Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

 I'm always looking for easy and inexpensive ways to decorate our home. I love the look of tile in a bathroom, but it can be pricey. Keeping those grout lines clean can be a chore too....Boys and bathrooms...need I say more?!

 A few years ago, when we were finishing our basement, the money for tiles just wasn't available, so I came up with another solution. We had already painted our basement floor and liked the way it turned out, so why not the walls?

 Today, I'm going to show you how we did our bathroom walls with the same faux painting technique we used on our floor.

Faux painting with a sponge.
 The first step is to paint a base coat in whatever colour you choose for the grout lines. We used an ivory latex. Then measure and tape off the squares for the tiles, using 6mm (1/4 inch) paint tape. We did 12 inch squares, and lined them up, rather than staggering them as we did on the floor.


Mark off squares with paint tape.

You'll need a paint brush and a sponge. Sea sponges work best, but I used a regular soft sponge and tore some pieces from it to create more of a pattern.
Pick three paint colours. We chose: light blue, tan, and ivory.

Choose 3 colors for faux painting

And start painting!

Sponge paint on walls for faux painting tiles


Use the paint brush to dab the paint on the wall, one square at a time.

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

Then use the sponge to blend the colours, dabbing and turning it
  in different directions as you go around the square.

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls


Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

Be sure to get right out to the edges, covering the tape.

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls


Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

A couple of hours later, remove the tape. It should come off easily.

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

Almost done.

Faux Painted Ceramic Tile Walls in a Bathroom

We painted a strip of wood trim the same way, 
and added it along the top edge.

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls

We put a clear coat of varathane on top of the paint to
 make it look even more like real ceramic tile. 
Clean up is easy, and no grout to worry about!
Perfect solution for the boys bathroom!

Faux Painting Ceramic Tile Walls in a Bathroom

I really like the way the walls turned out, and three years later, they are still in great shape! For more detail on how to apply the paint, you can visit my other post on faux painting: Faux Painting a Concrete Floor.



3 comments:

  1. That was suspenseful! I couldn't wait to get to the end and see how it came out. It came out really nice! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! It turned out wonderful, Deb!

    ReplyDelete
  3. A little paint can make such a big change. Looks really good.

    ReplyDelete

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