Painting shower tiles?

[teachermom2834]

Disclaimer: I know this will be a temporary imperfect fix. But temporary and imperfect will work for now.

I want to repaint the tile in my master shower. It was painted, I believe, right before we bought the house. It looked decent for awhile but 4 years later it has peeled and come up in places and is basically stained and yucky looking even when clean. Redoing the master bathroom is on the list of improvements we hope to make but realistically a few years away. In the meantime I would love a bright clean shower. Or at least an improvement on the situation.

I see refinishing kits with primer and paint. Some are to be applied with a roller while others are spray paint. If you have done this, which would you recommend? Any other tips beyond following the instructions carefully?

[May]

This was done in the house we bought. IMHO, the deglazing of the wall tiles held up better the the bathtub. We eventually gutted the bathroom, 4 years later. The previous owners had it professionally done.

[Katy]

I've done it for a house we were selling.  I just got a kit at the big blue box store in town, I think it was rustoleum. White paint. It was a roller kit, and it looked so beautiful afterward I did another bathroom too.  Our realtor (who we'd also bought the house through) knew what it had looked like a year before, and she was so impressed she climbed into the tub and touched the wall with a look of disbelief on her face.

It was a ton of work and very high in fumes.  Don't do it in the winter unless you live in a warm enough place you can keep the windows open and still fit the temperature guidelines on the box.