This beaut bathroom makeover went from drab to fab with cheap tile paint

Got a quick bathroom makeover in mind? Be inspired by this one, which was quick, easy and affordable – and achieved with little more than tile paint...

Bathroom makeover with tile paint
(Image credit: @carlaelliman)

Okay, we admit it: the 'before' on the left hand side of this bathroom makeover isn't at all bad. In fact, many of us would be happy with that as our 'after'. But it didn't suit Carla Elliman when she moved into her new home – and she was determined to give it a brand new look on a very low budget. 

'The bathroom had been recently done when I moved in so I couldn’t justify ripping it all out because there was nothing wrong with it, just the BEIGE!' says Carla. '[The beige] isn’t me at all! So I set to work planning out a bright and breezy monochrome room that was way more to my liking.'

Scroll down to see how Carla tackled the bathroom makeover – taking on the task of painting tiles, both on the floors and the walls. And when you're done, find more inspiration in our bathroom ideas feature – and at @carlaelliman on Insta.

Bathroom makeover with tile paint

Bathroom 'after' (left) and 'before' (right)

(Image credit: @carlaellimon)

The original floor tiles in Carla's bathroom (above) were the much-hated shade of beige she mentions above. She used Rust-Oleum floor tile paint to first paint then stencil over the beige to create a more traditional appeal with bags of interested. The stencil was from Dizzy Duck Designs.

'I’m shamelessly sharing a bird's eye view of our new hand painted bathroom floor again today because the long and the short of it is that I just love it! I put my heart and soul into stenciling it; I really feel like when you put all the work in yourself it’s so much more rewarding and makes you appreciate your spaces more doesn’t it?!' she says. 

Bathroom makeover with tile paint

Tile paint and grout pens were used to create a contemporary appeal

(Image credit: @carlaelliman)

Carla didn't stop at painting the wall tiles alone – she gave them a modern, geometric finish by taking a black grout pen (you can buy these on Amazon) to the grout, too. To finish, Carla used Rust-Oleum All Surface Paint in matt black to paint the radiator, toilet seat and bath board, too.

The shelving unit is from Wayfair – you can shop all Wayfair's decorative ladder shelves here.

Bathroom makeover with tile paint

(Image credit: @carlaelliman)
Lucy Searle

Lucy is Global Editor-in-Chief of Homes & Gardens having worked on numerous interiors and property titles. She was founding Editor of Channel 4’s 4Homes magazine, was Associate Editor at Ideal Home, before becoming Editor-in-Chief of Realhomes.com in 2018 then moving to Homes & Gardens in 2021. She has also written for Huffington Post, AOL, UKTV, MSN, House Beautiful, Good Homes, and many women’s titles. Find her writing about everything from buying and selling property, self build, DIY, design and consumer issues to gardening.