Painting Ceramic Floor Tiles

I have just finished painting my bathroom floor tiles and I thought it would be a good idea to share the 'how to' with my readers as I myself had searched the internet for tips before i started and found lots of information from others who had already successfully done the same thing. There was lots of different methods and products used and all helped to guide me in deciding what way I wanted to do my own.

Tiles After Painting

Firstly, let me explain that my tiles were ceramic, black, matt and uneven - similar looking to slate (see pic below) and always annoyed me as they never looked clean. The first thing I did was clean the tiles with soapy hot water.  When dry, I cleaned thoroughly with white spirit using an old towel and left to dry.  I then used a multi-purpose primer which I applied with a brush as my bathroom floor area is very small.  If you have a big area to cover you would be better using a roller for this job.  I gave it two coats leaving 24 hours between each.  Luckily, I have two bathrooms which meant I could lock off the one I was working in for a couple of weeks.

Tiles Pre-Painting

For painting the floor tiles I used a concrete floor paint in a beige colour.  I did think about using tile paint but I didn't once see any reference anywhere that told me I could use this on floor tiles so I didn't trust it and went with the concrete floor paint.  I gave 3 coats of this paint leaving at least 24 hours between coats.  When I was sure it was dry and hardened off (72 hours later),  I decided to be extra sure and gave it a final coat of Polyurethane Varnish.  All of this I applied with a brush but again, if painting a large area, a roller would be a better choice.  After varnishing, I again kept the bathroom locked off for another 72 hours just to be sure the varnish had been given time to harden off properly before walking on it.  The result is a lovely clean looking bathroom floor.  Happy days!

If you have any questions, remember you can contact me through the comments below or by filling in the form on the home page.

Light Shade Upgrade

Once I have a paintbrush in my hand and my mind is in 'creative' mode there's no telling what will get a new coat.  This time though, it was the bathroom light shade.  I was giving the bathroom a freshen up by adding some new orange plaquettes that I made (more on this later) and by adding some new orange accessories, but when it came to changing the old black shade I just couldn't part with it, but as it didn't match the new look, and I couldn't find anything as nice, it just had to be painted!  It's a black metal shade with a cut-out design and I really love its ethnic look.

Revamped Shade

Before

The bathroom has a beige base i.e. it's tiled floor to ceiling which means anytime I want to add a new colour I just change the accessories.  Simple.  I went from black to orange - towels, pictures, candles, ornaments, floors - oh I forgot to mention the black floor tiles got painted too (but that's for another post). Everything that was black got changed to orange (except the tiles, they got changed to beige).

The light shade got painted with some chalk paint that I mixed up myself and I had planned on distressing it slightly to let some of the black show through but changed my mind at the last minute and instead I dry-brushed it here and there with some olive green chalk paint and ended up with a really great look that I'm super happy with.  I added a coat of polyeurethane varnish to seal it and that's it, a lovely new look shade as you can see in the pics above.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my light shade upgrade, I'll be posting more on my bathroom makeover soon so don't forget to drop by.