a go. Looking forward to hearing your results!

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  6. Looking forward to seeing how it goes, I've always wondered how the paint holds up to cleaning (I have boys too). Thanks for letting us in on your experiment :-).

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  7. This will be interesting.

    We have black tiles in the bathroom. Trendy you might say, and perhaps so in a light and airy room. But this one has no window. It feels like a cave.

    I look forward to seeing the result.

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  8. I'm interested to see what you think about the paint. I have nice patterned pinkish tiles in the kitchen. Not sure what to do, but had thought about that paint. I look forward to seeing the results!
    x

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  9. We painted a some bathroom tiles about 10yrs back & when we moved out 2yrs later they still looked fantastic, you will be happy Im sure!!!

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  10. I have dabbled in tile paint! Go for it! We can't have you anywhere near beige! There is nothing beige about you! x

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  11. Sounds good to me. Painted tiles in our house 3 houses ago and resurfaced the bath. Worked a treat. Looked brand new. xx

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  12. Anita, you might have the prob down the track that we have found in our kitchen / toilet... the tiles have been laid on lino (2 x layers of it)... one day i went to rip up the blue lino running out from the kitchen to find another layer of possible asbestos lino... I then looked at the base of the tiles and I could see the layers underneath...

    There is a website... i will find and post it... it takes you through all the years of asbestos lino and what each piece looks like and was made ... you might recognize the lino you found awhile ago ??

    also... shayna blaze on selling houses sprays polyurethane paint over tiles, baths, laminate etc so i would presumes what they have sold you would be the same product ??

    I asked one of my teachers in architecture last year what they thought of the product, they said "like any cover up product' eventually it will fade over time" but temp it should be a good coverage... more and more people are painting tiles so i guess they wouldn't do it if it looked ord... to have the bathroom sprayed by a prof you are looking at around a grand or so I believe... spraying gives a nice finish tho, maybe Jason can hire a paint spray gun (i think they are reasonably priced for hire) ??

    Good luck look forward to seeing the finished product :)

    Happy Little Queenslander

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  13. It will be interesting to read about your results in painting the tiles. I have always wondered myself if it is worth it.

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  14. Curious to see how it goes, the Better Homes and Garden girl did this one time I think?

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  15. We did our kitchen splashback, painting over the tile scenes of a lovely picnic basket with wine and grapes etc... We used white and are very happy with the result! ;-)

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  16. I've painted a bath with a similar product. My advice is make sure you take the time to do the prep work properly. I can't stress that enough. Also don't put too much paint on the brush.
    Good luck, can't wait to see the finished room.

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  17. Can't wait to see it. GO Jason!

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  18. We used the same tile paint you have pictured here in our rental in the bathroom and kitchen, painted over bright orange and brown patterned tiles with white paint (and primer), and it's still going strong now! (And that's with tenants using them, 'coz lets face it, tenants never care for properties like homeowners do).

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