The Grout the Bad and the Ugly

The house blogs have been slow coming as of late; this does not mean I have been slacking in my crafting/DIY. Well, I might have taken a small break but this grout project could wait no longer. Our guest bathroom started with beige grout that had never been cleaned and was terribly stained. It was also painfully paired with pure white tile that has a gray blue swirl going through the center. That unfortunate choice would have led me to this project alone. 

I tried everything to clean this grout before taking on the task of staining/painting it. I tried making an Oxy Clean paste, letting it sit and then scrubbing it out. Fail. So, I took bleach and Andy’s tooth brush to the grout to see if I could get the stains out. No luck there; it looked exactly the same after some arduous work. That was when I decided to pull the trigger on staining/painting the existing grout.  This was a terrible, very unpleasant idea but the end result was…dare I say it? Worth it.

Here is how it went: bleach grout, acid wash grout, painstakingly paint grout with stain/sealant, smile at the fact that for the first time the floor looked clean.

And here are the photos.

Honestly, I don't think it looks as bad in the photos as it did in person. Trust me, it was seriously unattractive.

Start:

 Here is a close up:

 Half and half:

 Here it is without the super yellow lights:

 Done! Victory is mine. Just wait until you see what I have planned for this boring apartment-esque bathroom next.

Products I used:

Sulfamic Acid to prep the grout before painting:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100171510?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=sulfamic+acid&storeId=10051&N=5yc1v&R=100171510#.UR8KXKWsh8E

Grout Paint (comes in many colors and you can even get custom colors) I used Gray

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100133209?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=grout+renew&storeId=10051&superSkuId=203901458&N=5yc1v&R=100133209#.UR8LvaWsh8E