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.

 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.

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.

And start painting!

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

Then use the sponge to blend the colours, dabbing and turning it

  in different directions as you go around the square.

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

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

Almost done.

We painted a strip of wood trim the same way, 

and added it along the top edge.

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!

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.