I think a shot from a different perspective might help us make suggestions?

I'm jealous of your tub/backsplash. I still have an awesome avocado green tub and grey striped tile backsplash courtesy of old owners. Blech!!!

I think they were probably thinking the grey veins in the marble would go with the grey slate. And as such, I would try painting the walls a light, warm-hued grey.

Painting stone floors doesn't seem like a good idea. Why not get some rugs or mats to cover up the floor if you really find it objectionable?

I would not paint them. I think you can live with them until you can change. They are not that bad. Find some accessories, paint the walls, artwork, etc to draw attention away from the tiles. I could see painting the walls a light dove grey and using burgundy and rose towels and accents. Sometimes you have to work with what you have.

At least from the photo you posted here, it looks fine to me as it is.

It reminds me of a prison bathroom. I thinking painting the tile would be a mistake. I would just live with it until demo day.

The color, size, shape, and placement of the tile makes it look like concrete block. Still, it could be a lot worse. No to painting. Just save your money and replace it later.

I agree. Don't paint it; it will be a mistake. Cover up what you can with area rugs, come up with a color scheme to make the best of it and decor to give you something else to focus on. Hey, at least it's new and in nice shape :).

Even though there is not a shower—a shower curtain and a bath rug should work to cover most of it until you can afford to change it.

It is hard to see the mismatch without a picture of the marble as well. Although not my favorite tile this isn't that bad. I think with a shower curtain and bathmats you will be able to minimize the rough look of the slate. Also to remedy the shower situation it wouldn't be too hard to install a hook for your shower head (that I see in the tub) to hang on. Most European baths have this instead of a dedicated shower head.

Also if you want to replace some of the tile but not all of it I would only replace the backsplash and leave the floor tiles as is.

The right colour of wall paint will make a huge difference.

I had a similar issue of objectionable tile and floated a thin concrete layer over the floor and walls as a temporary solution for a few years until remodel time. The concrete was tinted with white and though not the hotel luxe look we want it looks rustic modern with the white cesearstone counter and white tub.

Oooo @marc007 - won't you please share photos? I have ugly pinky tile in the back hallway that I mistook for a light brick color, chosen while 11 months pregnant.

Marc007, do you have any photos of this? How did you pour the concrete so it was thin enough? I have loads of questions. I, too, have ugly tile and this is a very interesting solution.

Don't paint the tile -- paint the walls. I agree that the right shade of light gray will work wonders.

Put some plants in your bathroom - it will make it alive, and take your mind off the tile (but don't paint!).

I agree with the paint plus rugs suggestion. A medium to deep gray or taupe would lesson the stone's impact--and almost any colour in rugs-and-towel combo would stand out from the background. I'd be tempted to play up the vaguely medieval look with rich reds and couple of old beat up pieces of silver or pewter as accessories. . . but I could see a more neutral, natural or rustic approach working too, with white, beige, a roughly textured cotton rug, twigs in a jar, etc... Nothing too small or cute though or it will just look pathetic against all that bold texture.

I don't see the problem.

Paint the walls grey and move on.

Hi All,

I don't have pics handy but i was having patio cracks repaired and had the same contractor do it. I forgot to mention that we ended up stamping it with wood planks which is the same treatment from the patio. It keeps the concrete from cracking/showing cracks. The contractor hand trowled (sp?) the concrete then pressed the wood planks into it. Here is a remodelista link that has some good pics, It looks alot like the 3rd pic down/Mill valley bath. total cost was about $700 including labor materials for about 180sq ft, (wall and floor) I will try and post pics later.

http://remodelista.com/posts/architectural-element-wood-pressed-concrete-walls

I totally identify with Leah here-- we too bought a lovely house, about a year ago, and it has mysteriously horrible teal and purple floor tile in the downstairs bathroom. Granted, it's not slate, like this tile (which is not nearly as bad)-- it's regular ceramic tile, but still I fantasize about painting it all the time. Mainly because when you search for "how to remove ceramic tile" you find a bunch of people talking about how absolutely awful and ill-advised it is to try to remove tile. Thus, the tile has stayed...and the fantasies continue.

