Alice Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Has anyone ever done this? Any tips? We have a bathroom with three different (all kind of ugly) tiles. One is the floor, one the wall and one the shower/tub. I painted the walls today to try and make it look better and the color looks great with the floor/tub tiles but not so much with the wall tiles which are a hideous fake marbly beige, pink and purple. This is our guest bathroom/extra bathroom downstairs so not used that much for showers and not that important. I could see one day in the far future redoing it but it's not a huge priority, I'm just trying to give it a little facelift. Anyway, I'm thinking that painting the wall tile would make a huge difference. I see on various Internet sites that it can be done but I thought I'd check here, the source of all knowledge, to see if anyone had done it and had tips from their experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennsmile Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I don't have personal experience, but I did watch them paint the tiles outside the movie theater in our town. After just a couple of years it was peeling something awful, granted Texas heat and patrons picking didn't help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntieM Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 The walls should be fine, but painting is said to not be very successful in oft wet areas (tub, shower, sink). I haven't done it yet, but have researched it a bit as I consider my own kitchen tile. From what I learned, the primer is key. Call your local Sherwin Williams store and ask them what they recommend. Don't expect it to be cheap... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faline Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I painted our bathroom tile wall about 8 months ago and it's holding up very well; however I'm paranoid that it might scratch easily so I'm careful not to let things get against it. I used Bulls Eye primer and SW paint and ignored the naysayers (the paint guy at Lowes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 I painted our bathroom tile wall about 8 months ago and it's holding up very well; however I'm paranoid that it might scratch easily so I'm careful not to let things get against it. I used Bulls Eye primer and SW paint and ignored the naysayers (the paint guy at Lowes). Good to hear! Thanks! I had seen the Bulls Eye primer recommended in some of the online tutorials. I'm not to worried about it scratching since it's used less often. It's just so ugly but used by guests (and my parents who visit every 4-8 weeks). So it would be nice to make it a little prettier for visitors. I could see one day just chipping all the tile off the walls. That's a bigger project than I think we want to do right now but if the paint ends up peeling than I figure that might be the catalyst to get rid of the tile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lara in Colo Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I would consider roughing up the tile first to make the primer stick better. Lara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I know they've done it on designed to sell. You might want to check through HGTV's website. I think they used exposy paint. the tiles will need to be deglazed before painting so the paint will adhear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenangelcat Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 My mom did that once and it melted all over the place every time I had a hot shower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 My mom did that once and it melted all over the place every time I had a hot shower. That doesn't sound good. Was it the tile in the shower? I'm hoping ours would be ok since it's not in the shower area at all but on the walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2abcd Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We painted a large area of tile in our kitchen once. It has held up GREAT.... more than ten years and it is a backsplash area. I can't remember if we got the stuff from Lowe's or Sherwin Williams. We just followed directions and it was no trouble. I think they wanted us to leave the grout white, but that was nearly impossible so we just painted it all a lovely basic beige. If I remember correctly, it was an epoxy paint. I would highly recommend it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 If it's not the actual shower tile you're concerned with, why put the work into trying to fix the tile? It might be a better use of your time to just remove them. We took tiles off the walls in a powder room. It wasn't any more work than the scuff/primer/paint process that you're considering. We took off the tile, sanded a bit to make the wall smooth, then painted. Looks great, even almost 15 years later. So glad we did it - the tiles were hideous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessedchaos Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I wouldn't do it. I haven't painted tile before, but I have painted my old, beat-up wood trim on my main level. For about the first year it looked good; now it looks horrible. About once a year I have to repaint it, but it still chips like crazy. I sanded it, used primer, and did everything I was supposed to. Now, three years later, I really wish I wouldn't have done it. With tile I would think it would be worse. The bathroom is high moisture so I think it wouldn't hold up well. We have removed tons of tile recently, and while it is a pain in the rear it looks much better once the new stuff is in. Plus, when we ripped out our lower bath's shower tile we found that the backerboard and even behind was moldy. It was disgusting, but I'm so glad we ripped it out so we knew and were able to remove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thanks for the input. I'll have to think about it. I hadn't thought about taking it off because I assumed it would be a lot more work, and work that dh would have to do. He's very handy but we have other home improvement projects going on and this would be low priority for him. Eventually, we will probably rip out the tile in all the bathrooms as it's all pretty ugly. It looked better to me last night, so I think I'm going to see how it looks with everything back in the bathroom and stuff on the walls. It might be ok as is, it's a relatively small area of the really ugly tile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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