You know you have an ugly bathroom when you look forward to going to the bathroom at the local pub! Seriously, our pub’s bathroom was much nicer than our 70’s orange-tiled disaster.
Since we were moving to the USA, I wanted a quick, CHEAP fix in order to make it slightly more appealing for renters.
So off to the hardware store we went. The good news? You can actually paint tiles and it’s super easy! So here are my tips on how to paint tiles.
Where to Buy it?
– Home Depot (USA) sells a Tub and Tile Refinishing Kit which comes in a spray form.
– Bunnings (AUS) sells 3 White Knight products, all of which you will need to use:
- Tile and Laminate Cleaner
- Tile and Laminate Primer
- Tile Paint
We used all three products to paint our tiled kitchen splashback and our tiled bathroom floor.
How to Paint Tiles?
- Clean your tile surface thoroughly with the White Knight Cleaner and a sponge.
- Use a micro-fibre mini-roller to apply a smooth coat of Primer to your tiled area. You can paint over the grout in between the tiles as well. Use a zig-zag pattern to get good coverage then finish off rolling in one direction.
- Leave the primer to dry for 4 hours.
- Apply the Tile Paint in the same way as you did the primer (it can be tinted to your colour of choice).
- Leave it for 6 hours, then apply another coat of Tile Paint.
Bathroom Floor
This is the before-photo of the hideously ugly orange bathroom tiles. We used paint-tape to line the edges of the cabinets, so we could use rollers to paint and not worry about getting paint on the cabinets.
This is the after-photo! I hadn’t taken the green paint tape off yet, but it looks so much better!
Kitchen Splash-back
When we bought our fixer-upper, this was the kitchen. Those mustard splash-back tiles had to go!
Ta-Daaa! A crisp white tiled splash-back. Clearly we gave our kitchen cabinets a cheap and easy makeover too, you can read about that here.
A Friend’s Adventure with Tile Paint
After I published this blogpost, I was so excited to receive a gorgeous message from a dear friend of mine from primary school, Clare. She wrote to tell me that my tile-painting adventure had inspired her to give her bathroom a make-over, and here were the results.
The before photo:
The After photo:
Moral of the story? Give tile painting a go!
– Penny xo
PSSSST… since I wrote this post, I have moved back to Sydney, Australia and am in the midst of a complete renovation of our 1920s terrace house. Including the old kitchen and bathroom! You can see all the progress of our renovation here.