I think you can do a lot with wall paint, accessories, and lighting. It looks like really nice tile, count your blessings! I agree with everyone else, save up and wait until you can re-do it properly.

The overall color is neutral, which is a very good thing. Don't paint the tile- it will look makeshift and shoddy. Add an area rug and a shower curtain.

Don't paint the tile. It will look bad, won't wear well. I agree that you should play with wall color and towels/accessories.

Given that there is one of those hand showers, you could make the tub area into a usable shower pretty easily for the time being--tile up to the top with subway tile and add a holder for the hand shower arm. We had a bathroom with this rigging and it worked quite well--cheaper than having the whole thing demo'ed and replaced before we could afford to do what we wanted.

I don't think you should paint it, but if you absolutely must ... consider hiring a professional to reglaze it. It's a pretty volatile process, but in some parts of the country they are offering a zero-VOC option (just not where we were).

I would live with it like it is. it looks good don't be wasteful.

Paint you bath room, maybe something closer to the color of the wall tiles and floor. It makes the nice carresra pop up and the others to disapear. Do not try to paint the tiles. Put up shower curtain, maybe something nice and whiteish.

if you want to warm the room up you could lay in wall to wall sisal carpet and paint the walls. i know carpet seems odd in a bathroom, however i just came back from London and saw a lot of high end homes that had it wall to wall sisal, bathrooms included. it looks GREAT and it's cheap.

It's not like you can't. You would have to be very precise so you only painted the tile. After it dried I would go through with like 4 coats of polyurethane. No one would know it wasn't just colored tile if you can avoid the grout... and you could probably sand away your bloopers. But if your not very artistic or good at painting nails, pay some kid who is because that would take some intense hand-eye coordination.

I agree you shouldn't paint the tile. I'd paint the walls something warmer than gray, or maybe a blue-gray; and I would work in some teak or dark wood accent pieces to bring in some contrast; and I'd add plants and lots of fluffy white linens & a rug (probably white or taupe cotton). The natural stone and marble should play well with the woods and the greens, and the white will bring a nice crispness. That should get to kind of a spa bath feel. Maybe add some black framed art to add contrast and color if you want to liven up the space even more. I think you've got some really good stuff to work with!

Thanks, Marc007! :)

If you really want to change the color, I agree with someone earlier who suggested re-glazing the tile. The woman who lived in my house previously *painted* the backsplash tile in the kitchen. In the areas above the stove and the sink, areas with moisture and steam, the paint is chipping. Beware.

Thanks everyone for all of your comments. I definitely don't want to be wasteful, I just want to make it al little more my taste, and I think you all had some good ideas. I think I'm going to find an old salvaged ring shower curtain to put up. it will solve the shower problem and give me a way to distract from the floor and wall tiles. Not sure yet if/when I'm going to paint--I've got the rest of the house to do.

It feels like piling on to say wow, you think you have troubles, but I would trade our horrow-show with your more mildly challenged bathroom faster than you can say bad DIY... anyway, congratulations on having some good options for big improvement with minimal investment! The suggestions here are great. In our case, the only fix short of bombing it is dark glasses and self-hypnosis...

I would try doing a paint "rub" on the tile. Get a light color (maybe a light grey) and with an old tshirt rub some paint on the tile and then rub it off. This will make it look like a more rustic tile and it will get rid of the "Builders Tile" look without just looking like painted tile.
It'll look best if you use two shades of paint.
Best of luck!
the tub and sink are fab!

i've painted the tile in my bathroom & it doesn't hold up well. we prepped and sanded etc but it still chips in high traffic areas.

That's not stone, or slate, that is a ceramic tile painted to look sort of like slate, which is a big difference.

