Hey everyone! I’m popping in to share a much-asked-for update on whether the painted tile floor in our bathroom has held up. It’s been over a few years now 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}) so I figured it was time for a follow-up post. 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: (this post includes some affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})
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.
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):
XOXO,
I 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!
Wow – that’s a long time so that’s great to know! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the update on your tile. I think it looks great. It looks very clean and bright.
Thank you so much Debbie!
This is beautiful! I was considering painting the tile in my upstairs bathroom. You mentioned your bathroom is a powder room. Do think this type of floor would hold up in a bathroom that contains a shower? Obviously the floor would be prone to drips. I guess patios get rained on all the time, so it should hold up, right?
Kris,
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
Bummer that you had a rainy Memorial Day weekend – hopefully the sun came out on Monday at least!
Happy 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!
That’s good to know that Liquid Fence has worked for you! Sounds like the Bobbex – super stinky but effective!
Appreciate 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.
Mine 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.
Love 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!
Hi 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
I 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…
Love how this turned out! Think it would work for kitchen wall backsplash?
Yes I think you could totally do this on a kitchen backsplash!
Ohhhh 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!!
Hi 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.
course
Hi 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!
Hi 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 ?
I used the low sheen and am amazed by how well it’s stood the test of time!
Hello! 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!
Thank you for the update! I have hideous tile floors in my master and I really want to re-paint them. Everyone thinks I am crazy but I am going to go for it!
Hello! I’m really wanting to do the same thing in one of my bathrooms. The tile is just horrible., but I do not want to spend a lot of money on a big bathroom renovation right now.
I am wondering about the grout part. It’s seems that if you were going to paint the tile with a roller, you would not need to use a paintbrush on the grout. Could you help me to understand why you did the grout with a paint brush if you already went over it with a roller brush?
Your bathroom looks amazing!! Thank you so much for posting this update too, on how it looks 20 mo’s later.
My grout is recessed a bit from the tile so rolling over the tile wasn’t getting the grout entirely painted – it was easier to first brush some paint on the grout lines. If your tile is different and you get good grout coverage with your roller, you could do without the brush!
Any recommendations on how to touch up areas where the paint simply chipped off? I have two spots that need touch up paint but when I tried re painting it looks totally different and doesn’t blend. Maybe because of the polyurethane seal? Help!
Touch up can be tricky if they were polyurethaned – you’d probably have to sand the edges of the chip smooth first to help it blend.
Hi! Love this post! What a beautiful job! I’ve decided to paint my bathroom tiles to hide the 90’s brown tile! I’ve already used the STIX primer. I’m looking for the BM floor and patio paint. I see there are several options…urethane, epoxy and water. Do you remember which one you used? I apologize in advance if you’ve already mentioned this. I didn’t see it in the post. Thanks so much for the great idea!
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
Just curious, is the floor slick when wet? Looks lovely!!
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?
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.
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!
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.