Hey everyone! I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I’m loving that summer seems to have arrived to Connecticut – we’ve got lots of sun and warm temps so I’m one happy girl! I’m popping in to share a much-asked-for update on whether the painted tile floor in our bathroom has held up! (this post includes some affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})
It’s been over a year and a half since I painted the ugly red tile floors in our powder room (you can see the “before” and “after” pics and details of how I painted our floor tile {HERE}). I’m always getting questions about how it’s held up so want to give you all an update! Overall, I am VERY happy with how our painted tile floors are looking 20 months out. Here’s a pic of our powder room floor today:
Looking good right?! Let’s zoom on in so I can show you in detail how they’ve worn. The most heavily trafficked areas of this bathroom (which is used daily by my husband since our master bath is super tiny) are the area where you walk in, in front of the sink, and in front of the toilet. The first two areas look pretty much untouched – here’s a close-up of the tile in front of the sink:
I was initially having issues with getting the painted tile totally clean in these high traffic areas but then realized that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (you can find them {here}) does the job beautifully. So much so that I was kind of appalled at how dirty the magic eraser was the first time I tried it on my “clean” floors. So on a weekly basis I do a quick cleaning of the floor with warm water and mild soap but once every month or two I pull out the Magic Erasers and go to town on the grime.
The area in front of the toilet is the one area that has shown some wear with several small scrapes on one of the tiles and some teeny little marks on a few others that you’d only see if you were looking for them (like on the upper right of this pic):
I’m pretty sure I know how the scrapes happened – we had someone who was mulching our yard ask to use the bathroom and I’m guessing that he had a stone or something similar in his work boots because that’s the day I first noticed the scrapes. Some of the teeny marks are likely just wear and tear – everyone who worked on our never-ending kitchen remodel used this bathroom so it’s gotten a LOT of use in the past 20 months.
So would I still recommend painting your tile floor? Absolutely! Overall they’ve worn really well and I think that touching them up will be pretty quick and easy. I plan to sand out the scratches in front of the toilet and then put two more coats of porch paint on the entire floor this summer and I’m guessing the whole space will look good as new. So if you paint your tile and don’t use a top coat, plan on re-coating it every couple of years to keep it looking perfect. If you don’t want to have to recoat that frequently or have floors that are going to be extremely trafficked, consider putting a coat or two of water-based polyurethane over your last coat of paint when you do your project.
You can find all of the steps and products I used for painting my tile floors in {this post}. And if you’re wondering about any of the sources for our powder room, details about the stenciled walls are in {this post} while other sources (some are similar since the original sources are no longer available) are below (scroll & click/tap to shop them):
And with that… it’s time to head out and get going with the rest of this sunny weekend! We’ve got several get-togethers with friends and are so grateful to have the opportunity for friendship and celebration afforded to us by those who died serving our country. I can only imagine how difficult it is for those of you who have lost loved ones in the military – my thoughts are with you and endless appreciation are with them.
XOXO,
Donna says
May 26, 2019 at 9:53 amI painted the bathroom floor and counter top in the main bathroom of our first house as a quick inexpensive fix to tide us over until we could afford a remodel. Fast forward 10 years and we sold the house instead of remodeling. The bathroom still looked fabulous despite the daily wear and tear. I highly recommend painting tile!
Kris Jarrett says
May 28, 2019 at 3:43 pmWow – that’s a long time so that’s great to know! Thanks for sharing!
Debbie says
May 26, 2019 at 10:38 amThanks for the update on your tile. I think it looks great. It looks very clean and bright.
Kris Jarrett says
May 28, 2019 at 3:42 pmThank you so much Debbie!
Karen Bunch says
May 26, 2019 at 11:32 amKris,
Wow, I’m impressed with your painted floor. It really looks nearly perfect after a year and a half+. The sales are of interest as we’re moving to a new place and you know how you often need stuff.
Enjoy your “summer” weather, we have a prediction of rain today. 🙁
Karen
Kris Jarrett says
May 28, 2019 at 3:42 pmBummer that you had a rainy Memorial Day weekend – hopefully the sun came out on Monday at least!
Nancy says
May 26, 2019 at 8:06 pmI used Bobbex for years for deer in PA. Now I live in VA and use it for rabbits. It’s the only thing that works.
Kris Jarrett says
May 28, 2019 at 3:40 pmGreat to know the rabbits don’t like it either – bonus!
