How to Paint a Ceramic Tile Backsplash

  • 2-6 hours
  • Beginner
  • 50-125
What You'll Need
Oxygen Bleach
Brush
Urethane Paint
Urethane Preservative
Masking Tape
What You'll Need
Oxygen Bleach
Brush
Urethane Paint
Urethane Preservative
Masking Tape

The last thing you would think of is painting your ceramic tile backsplash. But just in case you think the idea is absurd, it isn’t impossible. The only problem is that there are a number of things that you have to take into consideration for your designs to be preserved.

Step 1 - Prepare Your Ceramic Tile

It’s extremely important that you prime your ceramic tile well before you begin any painting job. You will be able to come up with ceramic tiles that will last longer and look better with clean, well-scrubbed tiles. Although you can always remove any kind of impurity sticking on your ceramic tiles with simple water, soap and elbow grease, you can also try oxygen bleach to clean heavily soiled tiles and grout. To do this, simply mix oxygen bleach powder and water and soak your tiles with the solution for at least 10 minutes, after which you can start with the scrubbing. Let your tiles and grout dry for two days.

Step 2 – Choose the Right Paint

The best environmentally-friendly paint that you can use for your ceramic tiles is the water-based urethane resin. No matter how great your paint is, there are just ceramic tiles that won’t hold designs well. Steer off ceramic tiles that are often exposed to water.

Step 3 – Paint Designs

There are many ways for you to design your tile backsplash. The most common thing that people do is to simply apply one coat of paint. This can be your strategy if you’re going for a minimalist look. But you can always spice up solid colors with a few prints. There are a lot of stencil designs that you can choose from to make your paint job easier. If you’re feeling really confident with your artistic skills, go paint something freehand. The important thing is that your design meshes well with the over-all design of your room.

Step 4 – Preserve Your Ceramic Tile Designs

You have to let the designs stick and dry for at least two days. When you’ve allowed your design to dry for that long, you can proceed to treating the entire thing with a preservative that is urethane based. This will keep your designs from turning yellow with time.

Step 5 – Address Your Grout

You can choose to paint your grout the same color or a complementary color with your ceramic tiles. But if you’d rather not, keep your grout free from paint with the use of masking tape - otherwise it’s going to be really difficult for you to repair the damage afterwards.