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Give Your Bathroom Tiles a Makeover with Fresh Paint

3 minutes
In a bathroom, the main protagonists are its tiles. So, we can't leave them looking worn or chipped. Before removing them and putting in new ones, a great idea to consider is giving them a fresh coat of paint instead.
Give Your Bathroom Tiles a Makeover with Fresh Paint
Last update: 21 May, 2019

Are you sick of looking at the same bathroom or are you looking for something a little more modern to freshen things up? You don’t need to start an entire home project that’ll break the bank. Instead, you could paint your bathroom tiles and liven things up. In our post today we’ll fill you in on how to do it.

In a bathroom, tiles are the main feature. So, we can’t have them with stains or chips. But before removing them and putting up new ones, a great idea to try instead is giving them a fresh coat of paint.

Why paint your bathroom tiles?

Painting tiles is an interesting way to change up a room. Taking the time to do a careful, clean job, we can save ourselves from costly errors.

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You can paint bathroom tiles with specially designed paint that doesn’t peel off with humidity, high temperatures, steam or cleaning. In addition, you don’t have to paint over all of them, you can choose instead to just work on the ones that need it.

And, if you’re creative or arty, you could even use different colors or designs by using stencils (such as flower or marine animal stencils).

Pointers on the different ways to paint bathroom tiles

Are you sick of how your bathroom looks? Then you should try painting your wall tiles. Test it out first before you tackle the entire project to see how different colors or designs would look.

If you’ve decided to paint your bathroom tiles, we’d like to share some ways and techniques that you might find helpful:

1. Choose your paint

Going beyond colors (or actually, before choosing them) you need to find a tile paint with Teflon protection to repel water, which is recommended for bathroom walls and ceilings.

Before starting with your first coat, we suggest priming your walls with multipurpose acrylic primer. Using primer will allow you to fill any holes in the tiles, translating into an easier paint job.

Another option to consider is anti-condensation paint, which prevents mold and mildew. A plus side that this option has is that it only requires one coat because it paints on easily.

2. Choose your color

To make the best choice for your bathroom tile color, you should think about a few aspects like general design, the color of your decor or even the style that you want to create for your bathroom.

Darker colors are for more “sophisticated” bathrooms (like the ones that appear in decor magazines or in 5-star hotels). Light colors give bathrooms “joy” and light while you can’t go wrong with neutral colors because they go well with everything.

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White is your safest bet because it looks fine in any kind of decor. In addition, it’ll make your bathroom look bigger and, of course, brighter.

3. Just paint one wall

If painting all of your bathroom tiles isn’t a good option for you, another idea is just painting the upper parts of the walls and leaving the bottom tiles as they are. This will make for a lovely mix of unpainted and painted tiles while preventing the paint from distorting or getting dirty.

However, you would have to choose two colors that look good together and go with the rest of your bathroom. Here’s a trick: use a light color with a dark one as contrasts usually create the perfect effect.

You can paint your bathroom tiles in one color and after, draw on a special design or stick one on. Buy a stencil (or make your own with some masking tape) and use a sponge or a thin paintbrush. You can also try painting the tiles using different colors (for example, one blue, three white and another blue) or even paint on flowers or another design with a paintbrush.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


María Colbert, Abby Kanter, James Ryan, M. S. (2010). Azulejo. Learning Site.