Monday, November 19, 2012

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!

18 comments:

  1. Just a question, did he paint over the grout? The lines look whiter. Thanks Karen

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    1. Yes. He painted all the grout except for the grout where the grey tile is. Some people go back and paint the grout lines. We didnt want to do that. We wanted a clean crisp look so we didn't bother with that. Thanks for reading!

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  2. Great job! Everything looks so beautiful. We did this to our kitchen counter tops years ago and it's nice to see the improvements to the paint selection.

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    1. Thank you! I know, there is a paint for everything now!

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  3. This is amazing, so good to know for the future!

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  4. Oh wow!!! I love this idea. Wonderful colour picks. Thanks for sharing. :)

    xoxo
    Kim

    www.twopugsandanugget.com

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  5. are you still happy with the results? thinking about doing this myself.

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    1. Yes it's holding up great! I would definitely recommend doing this. Just remember its all in the prep work! Good luck and I would love to see how yours turns out!

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  6. What color are the walls? Are they the BM Galveston Gray, as well?

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  7. What paint color did you use on the walls? Is that the BM Galveston Gray, as well?

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  8. Did you leave the grout lines white where the thin strip of grey is painted? if yes, how? We have mainly white tile in our bathroom but i want to paint over the blue stripes with a grey. any tips?

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    1. We just covered it with a this strip of paint, trimming it with a blade when it was on the wall! Good luck!

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  9. Hi! This looks fantastic! I'm wondering though, did you paint the tiles in the shower? If so, how are they holding up?

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    1. We did paint the tile in the shower, but its not frequently used if at all... So I can't say how it will hold up to constant use sorry! The rest of the paint is holding up well~

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  10. okay....it's been a while...thoughts? Would you do it again?

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