The home decor rebels, the DIY pioneers, the homeowners on a budget…And when we see a paintbrush we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can paint their floors, are the ones who do…

Oh yes we finally got crazy and said goodbye to red, brown, orange, yellow, and lime green glass tile inserts.

Some may argue the glass tiles don’t look too bad, some may say they’ve seen uglier…How about a close up then?

After we painted the fireplace gray and started priming away the mustard yellow walls, the tile was now the last piece of the ugly puzzle.
WARNING: Painting tile by hand is not for the faint of heart. You WILL be sore and curse yourself an hour into it. Imagine painting at least a hundred finger nails and you’ll get the idea.
However if you have a tiny budget (and are half way desperate) then this project is for you.
We already planned to patch the kitchen grout and even lighten it up with grout renew. While out shopping we discovered that grout renew in antique white was nearly the exact shade as Glidden’s natural linen paint. (The guys at Home Depot let me test it) It was a sign, so we asked them to match Glidden’s gripper primer to the color.

We also picked up a can of clear high gloss paint, since the primer would need a protective coat.

Once home, and still asking ourselves should we really do it, we cleaned and sanded each of the tiles.

The painting required two coats of primer and two coats of clear enamel. I worked in rotation and strategically blocked areas off from the dogs who wanted to help.

The hardest part of painting tiles was the tiny black dog hairs. Despite a pre painting vacuum and mopping, I was still picking and brushing them away from wet paint. It was tedious at times but a vast improvement from lime green and burgundy.

Our little eat-in kitchen is slowly coming together. Are painted floors going to stay? Maybe, or maybe not, but for now they are a low cost and even easier alternative to chipping out and tile replacement. We’ll be sure to post updates on how our floors stand up to high traffic, dogs and parties in the weeks to come. In the meantime, to all our fellow crazies, have a Happy Sunday everyone!