Painting Tile... Who Knew?

Did you know you can paint tile? Well as Drew's work will show you, you can! This pink tile was really well done and has lasted 40+ years. However with the rest of the house getting face lifts this is one of the last rooms in the house that doesn't match the rest. I know some fans of the original pink will be offended.... For the rest look at this transformation.

I didn't take any progress shots and when I went to take after shots I brought my camera but not the SD card. So phone pics will have to do... I will run through the basic process.

We went to Sherwin Williams and the people there were very knowledgable and walked us through the whole process. We bought a paint called Tile Clad. It is a two part epoxy mixture. That is all you will need. You can get this paint tinted to any color. We matched it to Benjamin Moore's Galveston Gray for the floor and white for the wainscot tile.... The Galveston Gray paint turned out much much lighter. I'm not sure if that's because the epoxy tints differently, or the match wasn't exact. That is something I would check before purchase. The color still looked good so we didn't bother returning it or asking why it was lighter.

Preparation is key! Drew taped off everything, including the thing grey pencil tile on the wainscot. This detail was tedious but this kept the detail in tile work. Then Drew took a 400 grit sandpaper and sanded each tile.... This is to gap take away the sheen and give the epoxy something to cling to. This is where I would have lost my mind. Drew is so good at prep work..... I get a pit in my stomach when he starts an intense job like this. He just cruises right a long.... He's a different one this guy!

But it is all so worth it in the end. After he sanded with a fine sander, (you do not want to use a heavy grit, every mark you make with sandpaper you will see in the paint. This step is very important) he mixed together the two parts of epoxy in a 1:1 ratio as instructions suggest. He let the mixture settle for 30 min. (This was what the paint man told us.... Instructions may vary!). Then he rolled and brushed on the thick paint. The man at Sherwin Williams said it would just take one coat. However Drew found the epoxy was so thick it was running. So he opted for a lighter base coat and did two. That was the walls. For the floor and countertops he did one heavy coat. The paint will go on thick and textured, however as it dries it flattens out and ends up hard and smooth.

After the first coat dried and Drew nearly asphyxiated himself he went back and lightly sanded all of the tile again. Then applied the top coat.

When that was done he removed the tape. He had to score the tape to remove it so the epoxy wouldn't come with it. He did have a few places pull up,with the tape. So he went back through with a brush and touched up the spots. These touch ups he put on fairly heavy.

And that is a new bathroom for about $200 in paint!