Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

We bid on a house with pink (yes, pink) ceramic tile countertops. It's a deep pink, almost mauve, and the tile size and design itself is cute, I think. But pink? Ugh.

DH suggested painting them. I laughed. I shouldn't have. Because apparently you can do it.

So, I must tell the DH that yes, I was wrong. But before I do, I'd like to know if any of you have done it and what the results were?

This would be a temporary solution - maybe 5 years at most - until the kitchen could be completely redone.

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

My parents had a pink and green bathroom and a marroon and yellow bathroom in their old house. Instead of redoing both bathrooms, they hired this company to come and use a special paint to paint the bathroom tile. It came out really good and lasted a few years before it started to peel in the shower and tub area.

If it is for a temporary thing, I would do it...You should get a few years out of it.

Im not sure what company they used though...This was 15 years ago
Scott

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

Thanks Scott! We would do it ourselves. I like projects like this, especially if I can get an orbital sander or an attachment on a Mikita drill or something.

That article does say that it shouldn't be done in areas that are constantly getting wet, like a shower. I hope it lasts longer on a countertop because how gross would it be to have flaking paint everywhere?

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

You can use a special primer and a special paint to paint tiles, however as its on your countertop, I would say not to do it as it is for areas that are not being used on a regular basis, ie backsplash.

Can you have the countertops removed and redone? Thats not a huge job.

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

Thanks for the info! I thought I might find something somewhere saying this is not meant for a countertop but haven't seen that yet. Did you read that somewhere, that it's only meant to be for a backsplash? Does it increase the danger of toxicity or something?

It's just something to do to live with what's there - we do plan on redoing the whole thing so I don't want to spend money on something that will be replaced in a couple of years anyway.

It just sounded like a nice in-between solution that we could do ourselves, you know?

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

I would not do this. One thing you can do is go over the tile with cement board and then retile(that will be pricey probably) Or I would look into a new counter-even if you go with formica--it can be inexpensive. I think with cleaning the counters(I clean mine about 20 times a day) that the paint will be peeling on you in months.

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

I noticed the pink countertops in the pictures but I knew I didn't have to say anything to you about it.

You might want to just live with it for a little while or you could look into granite tile countertops which is cheaper than whole pieces of granite for new countertops.

Either way, I want an invite when you are moved in.

Message edited 8/21/2007 10:51:11 AM.

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

They show this sometimes on flip that house. I have only seen it done by the Montelongo's (sp?).

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

Posted by Superkat

Either way, I want an invite when you are moved in.

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

we thought about doing this in our bathroom, but then DH started reading on lots of forums that it doesn't really last very long.

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

You have FM!

Re: Anyone ever paint ceramic tile?

I almost did it once but I was scared of the short term results.

I think if you are handy (or slighly handy), you can just remove the tile carefully and retile. As long as you don't damage the plywood under the tile. It's messy but fairly easy.