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!
Dianna says
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!
Brenda says
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!
Kris Jarrett says
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.
Elizabeth Marshall says
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.
Kris Jarrett says
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!
Megan says
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!
Kristin says
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!
Kelly says
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 ?
Kris Jarrett says
I used the low sheen and am amazed by how well it’s stood the test of time!
Bev says
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.
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Kris Jarrett says
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!
Anonymous says
I used porch paint on my stairs after I I removed the carpet and after 2 years it’s held up better than I expected. I have 2 dogs and none of the wear and tear is due to their nail as the area of wear is on the edge of the stairs.
I did it as an experiment because the steps are just cheap partical board and I didnt want to go thru the work of installing wood steps. They don’t look perfect because I didnt do any sanding or wood filler to smooth out any gouges from pulling out the staples but I bet I could get it to look better with a 2nd coat of porch paint.
Abby says
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!!
Kristi says
Love how this turned out! Think it would work for kitchen wall backsplash?
Kris Jarrett says
Yes I think you could totally do this on a kitchen backsplash!
Tanzis says
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
Kris Jarrett says
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…
Smiley Mom says
Yes! You can paint tub and shower enclosures. I used the same technique as Kris and it’s holding up great one year later. Please note that I did not sand my tile, but I did use the stripper/cleaner, which was necessary in the showers. .
I also painted 3 bathroom countertops and only one has a minor chip from something dropped on it. I can easily do a touch up.
I hadn’t tried the floor, but I’m inspired by Kris and am off to the paint store today.
Smiley Mom says
See my reply below Kris’ re shower walls. You can paint them too!!
Mansa says
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!
Carol says
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.
Kris Jarrett says
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.
Gail Storti says
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!
Kris Jarrett says
That’s good to know that Liquid Fence has worked for you! Sounds like the Bobbex – super stinky but effective!
Karen Bunch says
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
Kris Jarrett says
Bummer that you had a rainy Memorial Day weekend – hopefully the sun came out on Monday at least!
Debbie says
Thanks for the update on your tile. I think it looks great. It looks very clean and bright.
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you so much Debbie!
Pamela J Draper says
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?
Donna says
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!
Kris Jarrett says
Wow – that’s a long time so that’s great to know! Thanks for sharing!