Painting over old tiles

[Jaffakake]

Hello,

Just bought a house with an eight year old kitchen in a style even my 60 year old mother would consider dated! I was thinking of painting over the tiles and using tile transfers to glam it up a bit.

Does anyone think this is a bad idea? (No-one I've spoken to seems to think it is, but it all feels a bit "Changing Rooms" cheap to me!)
Can anyone recommend a primer / paint product that they found particularly good?
Any other advice?

Cheers.

 

[breezer]

i wouldn't paint the tiles. (just my opinion)
but if you were to re tile it you can leave the existing tiles there, if you painted it you would be tiling onto paint, not tiles.

i presume you have given the tiles a very good clean with something like sugar soap?

odd "tranfer ok", but no more than 1/ 2sqm (again just my opinion)

 

[GRC]

I used Krypton Tile Paint from B&Q recently; points to note;

They suggest painting over existing grout then filling in grout lines with grout pen after painting - I opted to rake grout out, paint, then re-grout. However, need to ensure that after grout is raked out, all traces of dust and grit are hoovered out thoroughly, cos the paint is VERY revealing of dirt, and brush marks.

It dries very quickly, so you need to make sure not to leave any edges to dry whilst you paint somewhere else. Work fast.

It needs two coats at least. One coat chips very easily, and it's not easy to fill in a chip.

Tiles must be scrupulously clean before painting; clean with sugar soap and wipe down with dilute bleach beforehand.

Regards, Graham

 

[Jaffakake]

Graham:
Did you use a brush or a roller?

 

[Panjandrum]

I didn't want to paint the tiles, but couldn't afford any alternative and "the designer" insisted. So I cleaned them off, fairly well, and painted with oil-based undercoat and eggshell. It did a grand job for years, although in the end the inevitable chips in the paint were again showing the shiny navy blue tiles on the bathroom wall - ALL the bathroom walls, floor to ceiling.

 

[Fizz]

Never, NEVER, paint tiles!
It is a quick, cheap, fix that looks okay whilst you are showing potential buyers round, but then chips off the minute of completion! If you don't like your tiles, it really is better just to stick new ones directly on top. Trying to get the old ones off is horrendous and can be very costly when it starts pulling the walls off with them!

 

[GRC]

I used a brush to apply the Krypton paint.

To those who say 'tile over existing tiles' - you obviously don't have any external corners, plastic trim pieces, or window recesses to tile over......
dare I suggest tiling over old tiles is easy if you just have one wall to tile - how about three walls, three surfaces of window recess, one box section in the corner, and plastic trims around the window and box section?

Any suggestions for coping with these would be appreciated.

Regards, Graham