Grout Pen Bathroom Update: Easy and Affordable Refresh

This little DIY was oddly therapeutic. I had set out to refresh the stained, discolored grout in our guest bathroom because we’ve got our house on the market and it’s one of the last things really bringin’ down the vibe in there. Thankfully, grout pens exist.

Part of it is our fault – the bathroom is rarely used so doesn’t get too dirty, but when we did our $500 bathroom makeover in there, we didn’t do the best job of cleaning up the grout from our subway tile wall and now there are tiny bits stuck on the tile that are so noticeable.

Determined for a quick and most importantly cheap update as buyers are walking through our home and pointing out its flaws, I got this grout pen. Ideally I would’ve done it in grey, but white was the only option they had in stock so white it was!

Luckily it worked really well once I got the hang of it, but I definitely learned some lessons along the way.

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Shake, shake, shake

So it’s kind of like if spraypaint and White Out had a baby. You’ve got to shake the pen for a solid few minutes before using it like you would a can of spraypaint, and then dab down the pen’s tip on your grout to get the paint/gel stuff flowing.

Color inside the grout lines

It’s a really simple process, just kind of time consuming and tedious. I did this all once the baby was asleep and listened to a few podcasts (I recommend A Beautiful Mess and Young House Love to stay on theme with the DIY/home improvements as you go) and it was kind of relaxing to just zone out and paint some grout, honestly.

At first I was just drawing along the lines like you would with a paintbrush, but I quickly learned that wasn’t going to work with a grout pen.

Side note: I think a lot of my issues in coverage came from starting with dark grey grout and going to white, but if you were just refreshing white with white I think it’d go a lot quicker.

Anyway, onto the method that worked best for me. I would use the pen to dab a few dots along the grout in a small section I was working in (usually half of one side of a tile), then I would go over it in one swipe to blend it all together.

Keep going

See? Easy, but tedious. Just keep going along all the lines in your room until they’re all covered. I did two coats of the room right away (luckily it’s a very small room) and then a quick third coat the next morning but like I said, I was going from dark to light so yours probably won’t need as many.

Tip: Paint yourself out of the room

Take it from me, start in the farthest corner of your room and work your way out. You don’t want to start by the door then work your way inward until you’re curled up in the corner like a goblin trying not to stick your toesies in the still-wet grout paint.