BRINGING OUR TUB BACK TO LIFE WITH RUST-OLEUM TUB + TILE PAINT

Kathleen Vitorio
Feb 18, 2021
7 min read

Updated: Mar 11, 2021

Right now, I’m sure you’re thinking…

can I paint my bathtub?

I’m here to tell you that you definitely CAN!

My initial thought when we decided it was time to give our bathroom a face lift was, “what are we going to do about the outdated tub?” New tubs can be quite expensive (not to mention the removal of the existing tub) and we were not about to spend $5,000 replacing our current tub so I thought to myself…“paint fixes everything lol”. After some research, I realized I wasn’t wrong; many people have turned to painting their tubs for a budget friendly transformation! I won’t kid you; it takes some prepping + time, oh and the smell is horrendous, but the result is totally worth it!

Here's a before and after photo of our bathtub…it looks a m a z i n g right? AND it only cost $200!!

what you’ll need

› Rust-Oleum Tub & Tile Refinishing Kit (of course) I purchased x3 kits to cover my bathtub, surround walls, and ceiling. I got them from Home Depot, see link here: https://www.homedepot.ca/product/rust-oleum-specialty-tub-tile-refinishing-kit-in-gloss-white-920-ml/1000795013

› Respirator Mask (yes, you will 100% need one…I started with an N95 and I quickly switched over)

› Paint Sticks

› Painter’s Tape

› Drop Cloth

› Paint Tray Liners

› Nylon Rollers (mini size)

› Comet (or any type of strong cleaner)

› Scotch-Brite Pads (heavy duty)

› Bleach

› Sanding Block

› 400-600 Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper

› Tack Cloth

› Caulking (anything 100% silicone)

› Caulking Scraper (optional, to remove caulking…I just used our painters’ tool)

› Caulking Edger (optional, to create perfect caulking edges…you can also use your finger)

now it’s time for all that prep work I mentioned

I’ll admit it wasn’t the most fun part of this DIY, but it’s definitely going to set you up for success, so make sure you take your time doing things right! It took me a full 6 hours to do all my prep work.

The first thing on my list of ‘To Do’ was to CLEAN THE TUB. To get rid of any mildew, I used a bleach and water solution to wash the tub. I then scrubbed down the entire tub, including the walls + ceiling (since I was painting them too) with Comet cleaner and a Scotch-Brite Pad. The goal was to get the tub the cleanest it’s ever been! I left it to air dry, but to be honest you could probably just dry it yourself, BUT make sure that if you’re drying it with a cloth it doesn’t leave any lint or fluff behind.

Something Worth Mentioning ↴

If you have cracks or chips on your bathtub, you’ll want to do this before cleaning. Using waterproof epoxy putty, fill the cracks, let the putty dry, and then sand down for a uniform and smooth finish. Luckily for me, there were no chips in our tub.

Next up was REMOVING THE CAULKING around the tub and on the edges of the wall surrounds + ceiling. I don’t have a caulking scraper, so I used a 5-in-1 painter’s tool to remove all the caulking. Once I started to scrape away at it, it began lifting and I pulled pieces off and threw them out as I went. Check out the video below! This honestly took what felt like forever because I had the walls + ceilings to do as well, but it was pretty satisfying. I didn’t bother doing a good clean of the caulking because I knew my next task of sanding was going to create a whole new mess!

Using my sanding block and 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper I went ahead and SANDED THE TUB along with the surround walls + ceiling. This roughs up the surface and removes any gloss so that the paint can adhere to the tub easily. Sanding alone took me a couple hours and with tired arms I really just wanted to go lay on the couch, BUT I was so close do being done prep that I just told myself “this is for all the times you forgot to do your workout” …which I’ve been forgetting to do every day of my life! Anyways, here’s a short clip of me sanding. Enjoy!

You can see more videos like this on my instagram highlights here!

Getting back on track here…

It was time to give my tub a good RINSE + DRY. Since I removed the caulking, I didn’t use the shower head to spray down the walls or else water would have leaked through the openings. I ended up filling a spray bottle with water to use. I started with the ceiling and worked my way down to the walls and finally, the tub. I sprayed the surface with water, used a cloth to wipe away all the sanding dust and then dried it with a clean lint free cloth.

