How To Paint Hanging Tiles

How To Guide: Paint Hanging Tiles

What’s the best way to get over the holiday blues? Get straight up a ladder and start painting, less than 24 hours after stepping off a 10 hour plane journey. It works, trust me! The truth is this was the first proper holiday that I’ve come home from to not have to go back to my full-time job which is quite a weird feeling. So I was keen to get stuck into the next home project and decide to share some tips on how to paint hanging tiles above our patio doors at the back of the house.

Whilst we’ve done so much to the front, the back we’ve not really bothered with too much. We spent the longest time thinking we’d be extending so there seemed little point. Now our plans have changed, it doesn’t feel like too much effort or cost to make small improvements here and there so I’ve decided just to get on rather than waiting…and waiting…and waiting.

Our front of house transformation took place in 2016 and although I’m not an avid user of Pinterest (yet!), how we undertook that makeover is still the post which brings most traffic to the blog and I still get emails about how we tackled painting the hanging tiles. It’s also worth thinking about replacing fascias too and aluminium fascia in particular are so long-lasting. It’s really the easiest thing in the whole world and you honestly don’t need to have them replaced. Seeing as it’s such a popular topic I thought I’d dedicate this post to a little DIY project which has made such a difference.

Original view 1930s hanging tiles
Original hanging tiles

So without further ado, here’s how to paint hanging tiles!

What you’ll need:

  • Masonry paint
  • Old dustpan brush
  • Paint suitable for flashing if applicable
  • Paint suitable for woodwork if applicable
  • Outdoor use paintbrushes
  • A ladder
After the tile paint, before flashing
  1. First of all you’ll need to purchase your paint. It’s very important to make sure you’re using a paint which has a masonry/exterior finish, or anything which says suitable for stone, outdoors use etc. Thankfully I can help with that – any of the amazing colours from the Valspar range at B&Q can be mixed to a masonry finish. We used colour ‘Carriage Wheel’ for both the front and back and 3 years after the front it still looks like new. I’d highly recommend it but of course use whatever you’re comfortable with. Also, you get paint brushes which are more suited to outdoor painting and I’d recommend using one.
  2. You may also need paint for the “flashing” this is the bit normally at the top of the hanging tiles between the tiles and the window above. In more period homes, this is normally lead so I’ve just a black metal paint and it seems to be fine. Finally, any woodwork may also need painting, our window frames were dark mahogany wood so in this project I’ve just used some Frenchic Al Fresco paint in colour ‘Dazzle Me’ to paint the woodwork – 3 coats
  3. Prep your surface. If you’re lucky like me all that you’ll need is just to get an old dustpan brush and clean off any debris or cobwebs. If you have moss growing, you’ll need a bit more of a heavy duty prep. The surfaces don’t need to be smooth at all
  4. Get painting! I started with the tiles so I could just paint over the flashing. It took two coats but you won’t need any primer. Once the tiles were done I painted the flashing which was a bit more tricky because the paint is a bit like tar and also prone to dripping so be careful. Lastly, I painted the woodwork just underneath the bottom row of hanging tiles. It’s not overly noticeable but it’s funny how much better it looks now it’s painted.
Valspar Masonry Paint
Completed with flashing
Hanging Tiles The Finished Version

It took just a couple of hours on Sunday and then I did the woodwork on Monday to finish off and I’m super happy with the final look, plus outdoors painting is so much easier than indoors painting since you don’t need to be so precise. The hanging tiles now tie up neatly to the front of the house and is the first part of the extensive garden makeover I’m planning, if I ever get round to it. I hope you found this how to paint hanging tiles useful, just pop a comment/email/DM on Insta if you have any questions.

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11 Comments

  1. Sarah Manovski
    May 16, 2020 / 5:27 pm

    Thanks so much for this post! I really wanted to get rid of my tiles in my 1930s home but now that I know that painting them is an option I’ll be following your guidance!

    • Lins
      Author
      May 26, 2020 / 4:36 pm

      Hi Sarah I’m so glad it’s been useful. Good luck with your project!

  2. July 17, 2020 / 10:01 am

    Thanks for sharing. I’m redoing the outside of my house and wasn’t 100% sure what paint to use on tiles. Mine are grubbier than yours, so like you say a bit more prep work needed but now I’m excited to get going

  3. Kieran
    August 4, 2020 / 12:27 pm

    Great job, what colour did you use for the tiles please? Thanks

    • Lins
      Author
      August 6, 2020 / 11:48 am

      Thank you! I used Carriage Wheel from Valspar, mixed to a masonry finish 🙂

  4. Liz
    January 20, 2021 / 11:21 am

    Hi, can I ask has this paint weathered well?

    • Lins
      Author
      April 20, 2021 / 12:23 pm

      I’m so sorry I’ve only just seen this now and yes I can confirm it hasn’t needed redoing since we had it done maybe 5-6 years ago

  5. Kate
    September 8, 2021 / 10:36 pm

    Hi Lins,
    I’m planning to do something similar to the hanging tiles on our new house, thank you for sharing! A couple of questions- what kind of ladder did you use, and did you have to replace any of the tiles? We were quoted £500 to replace a couple of missing tiles and do the painting which seemed like so much!
    Thank you 🙂

    • Lins
      Author
      April 17, 2022 / 7:00 pm

      Hi Kate, I’m so sorry for the delayed reply Im finding a whole load of unanswered questions and I’m sure you’ve done this by now. We had scaffolding up for other projects so I used that and I didn’t have to replace any of the tiles thankfully!

  6. August 17, 2023 / 10:02 am

    Thanks for sharing these amazing tips. Loved it.

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