Tile painting: an easy, inexpensive fix for an old ugly bathroom
I'm moving at the end of next month, to a 100 year-old house that, while charming in an old, pretty moldings kind of way, is also starting to show its age-and not in a good way. There are endless home improvement projects to tackle, and though I wish I had the wherewithal and the budget to deal with it all at once, I'm trying to take things one step at a time to avoid getting completely overwhelmed emotionally, financially, or otherwise.
The first order of business is dealing with the bathroom, which in its current state is covered with tiles in a clashing jamboree of aqua, pink, and beige-y yellow (at one point the latter may have actually been white, though it's hard to say for certain). They're tired, cracked, and really quite dingy (and don't even get me started on the grout, which is a whole other mildew-y horror show in and of itself) and though I'd like nothing more than to start from scratch with new tiles, I've gotten a few bids and this would cost well into the thousands.
A friend tipped me off to tile painting though, and now I'm totally intrigued. She had similarly unattractive avocado green, 40 year-old tiles in a bathroom, and had the whole thing bathed in shiny, pure white paint from floor to ceiling. It's been more than a decade since she did it, and she claims to have zero issues with scratching or peeling, and even with professional painters involved, it only cost a couple hundred dollars-a fraction of what she would have spent retiling.
Though in my research, I've found you can actually do it yourself, I don't trust myself with the task. It's a labor intensive project that goes something like this: start by giving tiles and grout a deep, hardcore clean. Make sure they're bone dry, and then buff the tiles with fine sandpaper until they're no longer glossy-the matte, slightly rough surface makes it easier for the paint to adhere. Clean them again, and follow with a coat of extra strength primer. And finally, after the primer has had ample time to dry, it's time to paint. The painters I've talked to about it said they'd actually use the same stuff that one would use to refinish a bathtub, which seems reassuringly durable and waterproof enough for a shower. I've also read that using a couple coats of acrylic latex semi-gloss paint can also work, though I'm skeptical as to its ability to last.
Do any of you out there have experience with tile painting? Please share any advice you have for the rest of us with ugly tiled bathrooms in need of makeovers if so!
