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After seeing the great before and after from @elmac , and receiving a crazy large quote to rip out and redo my bathrooms, I decided I'd start a steady cosmetic reno by painting the tiles. I figured if I had a bad result I'd suck it up and rip out/redo at some point. I had previously painted my ugly grey 1995 kitchen cupboards white three years ago with White Knight and had a good result.
This time I used the Dulux Renovator Range, using the white colour off the shelf with no tinting. My existing tiles were an off white colour with grey marbling.
I started by cleaning the tiles with a green scourer/sponge to ensure there was no soap residue etc.
Then electric sander with 120 grit (my trusty Ozito 18V Detail Sander - I love it - use it all the time)
Then a light hand sand with 400 grit.
Then
1L Dulux Primer 1 coat, wait 4 hours
1L Dulux Renovation Range Tiles & Benchtops Satin White 2 coats, wait 8 hours after each coat. Yes 2 coats are essential.
(I would have bought gloss rather than satin but my Bunnings was out of stock of the gloss)
1L Dulux Renovation Range Clear Coat Gloss 1 coat
All four coats took 2 days/2 nights. Light hand sand using 400 grit between coats.
Tools:
Paint brush for cutting in. I used a 75mm and would suggest you also have a 20mm if you have to paint around taps that are close to the bath/spout as I did. Very easy to wash out with water.
Uni pro mini rollers - I used 7 as I am too lazy to wash them.
Teaspoon handle to open the paint tins.
Old fork to stir the paints.
Chux, microfibre cloth etc to wipe away drops
Old towel to put my paint tin on, I'm a bit messy.
Stanley knife - see tips below!
My tips:
- I didn't bother taping. I'm a bit lazy, but there also tends to be decent 'edges' with tiles or a mm or two between surfaces which means it's not necessary if you have a steady hand.
- YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ANY CLEAR SEALER / SILICONE ! I didn't even notice that I had clear sealer until I realised the paint wasn't sticking along one edge. I thought I'd just do a few coats over the clear silicone and eventually the paint would stick - but no friends it doesn't! It wasn't the end of the world but it was a bit annoying as I had to scrape off 2cm of paint and silicone on the edge, then re-prime and re-paint. Get your stanley knife around the edges to check if you have clear silicone before you start priming.
- As with all painting, go back and check a few times to make sure you don't have any drips, especially on groutlines. Use an unloaded roller over the end of each coat which will help get rid of drips. I found this paint good quality and really easy to work with.
- As others have found I had LOADS of paint left over. So I did my kitchen splashback as well, which used up the rest of the white paint. I still have at least a third of a tin of the primer and clear coat left over.
- Note the primer only has a pot life of 3 days, so if you're planning on doing more than one room with it, you'll need to at least prime the second room fairly quickly after the first. The white paint and clear coat has a pot life of 10 days.
That's it! It was easy to use and easy to do. My result is not as dramatic as others as my tiles were a lightish colour anyway, but I'm ecstatic with the result which is way better than the photos show. It's a real brightener and the tiles look new.
Definitely recommend.
