Paint Your Bathtub!

Easy
Paint a tub? Sounds crazy, right?
Well, I did it!
I used Rustoleum Tub and Tile to resurface the tub. It's a two part epoxy that you paint on the surface of the tub, but before you get to that part, there is a ton of prep work that you have to do.


Here's a list of materials:


*Rustoleum Tub and Tile


*Patching Compound if you have chips or cracks, I used Bondo.


*Bleach


*Comet


*Lime-A-Way


* grit wet/dry sandpaper


*Respirator - not just a mask, you need a full blown respirator, because... the fumes are awful!


*Foam roller/ paint tray


*Foam craft paint brush


*Small bucket


The tub at the flip house had chips all in the surface.
Step 1: Fix any chips/cracks
Step 2: Follow the cleaning steps on the box...Exactly!


Don't skip any steps, you need each one to make sure that the epoxy adheres the way it should.


Step 3: Put on your mask and let's paint!


Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate! Turn on fans, open windows... anything you can do. I also wouldn't want any kiddos or pets in the house either, unless they are on a different floor or something.


You'll mix the 2 part epoxy together (I did this outside in case I spilled anything). The can says you can add the smaller can to the bigger one, but there isn't much room to stir if you do that. So I used a small bucket and poured my 2 parts in there.
First, I went around all of the faucets, soap dish, outside walls, etc with a small foam brush. I decided to do the tile as well even though it was white already. I wanted the tub and the tile to be the exact same color. No need to worry about the grout around the tile, you just epoxy that too!


The box says you can use a sprayer to apply the epoxy, which would probably give it an awesome finish... but how would you make sure you didn't get it all over the walls? Too much room for error there, so after cutting in with my craft brush, I used a high density 4 foam roller.
Here's how my tub looked after 1 coat. You can still see the Bondo peeking through. Honestly, I was a bit nervous here because it didn't really look good at all.
The 2nd coat really did wonders and if I didn't have that red Bondo underneath where I had to fix the chips, I would have been good here. I came back the next day and applied a 3rd coat with my 2nd box of the epoxy.


Be sure to let the epoxy dry for 3 days before running any water in there.


Here it is:
So, do you have a tub or tile that needs a face-lift?


Want to see more details and some REALLY important things I learned? Check out my post in the link below! I also give links to the products and the best places I found to purchase them!
Karrah @ Mrs Do It Herself
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 47 questions
  • Mel Mel on Feb 01, 2020

    how many times did you paint the tile and tub

  • Lisa james Lisa james on Mar 01, 2020

    Can you use the kit on a fiberglass tub?

  • Kim Lunsford Kim Lunsford on Sep 27, 2021

    How long did this last? I painted our tub with this same paint and followed the directions exactly as stated and in about 2 weeks the paint peeled of in strips.

Comments
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2 of 93 comments
  • Lisa hall Lisa hall on Mar 22, 2021

    Well, I had a window like that at my old house. I replaced the frame which I put on top of the old one so it would stick out a little bit to get a 3D effect and then bought some mosaic tile that I put over the window. The tile was transparent so it allowed the sun to come through which displayed all the colors in the tiles.

  • Kathiejean03 Kathiejean03 on Apr 28, 2021

    I've used a marine apply before on my tub.. its been several years and its chipping around the drain. For a quick fix I spray painted it with Rustoleum gloss spray paint. I will need to breakup the part thats cracking and epoxy it.. now that I have the time. My question is can I ose the rustled spray paint over my shower tile.

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