When I painted the floor tiles in our powder room (see my post on how to paint a tile floor for details), I LOVED the result but wasn’t sure how long it would last. We lived with our painted tile floor for four years before selling our house to move to NC so I decided it was time to share a four year later update! (post includes commissionable links; for more information, see my full disclosure statement {here})
As a reminder, this is what the tile floors in our powder room looked like originally:
And here’s a pic of our powder room floor after it was painted:
Looking good right?! Overall, I am VERY happy with how our painted tile floors held up! Let’s zoom on in so I can show you in detail how they’ve worn.
The most heavily trafficked areas of this bathroom were the area where you walk in, in front of the sink, and in front of the toilet. The first two areas look pretty much the same four years later as when they were first painted. 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 lightly scrubbing with {these Mr. Clean Magic Erasers} does a great job of removing the grime without removing the paint. 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. I wouldn’t recommend using Magic Erasers for regular weekly cleaning (warm water and mild soap will do the trick for that) but it’s a great secret weapon to use on occasional built-up grime.
The area in front of the toilet is the one area that showed 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:
The scrapes occurred on a day when we were having yard work done and a few of the guys used this bathroom (I’m guessing that one of them had a stone in his work boots). Some of the teeny marks were likely just wear and tear from use over time, as everyone who worked on our before and after kitchen remodel used this bathroom.
Fortunately, the scrapes and marks were easy to fix! Shortly before selling our house, I sanded the marks smooth with fine grit sandpaper, cleaned our entire floor, and re-coated it with two coats of paint. It looked new again!
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So would I still recommend painting your tile floor? Absolutely! Overall they wore really well and touching them up was quick and easy. So if you paint your tile and don’t use a top coat (which is what I did), plan on re-coating your floors every few years to keep them looking great. If you don’t want to have to re-coat your floors 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.
Have any questions? Ask away!
Mladen says
I like gray color of tiles. Can you tell me RAL number of gray color? Thank you.
Jenny Hanley says
Hi Kris! I’ve painted my bathroom floor as well with a similar process, but it hasn’t lasted… I’m preparing to re-paint because I don’t have the budget to tile right now, but I’m hoping you can help me figure out how I messed up?
After prep I used Behr Bonding Primer (advertised for tile) and then my paint, just as you have, and I did get a couple of scuffs from a rock (I assume), but the big issue is the lifting of paint and primer at the entrance to the shower. I use a bath mat, but the tile does get moisture, and it seems even a little will cause it to lift. Are you experiencing the same issue? Will using your recommended primer be the solution?
Thanks!
Kris Jarrett says
Hi Jenny – I’ve never used Behr’s primer so am not sure if that’s your issue or not. The Stix primer I recommend has always stuck like glue to anything I’ve used it on. If your tile is slick, be sure to rough it up with a little sandpaper before applying the primer. We never had the primer + paint lifting in any spots in our bathroom and ours has a shower too.
Jaime V says
Great work, looks amazing! Nice to know it held up so well. I wonder if tinting the primer would have helped hide the scratch more? You can see it only went to the primer level and not the level of the old red tile. Good to know the primer is holding up so well too.
L. Hart says
I just saved your post that describes how you painted your bathroom tile floors and can’t wait to try it on mine. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, my floors, vanity, shower stall, and half of the walls are all hot pink and green tile. The tile is in beautiful condition, but I’m not loving the colors. Can I use the same technique to paint the walls that you used to paint the floors? I’ve already purchased a tub and tile refinisher kit for the vanity and shower stall.
Thanks!
Nicole says
Your article is very helpful! Wondering if adding a polyurethane coat would make the floors more slippery when exiting the tub? Do you find just the paint coat to be the same as a ceramic tile in comaprison when wet?
Kris Jarrett says
I would expect that how slippery it would be is similar to that of hardwood floors since those are coated with polyurethane. And yes, I don’t find my painted tile to be any more or less slippery than it was unpainted – it’s about the same.
Sheri Gibson says
Just curious, is the floor slick when wet? Looks lovely!!
Marilyn says
Hi Kris,
I so enjoy your blog. I have read and reread the article about you painting your tiles. It inspired me to paint the faded vinyl floor in my second bath. I’m in the midst of that now, have cleaned, sanded, cleaned again and primed the floor. Now I must paint and topcoat. Other bloggers have written that polyethylene yellows unless you are careful to get the non yellowing kind. I thought I’d mention this because your light gray floors are so beautiful and I’d hate to see them ruined by yellowing. I’m so glad you posted an update on how they’re wearing.
Marilyn