Painting kitchen tiles... should I?

[surlycurly]

Has anyone painted kitchen tiles? If so do they look ok or a mess? Mine are navy so they'll be unforgiving if a mess

It can occasionally look ok when done properly but it never lasts long before it starts flaking/bubbling. Tile stickers give a better result but they're not perfect either.

TBH the best thing to do with tiles you don't like is to keep them super clean and wait until they can be replaced.

I have, and they looked SO much better. They've lasted over 5 years now and still look good. Make sure there are no gaps in the grout though first, as you'll paint over the while lot and the gaps suddenly look more noticeable (and then you can't fill them in again coz it would look just as wrong!)
I used an oil based gloss paint.

I am thinking of doing this as I can't replace, but the colour is so horrible (to me!).
My friend did in his kitchen- a pale baby blue, and it looked ok unless you were examining extremely closely. He only had a v small kitchen (like 3x 8!) and the tiles were only between the counter and the wall cupboards. Mine are all over the freaking room....

Typo! Obviously not 3x8! More like 5x 8.

Here's a pic. Crappy kitchen I realise (rental!). I never asked the landlords permission as I figured I'd increased the value . The tiles were those 70s style ones with dimples and were dark brown and green. I painted over them in a glossy cream colour to try to lighten up the kitchen - it worked well (the bits I've circled are where I didn't regrout first,so best to look at the middle row to get a proper view). I think i did it over 7 years ago actually, not 5. There is absolutely no bubbling or peeling anywhere.

I've also done it in my parents bathroom, and again, nothing has bubbled or peeled.

Hey smidge, that actually looks pretty good! It's a nice effect over the patterned tiles I think. When you say oil based gloss, do you mean ordinary gloss paint. Or a specific tile paint?

I did my bathroom ones (floor to ceiling) when we moved in as I couldn't stand them and can't afford to change them at the moment. They look much better and have lasted pretty well. 2 years now.

Well, in the old days gloss used to be oil based. I did those in Australia, where it still is. In England I think a lot of glosses are now water based. I looked at the specific tile paints and didn't see any real difference in the chemical make up. So I went to one of those dulux trade places and asked their advice - they said normal gloss is fine but I got them to mix me up the colour rather than buy a tin off the shelf, as he'd already told me that the trade paint is a better quality than the stuff they sell in b&q or home base etc.
So, long answer short, I ended up using dulux trade gloss. . But if you can find oil based (you know, the suff that requires proper white spirit to clean your brush, rather than says you can clean it using soap and water) then go for that.

Wow they look great! I was thinking about a sage green colour as the rest of the room is white with pale Beech cupboards. Maybe I should stick to white? How did you prep them?

Ooh! I need to know about this. Our kitchen tiles are a yukky orange with a dark orange grout! Do you paint over the grout with the same paint?

Ooh, sage green sounds great, I'd stick to that!
For preparation, I didn't do much to be honest. There are some pre painting cleaning products available, but I just used a good kitchen cleaner to make sure there was no oil/grease or grime. Then rinsed the cleaner off and made sure it was properly dry (ie next day!) before painting.

Yes, I went over the grout too, and quite like the effect - but more to the point
(a) I can't imagine how long it would take to avoid the grout - I think I'd have given up after about 10 tiles, and by then it would have looked messy to go over the top as the paint would have already started to dry (I'm thinking nail polish disasters!) and (b) I think it would be really hard to keep the lines neat.

When I did the bathroom tiles at my parents' house, I didn't do much cleaning prior to painting. They just had a bit of a wipe down tbh.

Smidge did you use a roller or brush?

I used a brush.
I'm not convinced a roller would get good coverage near the grout as it tends to be an indentation.

My advice is to do just one tile width at a time and work vertically. It's not like emulsion where you can just go over missing bits whether wet or dry. With gloss you want to try to keep the brush only touching the wet paint. That way the brush strokes merge together and the paint becomes flat. You want to avoid brushing through tacky, half-dry paint or it'll look a mess.

Ok so I've done it! Cleaned tiles thoroughly. Went to a specialist paint shop and bought a primer that he tinted the same colour as the paint (farrow and ball colour 234). Painted it with that and left for an hour. Then coated with the overcoat in the same colour. Used a foam roller. It got into the grout. The only problem is the bottom tiles where there has been a sealant used to seal the work surface and the tiles. It hasn't covered. The is an inch stripe round the bottom that I'm going to have to find a solution to!!! Argh.

Apart from that it looks terrific!

Well done! But how annoying about the sealant. Can you put new bright white sealant over the top so it has a neat edge and looks there on purpose?

Well done!!! Could you remove grout, paint the bottom bit of tiles and regrout? It's easy, just time consuming to do. Or you could re-grout with a solid colour ie not see through.

Smidge they look great. I'm off to buy tile paint to do mine!!!

Just wondered if any of you are still around and how the tile paint is holding up (also if anyone else has used specialist tile paint rather than gloss.)

I used tile paint from Wilko. Two years ago and they still look fine.

Thanks @flatpack1
Do they stand up to washing ok?
And - sorry- couple of other questions.

is the finish with the Wilks paint gloss or matt

And did you just paint over the grout ?

Did you use roller or brush

Thanks !

I did it. Sugar soaped and left to dry properly, then used 2 coats of light grey tile paint. They look brilliant and have completely changed the kitchen for about £20. Go for it!!

@alphajuliet123 great - can I ask what paint you used ?