Can you paint grout?

I'm doing a bathroom in my brother's house that's going to have floor to ceiling tile. Actually, it already does--I'm done with the tile and grout. But the thing is, my brother wanted this certain look of white walls, fading to blue as they went up. The pattern I did turned out great and he's going to paint the ceiling with a custom color of paint that matches the blue tiles on the walls.

Now, here's the thing... the room looks good, even with white grout all over, but he'd really prefer the grout in the blue tile sections to be the same color blue as the tiles. So I was wondering if it's possible to simply hand paint the grout with the paint we got for the ceiling. It's a great match to the wall tiles, so it would give him the look he really wants. But, I don't know if this can be done. The paint is a semi-gloss latex. Anyone know if I can I use that on the grout? I don't think a regular grout colorant would work because of the preciseness of the color we're looking for.

 

Hi, I used a product about 4 years ago referred to as grout stain and it worked really well. The whilte grout (I don't know what we were thinking) in the kitchen tile floor (12 x 12) had seen it share of spills and stains. We went with a pale green grout stain to compliment the counters and still looks perfect. It is a busy kitchen. The stain also seals. Spills of all types wipe up even after sitting for a while. I'm sure one of the residents experts will give you more information about type and where to buy.

 

Hi
Anything is possible...I'm not sure if it will stay there very long though. Best thing to do is try it..see how it turns out...if it looks bad in the small test area..you can just dig out the joints and re-grout them.

 

Go to www.aquamix.com and take a look at the Colorants. You can get grout colorant kits in many different colors.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My main concern is that the paint won't hold up, and chipping paint would look a heck of a lot worse than white grout! But, if I decide to go ahead with painting, I'll be sure to post again and let you know how it turns out.

 

Go with the stain. It does NOT chip and you can get just about any color you want. They call it stain, but it actually looks more like and applies like paint. You will not be sorry.