The bathroom hadn’t been updated in over 20 years and I can confirm it did not age gracefully. The second we laid eyes on this bathroom, we knew it needed a facelift, however facelift wasn’t in the budget so we settled for a makeover. I always find it so satisfying how a little paint can transform a room.

With all the supply and demand issues happening at the moment, it took forever to track down the Rustoleum Tub & Tile kit in white. This specific brand was sold out everywhere, but one day four cans popped up on Amazon and I purchased immediately. I was so nervous to actually commit to painting the tile, the cans sat in the basement for about 2 months. I just kept thinking what if it went horribly wrong… then we would forces to give the bathroom a facelift. One day I woke up and decided that today is the day I am going for it. My plan was to have us shower at the gym the rest of the week while the tiles dry and cure — man was I dreaming. The fumes were so aggressive it forced us to temporarily move into Paul’s parents for the week.

Ok…

Let’s start with the scent — WOW!!! The reviews and videos online make it sound like it smells bad, wear a mask… BUT, what they really should say is the smell could clear out an entire apartment floor, your clothes might smell like chemicals for at least a week and your eyes may potentially burn from the fumes. In addition to a mask, use every fan and open every door and window you can. If I had THAT warning, I would have been better prepared for the adventure I was about to embark on. Call me dramatic, but it’s the truth the fumes were no joke and I feel that I need to call it out. With all that being said, would I do it again? YES. The end result was 100% worth it.

Quick Tips:

1. A lot of articles I read and videos I watched said to clean, sand, clean — so I did. But honestly, if I were to do it again, I would sand first and then excessively clean. I didn’t see a reason to clean twice. Also, in the areas I spent scrubbing, sanding the area would have taken a fraction of the time. You might question the sanding part, I definitely did, but sanding is necessary. The sand paper is so fine I wasn’t even sure that the sanding was doing anything (the tiles were still shiny and not scuffed up), but then I got to a few tiles with excess grout or that were just super dirty and realized the purpose of sanding was to remove excess debris to make sure the surface was as smooth as possible.
2. Tape off any areas that you don’t want painted. This paint is heavy duty and not meant to come off so if you paint outside the lines make sure to wipe it up with a wet rag immediately. 
3. To remove the fuzz on the paint rollers you can tape them and then remove.
4. Purchase additional filters for your mask and change them once you start to smell the fumes. Buy more than you think you need.  We went through 4 filters each.
5. Purchase additional rollers so that you can change them out if they start to leave fuzz behind. In the moment I said whatever I don’t care, but it’s noticeable.  
6. THREE COATS. Don’t even think about doing two coats. It’s an annoying necessary step since it is suggested to wait 24 hours for the third coat, but this should be non-negotiable. If you are going through the hassle of doing this project, do it right! Paint 3 coats.

Good luck!

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