My number one tip when doing your own renovations? Probably don’t do it with an energetic, tantrum chucking, almost 3 year old and a new baby… 🙈 We purchased our first home just over a year a go. Built in the 90’s it is actually still a pretty modern looking house thanks to its simple colour scheme of grey and white. EXCEPT in our bathroom and ensuite. Why oh why the previous owners decided to tile and paint these rooms in a charming, light pink is beyond me!? Apart from the special selection of hard finishes, both the bathroom and master ensuite were in great condition. No broken tiles. No flaking paint. White bath tub. White basins. Fairly simple bathrooms to spruce up on a budget. One day, perhaps when the kids are older and we have the time and money, we will do an actual rip out everything and start again renovation. But for now just having a bathroom which isn’t pink satisfies us.

I, like many others lust over all white bathrooms. So there was no question to what colour ours was going to become. Well, my husband tried to have a say, but I shut that down pretty quick. I’m the decorator. Dont even 🤚White in a bathroom is always a safe decicious because white doesn’t date. When trends change, simply change the accessories and you’ve got a whole new look. So step one was to cover the horror which is the flecked pink floor and wall tiles. Oh and don’t forget about the swirly pink feature tiles. Mmm. I knew of a few tile paint products but was unsure to if there was one that could be used on floors so off to Bunnings we went.

We decided to go with the Rustoleum brand tile paint kit as it was a brand I had worked with before and trusted. And their product was suitable for wall and floor tiles. The kit retails at $107 at Bunnings and can be found here. The colour is Aspen white which is a bright white and the finish to the paint is textured/rough. The kit covers up to 5 square meters. It can be painted over existing tiles and grout, making it ideal for wall tiles in showers or surrounding a tub, kitchen backsplashes and ceramic tile countertops. And as mentioned before, it is even durable enough to be used on floors. With some other brands of tile paint, you need to clean and prime the tiles and then paint. With the Rustoleum brand, it’s simply a matter of cleaning the tiles with the cleaning product provided with the kit. And then painting on the tile paint.

You know when your hair dye says leave on for 30 minutes and you think ‘ah, I’ll just leave it on for 45’? Well, don’t do that with tile paint. Trust me. We learnt the hard way. The instructions on the tile paint kit clearly state to use the tile paint within 90 minutes of mixing the two parts together. And when they say 90 minutes, they mean 90 minutes. We were overly cautious, making sure every inch of pink tile was being covered and before we knew it, the paint was beginning to thicken, become sticky and set. There was still half a tin left 🙈 And so back to Bunnings we went! Another $107 later… Needless to say, we worked quick with the second kit! So if you are undertaking a similar project, have everything ready in advance and don’t be too fussy. Paint and roll to get that stuff on! Rustoleum also recommend that two people do the painting. One cutting in over the grout and the other rolling over the tiles behind them. The kit doesn’t come with a paintbrush but do get one as the roller can miss the grout. The kit comes with a little roller which when you see will make you think that you’ll be painting tiles for days, but it makes it so easy to apply and the small roller gives it a nice finish too. *I should add that you only need to roll on one coat as the paint itself is very thick.

Warning, you may get high whilst painting. The smell is overpowering, as can only be expected to something that has to be so hardy. So make sure you’ve got your safety goggles and face mask on. Open a window and pop your ceiling fan on too if you have one. Or enjoy the high, your choice. So after 24 hours, the paint is safe to walk on and to use water on. SO many people have asked me how it wears. I cannot answer that as the paint has only been on there for a few weeks. The paint sets rock hard, as throw out all the painting equipment after you’re done hard. And if you get the paint on you, it’s there forever. You have white hands now. So I would expect the paint to ware well over the tiles too. I do get that it will, in time, ware. And when we started this project we were fully aware of that. Bathrooms are a high use area, which are constantly wet, so I have no doubt that it will eventually ware down. It is a paint after all. Like I said before, it’s budget friendly and does the job until we can fully renovate in the future.

So what else did we change in the rooms. The ensuite is floor to wall tile, so we just needed the tile paint. The bathroom however was half tiles, half plaster board wall, so we needed to paint over them as they, like the tile, were pink! We were lucky that the previous owners left tins of wall paint, which the rest of the house is painted in, in the shed. Unfortunately I don’t know the colour as it wasn’t written on the tin. So now our house is all one colour and pink be gone! We decided to change the tap ware in both rooms as what was there was cheap, nasty, rusty and broken. And cream. Cream was bringing down the white so cream had to go. We liked the Mondella tap ware range at Bunnings. Simple chrome finish, classic design. Priced between $50-$100 for the shower, basin and bath sets. Easy to install, my husband did it himself. We were lucky that our bath was white and not pastel pink or blue like some people have, so we didn’t need to paint it. There are products on the market for painting over baths if you need to though. My sister used it and although tricky to use and gets you even higher than tile paint, does a great job at transforming a bath or basin. You can also buy laminate paint which we still might use as the doors of our vanity cupboards are still pink. Deciding still if to paint over them or replace them all together… The counter tops are mottled grey which is fine and so we will probably leave as is. Talk to the paint staff at your local Bunnings or paint store to find out more about these paints. You can pretty much paint over any surface these days!

Lace curtains. In a bathroom. Yep, we had that too! #soblessed White lace curtains so full of dust that they had an almost grey tinge. And so crispy from sunlight that they crumbled in your hands. Can honestly say I was not one bit sad to see them go! We decided to install Venetian blinds in both the bathroom and ensuite. DIY Online Blinds are an Australian owned company selling designer quality blinds that you would pay double for in your traditional brick and mortar retailers. They express post samples out for free, guarantee to beat any price on custom made blinds of the same quality and have a huge range of indoor blinds which all come with a 5 year warranty. We chose the 63cm DIY Venetian Visionwood  as they are water proof so perfect for wet areas. Guaranteed never to blister, peel, or warp. Perfect! Evan from DIY Online Blinds sent us a free sample of the Visionwood range and we chose the ‘Glass‘ colour option. It’s a bright white but not the brightest white from the range as the wall colour in the bathroom wasn’t a vivid white and we wanted it to blend in with that. Initially my husband wanted to go with a dark grey blind but I convinced him that keeping the whole room white would be a better decision as it would keep the room looking fresh, give the appearance of it being larger (a darker blind would close in the space), and it would be better for resale if we went down that road in the future. The blind arrived in no time at all and my husband installed it himself in 10 minutes, super easy! We are both so impressed with the quality of the blinds and the down to earth, genuine service we received from DIY Online Blinds. We will definetly be ordering from them again in future!

So our once pink bathroom and ensuite are no more. Instead, we have gorgeous white and bright spaces which now match the rest of our home. We did it on a budget and in no time at all. Just goes to show that renovating can be achieved on a smaller budget and you can do it all yourself! And I’m now proud to show off our bathroom to my friends, family and followers. You’ll often find me standing at the door admiring it. My husband is understandably worried about me…

Zoe – THE DIY DECORATOR 

• Tile Paint: Rustoleum (via Bunnings)
• Blinds: DIY Online Blinds
• Tap Ware: Bunnings 
• Mirror: Kmart
• Timber Stool: Matt Blatt Furniture
• Shower Caddy: Kmart
• Bath Caddy: Made using parts of the Kmart bamboo towel rack
• Floor Mat: Bunnings
• Candles: Milkies Candle Co.
• Towel: BigW