If it bothers you so much, retiling is very easy, especially if you use large tiles, as in this example, which uses 12" x 24" carrara marble tiles. The key is to plan ahead of time to figure out where your cuts will be, taking time to centre the tiles in the room so that it looks deliberately and carefully planned.

http://www.houzz.com/photos/50940/Modern-bathrooms-contemporary-bathroom-san-francisco

You can save the tiles you remove, and either use them for another purpose or sell them to an architectural salvage outfit.

I just noticed that in the teeny tiny photo with the sinks (NOTE TO AT: CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE THE "GOOD QUESTION" PICS LARGER SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE PROBLEM? PLEASE?) that the counter is not made up of a single length of marble, but rather of tiles (12" x 12"?). In that case, you would need to match those tiles, both for the stone and size.

Call me crazy, but I think it looks fine as is! (well... ok it would look better if it were actual stone instead of tiles made to look like stone. That's what it is, right? Hard to tell from the photos.)

If you dislike the "stone" floors, I doubt painting it would look good. I'd live with it until you can afford to replace it with something more your style.

Oh and if you're not planning on a complete redo, I agree with the previous posters that some plants, rugs, shower curtain, accessories, artwork, paint on the walls, etc would make it look like something you could live with, or even enjoy! The tiles aren't great, but they're not horrible either.

Put a rug on the floor, get a shower curtain , and paint the wall a nice grey. I actually like the tile, and I wouldn't paint it. I've seen painted tile and it always looks bad. I think if you decorate the bathroom right, you can make it more your style.

We had this bathroom at our old house that we thought was awful. It has a harvest gold tub, toilet, and sink. We found this amazing brownish red paint and went with an African safari type look in that bathroom and it looked awesome. Everyone loved it.

My point is that we worked with what we had, and the worst possible thing you could imagine turned into something that actually looked good. I think you could apply that same principle to your bathroom and make what you have really work until you can get new tile.

as mschatalaine said, NOTE TO AT: CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE THE "GOOD QUESTION" PICS LARGER SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE PROBLEM? PLEASE? Pretty please! This is a great idea!

I'd invest in making a shower for this bathroom before doing anything with the tile.

Don't paint the tile. We have a pinkish granite surround around our fireplace that I HATED when we moved in... I painted the walls a beige with a greenish hue and the pinkish color in the granite took on a beige tone. You can do a lot with color to downplay the tile, trust me.

This looks like a nice clean bathroom...keep it that way.

Bathroom is very clean and appears to be in excellent shape. I actually like the contrast of the two tiles. Hang a shower curtain that you love in the bath area and put a beautiful rug by the sink alone with some nice accessories on the sink. I think with it bare, you are probably just really focusing on it a bit too much. Even when you do have the cash, I'd use it for areas that really need an upgrade due to wear and tear.

I have to agree with most everyone else - don't touch it. Get white towels, white bath mats, a nice shower curtain and tons of chrome accessories until you both are ready to install your dream bathroom.

What about a really bold piece of artwork above the tub? And I agree with bepsf about painting the walls gray as well and then accent with white rugs/towels/plants a pop of color from the artwork, maybe teal, green or fuschia.

How about a castle theme? The tiles remind me of the Tower of London. You could cheese it up, or just keep it fun with some royal colored rugs, curtains and towels, and some black and white photos of the Queen Mother.

there is absolutely nothing wrong with this bathroom as is......

I'm just echoing a lot of other posters here but just take away the contrast/focus of white walls, tub etc. to something else! If you paint the walls (I'm partial to grey... but you could do another color... maybe a blue-ish?) and add some artwork. It will be a relatively cheap fix and you can always add more money into the bathroom later if you really want.

Hi. I agree with the previous posters. Please do not paint the tile. It will only make matters worse. Most paints will not even attach to tiles, the paint would be chipping and reacting badly to moisture. If you do not want to invest any serious money right now (changing the tile to a carrara marble tile for example) then I would definitely wait for a complete overhaul. The tiles will act as a great motivator ;)