Can I Really Paint My Tile Floors?

Have you ever found yourself standing in the doorway of an otherwise great bathroom layout staring at hideous tile floors knowing it is going to cost you a small fortune to replace? Weighing out your options of whether purchasing the house is even worth it? Too much hassle? Maybe you are like me and stand there saying, “It’s not THAT bad. I can live it. It’s fine!”.

Tile floors absolutely CAN be replaced but it is not a skillset everyone possesses and if you hire someone to do it for you it is going to cost a pretty penny so most people just put it off and deal with the ugly tile. Well, I think life is too short to live in a home where things are just “fine”. Home is not just “where the heart is”, it is also where we spend WAY MORE TIME than we use to.

The flip side of this is, I love saving money and I love a good project. This brings me to my latest project- the hideous bathrooms found in my dream home that we just purchased. I fell in love with this house 3 seconds inside the door but what I had not seen yet was the all hunter green bathroom and the other one that was pink and cream. Yikes! Everything in the rest of the house was pristine but after seeing these bathrooms I could understand why they had been left out of the MLS photos.

What we were dealing with…

Here is the before of our kid’s bathroom – the pink and cream one. And yes, that is indeed a totally fake fireplace you see down at the end. As soon as I saw this I knew I had to find a way to renovate this space quickly and on a budget. Enter a ton of googling, a hundred trips to the hardware store, some elbow grease and waaaaa laaaaa a totally different space in the span of 1 weekend.

How did we do it?

Rustoleum Home Floor Painting Kit is the greatest thing since Betty White! This product is INCREDIBLE and saved me thousands of dollars. It is a simple two-step process that fully renovated our ugly floors for under $150.

Here is what you need:

• Krud Kutter Cleaner 
• 3/8” nap large roller
• 3/8” nap small roller
• 1/4” nap large roller
• 1 angled paint brush for the edges
• Stencils of your choice
• paper plate or cardboard
• ***and if your knees are old like mine remember to grab some kneepads (you can thank me later for this one)

The Process…

First, grab some heavy duty cleaner and scrub your floors as well as possible. For this we used Krud Kutter.

The next step: edge out the entire room by painting the tile right next to the wall. You can tape the room if necessary or use a steady hand to cut out the edges with an angled brush.

Next up: start in the back corner and simply roll the paint color you have chosen for your base directly onto the tile using the 3/8” large nap roller. Using this product there is no need to sand or scratch up the tile. The paint is very thick and goes on super smooth. Let your 1st coat sit for at least 6 hours. If you have chosen white as your base color you will likely need a 2nd coat but if you choose any of the other Rustoleum colors one coat is all you will need. I was doubtful of the coverage capability too but in the photos you see that is indeed only one coat of gray as our base.

The next step depends on whether you want a pattern on your tile or if you prefer to leave it plain. If you want a pattern, grab your favorite stencil, the smaller 3/8” nap roller and your chosen top color of paint and get to work. May I suggest you grab 3-4 stencils because they do get rather messy and when it comes to the irregular sized tiles you will need to cut your stencil down.

My best tip here is to do all of the “full-size” tiles first. Start furthest from the door doing every other tile and work your way back and around the room as it dries. It truly does not take long for the stencil layer to dry because you are not putting it on very thick at all. After you run your roller through your paint tray make sure you have an extra piece of cardboard or a paper plate handy to roll off the excess paint before you go directly onto the stenciled tile. If you skip this step it will bleed under your stencil and your lines will not be quite as sharp (ask me how I know).

Lastly, you will need a 1/4” nap roller for the top coat. This is a clear paint sealer and it tops off your project and protects it. As you roll it on it will look cloudy but don’t fret, it will dry completely clear. You can put a 2nd coat on if you like for extra protection. Let the final top coat layer dry for 24 hours before walking on it and they recommend 72 hours before furniture but I would be lying if I told you my impatience allowed me wait that long. 

Final Product…

There you have it! A little time, a whole lot less money and you have a whole new tile floors. We also DIY’d the shower frame and the shower tile too for under $200 and painted the walls.

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