Just a couple more things before the fun part! I went ahead and used painter’s tape to tape off the edges of my tub, walls, and ceiling. I also used it to cover the plumbing fixtures I did not remove. If you are not doing a whole bathroom transformation like me, you will also want to lay a drop cloth on your floors around the tub and cover the vanity, toilet, etc. with plastic.

Alrighty friends, this is where I called it a day because, well…it was dinner time and I figured I had worked out enough!

day 2 was all about painting

I was so excited to paint after all that prepping that I forgot how to plan + follow instructions lol…let me tell you how it went down.

First off, this is fair warning that the smell of this paint is very strong. Even though I read multiple blogs telling me to wear a respirator mask, I was like, yolo, I’ll be fine with an N95. If that’s what you’re thinking, I am here to tell you, no, no, no. As soon as I opened the paint can, I got a whiff of some strong toxic smells, but that wasn’t enough to change my mind, I continued on with my tasks until I eventually couldn’t handle the fumes. Another thing, the paint is very thick and permanent; it will not come off your clothes and it is very hard to remove from your skin so latex gloves are a must. I learned this the hard way too! What can I say, I’m a doer not a listener so I guess I’ll have to learn from my mistakes lol! So…open any windows to help with air flow, use a fan to help circulate the air, wear your respirator mask, and use latex gloves. Now that we have that sorted and you know how to PROTECT YOURSELF, let’s move on.

The Rust-Oleum Tub + Tile Refinishing Kit comes with 2 cans of paint. The primary paint is the base paint, labelled ‘Part B’ and the activator is labelled ‘Part A’, confusing I know. To MIX THE PAINTS I first stirred each can well with my paint stick. As per the instructions, I then poured ‘Part A’ into the ‘Part B’ can and mixed them together thoroughly with my paint stick (do not shake). After stirring for what felt like forever, I poured it into the paint tray. I got myself a paint tray liner to protect my paint tray + for easy clean-up.

PAINTING was an adventure in itself for me and you’ll soon find out why. I used the same process as when I sanded the tub. I started with the ceiling and worked my way down. Before I began painting any surface, I first went with my very clean microfiber cloth to give it a good WIPE to remove any excess dust. I had it all planned out, but my selection of paint rollers had a different plan in store for me.

I first started with a lint free nap roller and long story short, it did not go well. I then switched to a foam roller (used by many), but honestly, after a couple of dips in the paint tray it was disintegrating and I was ready to pull my hair out. On top of that, both these rollers were leaving lint behind which I had to later scrape off and sand smooth – I make the mistakes so you don’t have to! Let me just take a moment to reflect on how ironic it is that a lint free nap roller was leaving lint behind! Don’t worry, I didn’t give up + there IS a happy ending to this story lol. When I moved on to a nylon roller, things began to look up! Moral of the story here is…USE A NYLON ROLLER. Note: The chemicals in the paint will eat away at anything the more it is subjected to it. Its important to get extra rollers to swap them out once it starts to fall apart.

Now that we are on the same page about the roller to use…

Like I said, I started by rolling the ceiling, then did the wall, and finally the tub. After my first coat, I waited about 3 hours before moving onto my second coat. The instructions say wait 1-2 hours, but I wanted to be extra sure. I ended up doing 3 coats in total! The photo below is after I finished all 3 coats.

When I was finally done my 3rd coat, I was SO excited, but now I had to WAIT 3 DAYS for the paint to fully cure + dry. Needless to say, I spent the next few days trying to forget about my amazing tub transformation. When I woke up on the 4th day, the first thing I thought was “today is the day”. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the first thing I thought about when I woke up lol, but I was happy that I could now INSTALL THE FIXTURES and COMPLETE THE CAULKING.

If you want to see my painting skills in action, watch the video below!

These are some PAINTING TIPS I learned in my experience:

- Apply as quickly and efficiently as possible.

- The paint dries fast, so make sure to smooth out any paint drips as soon as you can.

- Make sure to follow the curves of the tub carefully and slowly to get an even coat. Do the hard-to-reach areas first, so you can lean against the tub worry free.

- For tighter areas, such as around the fixtures, you can use a foam brush.

- Make sure your roller never becomes dry.