Gail Storti says
May 27, 2019 at 12:22 pmHappy Memorial Day Kris! This was such a great post and I’m so impressed not only with your painted floors, but with the beautiful stencil job you did on the walls. I remember when you did it, but had forgotten until I reviewed that post. Wow…I am dying to do that to my powder room walls. I’ve always been a do it yourselfer and done too many difficult projects to mention. But I just don’t know if I could do this. Years of doing all those projects have taken their toll and arthritis makes tasks like this hard. Wallpaper is a possibility but after the last time we removed wallpaper, my husband said “NEVER AGAIN!” I’m going to seriously think about doing the stenciling, I think it’s fabulous.
Now about the deer! Yes, I love the deer in our neighborhood but I also love my plants and flowers that they have dined on for too long. Several years ago, after trying many things, I discovered a product called Liquid Fence that really works. It’s non toxic and has a garlic base. It comes in ready to use and concentrate forms and is so easy to use. It is a garlic based liquid that you mix with water, I have a air pump sprayer, and spray on at the beginning of deer season. I do it once a week for a few weeks then once a month. The deer learn that your yard is a no-no and stay away. It’s like a miracle. It does have a stinky odor when first sprayed but goes away after it drys. It’s available on Amazon and in hardware stores.
Thank you for sharing all the great decore things you find!
Kris Jarrett says
May 28, 2019 at 3:38 pmThat’s good to know that Liquid Fence has worked for you! Sounds like the Bobbex – super stinky but effective!
Carol says
May 27, 2019 at 1:33 pmAppreciate this post as well, I dislike my bathroom floor but it’s so expensive to start over again.
I have a porcelain tile in a reddish brown and I have thick grout lines and wondering if the painting would work. I tried to attach a picture but could not.
Kris Jarrett says
May 28, 2019 at 3:40 pmMine had pretty substantial grout lines and it worked fine! But if your grout is old and flaking or cracking it could make any flaking more obvious once painted.
Mansa says
June 2, 2019 at 7:34 amLove the painted floor tile. Seems like such an easy way to make a change to a bathroom! And I hear you on the deer – we have a ton in my backyard and my hydrangeas get half eaten every year! Looks like I need some Bobbex!
Tanzis says
June 4, 2019 at 11:11 pmHi there, i like the result in your bathroom and i was wondering if you could recommend this paint to my bathroom’s walls. it will be white so i was thinking it can work perfect, what do you think?
Thank you!
Tanzis
Kris Jarrett says
January 6, 2020 at 9:58 pmI think it could definitely work on tile walls as long as they aren’t the actually walls of the shower. I’m not sure if shower walls could hold up to all of the water and humidity or not…
Kristi says
July 14, 2019 at 4:00 pmLove how this turned out! Think it would work for kitchen wall backsplash?
Kris Jarrett says
January 6, 2020 at 9:55 pmYes I think you could totally do this on a kitchen backsplash!
Abby says
August 1, 2019 at 12:28 pmOhhhh my gosh, this made my day. I was feeling so discouraged thinking my bathroom would cost thousands to remodel. Looks like all I need is some paint and a new vanity. Goodbye red tiled floors and blue tiled walls! Glad to know it holds up! Thank you for sharing! It looks AMAZING!!
Bev says
November 16, 2019 at 1:31 amHi Kris, I quite enjoyed your article on painting floor tile. Do you believe that if I follow your instructions and do a sealing coat, allowing it to cure for at least 2 days, that the floor would stand up to dog nails as I have 2 dogs. Thank you for your input.
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Kris Jarrett says
January 6, 2020 at 9:54 pmHi Bev – honestly I’m not totally sure. Our dog, Hope never really goes into this bathroom so I haven’t tested it with dog nails. I think that if you use a top coat it would hold up – it’s been incredible durable – but I haven’t put it to the test myself!
Kelly says
January 6, 2020 at 12:52 pmHi there, did you use the low sheen floor & patio paint from BM or the high sheen? I’m so inspired by your tile makeover and wanting to attempt our master bathroom tile 😊
Kris Jarrett says
January 6, 2020 at 9:51 pmI used the low sheen and am amazed by how well it’s stood the test of time!
Kristin says
February 24, 2020 at 3:50 pmHello! I’m looking for the perfect gray to paint my tile floors, and yours is almost exactly what I’m thinking. Can you tell me the paint color name?
Many thanks!