How to Make Plain Ceramic Tiles Look Like Expensive Designer Tiles

Victoria Larsen Stencils
by Victoria Larsen Stencils
We've all had them somewhere that we've lived; Tiles we wish we could change. Find out how I took my silly ivy decal tiles and turned them in to the look of designer tiles with a stencil, joint compound and paint.
Our kitchen had the most ridiculous looking ivy decals creating a border along the tile back splash in our kitchen. They made the kitchen look so outdated (1970's?)
I taped the tiles off and added grout protection in between each tile with caulk. I later would realize that I sort of liked the raised grout idea.
The tiles were primed with premium pro primer from Zinsers (which sticks beautifully to even high gloss, slick surfaces). Love the stuff!
I found a design I liked in our Raised Plaster Stencils arsenal and created a raised design by applying joint compound over the stencil.
Allow the joint compound to dry completely.
I then painted the tiles a soft brown color with standard acrylic wall paint.
I sponged light cream colored paint over the tile to give it some color variation.
To give the design more depth, I sponged darker brown paint just over the design and blended it well.
To add a little glamour, I painted just the raised design with metallic gold acrylic paint.
I decided I actually like the raised grout between the tiles so I decided not to pull of the protective grout. Once the design was dry, I then sealed my new decorative tiles with clear, non-yellowing polyurethane.
Now my silly little Ivy tiles were now replaced with something more modern and pretty to match my newly faux finished counter tops. What a difference!


You can do this with any ceramic tile. If considering the inside of a shower, do seal with marine varnish instead.
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