# Forum Home Renovation Kitchens  Give My Kitchen Tiles A New Look

## Kimt

Hi Everyone, 
I just joined today and am looking for ideas on how to give my horrible looking kitchen tiles a new lease of life without removing them. I need to doing something on a budget and do not want to remove them if i can help it. 
I know that you can buy the Tile Paint from Bunnings but i was wondering if there is anything else that can be done instead of painting them and pulling the down. For instance can we put a Glass Splashback right over the old tiles and what sort of price per metre am i looking at for it.  
Anyway i think you get the idea of what i am after so any great ideas and tips would be highly appreciated. 
Kind Regards
Kim

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## SilentButDeadly

You want to do something to your tiles on the cheap and then you think about glass splashbacks? 
Painting is the absolute cheapest option.  If you think about covering them then you might as well remove them and replace with the chosen covering. 
A cheap covering option is Colorbond steel over a solid backing (like 6mm compressed cement).  A really expensive covering option is glass (because it has to be toughened).  In between are tiles, a painted substrate, Corian et al., Lamipanel et al., timber etc etc etc....

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## Master Splinter

Pulling them down is about the cheapest option, after paint.  Pull 'em down yourself ($nothing), resheet the bit of wall damaged by removing them ($30-$50 for plasterboard, stud adhesive and screws) and then re-tile (about $30 and up per square meter to DIY).    
Glass splashback is more like $3-400 per square meter.  I don't think you can have it directly behind a cooktop, either. 
Actually, looking at your website, you could have one of your designs inkjetted onto the plastic film used inside laminated glass.  One of the glass manufacturers does this, if you are interested let me know and I'll look up the details of who it is.  It's a bit more than the price of a painted glass splashback, but not shockingly more.

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## Kimt

Hi Mastersplinter, 
You have some great ideas there. I was just sitting her thinking, maybe we could go over the existing tiles with Mini Orb (the small corrugated iron stuff that comes in sheets)
You can get it in all of the Colourbond colours so that would give me a great range of choices. 
But the big question is, how would we attach it to the tiles and is it safe to use behind the Cooktop ( new ceramic cooktop)????

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## SilentButDeadly

You don't attach it to the tiles!  You tear the tiles off the wall first! 
Attach with Liquid Nails..... 
Colourbond will be fine behind a cooktop.

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## Kimt

Thanks SilentButDeadly, 
I think this is what we will do. I thought we might be able to put it over the tiles to save time and mess but will rip them off if you think it will be better. 
I am now off to get prices on sheets of Mini Orb and to choose a colour. Will post a photo on here when we get it finished, might be a few weeks though. 
From Kim

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## Master Splinter

Just some observations on Mini-orb... 
1) Bags it's not me doing the silicon sealing of the edge that meets the benchtop.  It has all the hallmarks of a real %$#@@!!*^&$$!! of a job. 
2) Think about how you will end it on any exposed edge runs; also how you want it to meet at internal corners. 
3) Silicone should hold it to the wall just fine (its what they use for glass splashbacks and mirrors, anyway!!).  Just think of a way to hold it there while the silicone sets.  Wash (with strong detergent) the back of the mini-orb first, to get any oil or other gunk left over from manufacturing/storage off it. 
4) The corrugations will be a pain to clean in service.  Better than those stacked stone tiles that are in vogue at the moment, but still a pain.

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## Kimt

Ok, made hubby take me down to Bunnings tonight ( i don't drive and never have) to look for Tile Stickers or Tile Decals but they do not have any. However i then remembered those stick on fake tiles for floors. They are found it the tile section and come in a box of 1 sqm metre or you can buy them separately for $1.33, so i got 2 of them in the closest colour to the bench tops and that is a Charcoal Grey. 
I ever so carefully measured the tile, cut out the tile and with a little help from a small amount of liquid nails or what ever the glue is called the my hubby had in the shed, spread very evenly over the offending 2 feature tiles that i hate so much, covered them up. Job done for now until we can afford to have something done by a proper tradesman. I will post a photo in a minute, it does not look too bad. 
Before   
After

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## munro

And dont ask me to clean it!  It will be a nightmare

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## SilentButDeadly

Good solution, KimT.  Well done. 
Mini-orb would've played havoc with that window skirt.....the cleaning and finishing issues are less of an issue if you know how it is done and are prepared accordingly.

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## blissin

Kimt that looks great! Great idea 
Tomorrow I was going to start prepping my ugly kitchen tiles to paint over them (they are yellow-ish brown with pink dots and a feature row of pink roses with leaves twining across the top -  :Shock: )   
I had not thought of using floor tiles before ...   
how thick are these tiles? If these tiles were used to cover an entire row ... or three of wall tiles ... would I end up with ditches in between the tiles which would be a nightmare to clean?  
Or could the little ditches (ie where the grout is) be filled in with something - silicone or more grout or some other kind of filler (is there one called spak filler?) 
Is this possible to use on a floor tile surface?  
So many questions ... hope someone can help 
Thanks  :Smilie:

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## Master Splinter

You could get away with a few vinyl floor tiles as shown, but I don't think a wall full of them would be very successful.  Yes, you'd be able to fill the grout lines with silicone, but it would be a slow and messy process - you'd be better off using some of the floor vinyl that comes on a roll to avoid having to do that. 
Ripping tiles off and re-tiling would be easier, and cost wise, if you can find tiles in the $20-30 per square meter mark, I don't see the whole job exceeding $200 including replacing plasterboard underneath. 
And skill-wise, I think gluing on the vinyl tiles and siliconing the grout lines would actually be more difficult!

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## blissin

thanks for your replies (pms and public) 
I think I will try out the painting for now and, if (when) it looks horrible, do a tiling course so I can replace them myself 
wish I only had to deal with a couple of awful feature tiles but I guess this way I will learn a new skill ... which will come in very handy when I move on to my lovely beige bathroom  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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