painting my kitchen..

[sara3]

right, so it's half tiled (white) and half papered (a light turquoise shade). the bathroom leaked through plenty of times (all fixed now) so there are brown watermarks on the paper. it's very unsightly. I can't afford to do a big make-over this year but plan to paint both the tiles and the paper a rich creamy colour.

1) what preparation do I need to do?
2) do tiles look reasonable once painted? do I need to use a proper primer?
3) do I really need to use kitchen paint?

I like DIY.. for the first 10 minutes!

[sara3]

snags, cost matters! but there are only 2 rows of 6" tiles over the worktops, so it may not be too expensive. I can't be doing with taking the old ones off, too much like hard work!

[sara3]

I don't think I can do a respectable job of that, Tri :o/

I did tile the loo floor but that was easy.. a piece of.. well, quite easy!

[jackthehat]

Actually the best surface for tiling on.............is tiles......! :o)

Guides honour !!

[ummmm]

I've heard that also...

[snags]

Personally I'd remove the old ones... if you tile over the top make sure the existing ones are clean and dry... and stagger the joints of the new tiles so they're not sitting exactly over the top of the old ones...

[anneasquith]

sara...................leave the work untill next year !

[ChuckFickens]

And if you keep doing it eventually you'll have no kitchen left!

[snags]

sara(h)... just brick the bathroom doorway up instead... problem solved ;-p

[sara3]

I have to be realistic, there's no way I could get the tiles off myself.

snags, thanks, good advice.

anne, I can't. it's looking a bit.. pikey.

Tri, I could do 90% (the straight runs) then call in the cute tilers who did my bathroom last year!

[sara3]

Chuck, I became aware of that theory when my bathroom was done.. the walls crumbled and they put up some kind of boarding to tile over. the bathroom shrunk by a couple of inches!

anne, no!

snags(h), the bathroom is fixed ;o)

[ummmm]

Sara....tiles are easier to get off. We had them floor to ceiling in the bathroom and I took then off. Just make sure you wear goggles...

[sara3]

what did you take them off with?

[snags]

''only 2 rows of 6" tiles''

You do realise you could have had them off the wall and re-tiled in the time you've spend chatting on here...

[sara3]

snags, I've taken the day off work, and haven't even got dressed yet!

Tri, that reminds me of when I went on the London Eye. the security guard said "do you have anything sharp with you?" and my friend said "only her tongue" :o)

[The Builder]

Hi Curlybuns ............ I've only just seen this......... hurt that you didn't come to me first ;o)
Don't listen to the Viper.......... Jack knows what she's talking about. Tile over them. They're not difficult to remove, but if they're good, you'll probably be left with holes in the plaster. They would need filling before you could tile.

Finish the edges with a quadrant tile or an edging tile of some sort......... or a hardwood surround.

Seal the stained paper with something like Zinsser "Bullseye" (honest, I kid you not - American product)

I'll send you links if you like :o)

[tamborine]

Have a white kitchen and accessorize with colors. Looks bigger & cleaner. Use silk finish for easy wipe-clean.