Staining and Sealing Grout

Both of our bathrooms were looking a little dingy in the tile department, so we spent a few weekends getting the tile looking new again.   

Here's a before shot:

And here's the after:

With a lot of elbow grease and the help of Oxygen cleaner we were able to get most of the grout looking white again. But some of the grout had worn away and left spots that looked dark. With the help of Mapei White Grout Refresh from Lowes we were able to get the grout looking white again.  After putting it on every inch of the grout with a toothbrush (so tedious and back aching!) we let it dry for one hour and then rubbed it off with a damp rag.  Once it set for 24 hours we sealed it with Dupont Grout Sealer, also from Lowes.  The total cost to do both bathrooms and total time was about $20 and two weekends. We wanted to tackle each bathroom separately so we'd have one working bathroom at all times.

Here's the after of the Hallway bathroom tile:

Sadly I still needed to buy one of these contoured rugs for around the toilet so that two boys who "miss" won't stain the grout again. The rug is from Target's Threshold line in "Hot Coffee."

And now we're all fancy pants around here with our new grout. :)

On a side note, my shopping list at Lowes today included one toilet connector so we can take down our hose sprayer from when we were using cloth diapers, a can of green spray paint for a special birthday coming up, and 7 new interior door handles. Fun projects coming up around here.

Have a great rest of Spring Break!
xo
Cathleen