Grout Restoration: Refreshing Kitchen Tile with Grout Pens

If you follow me on Instagram, you are probably aware that I’m in the middle of a budget-friendly kitchen renovation. We painted our cabinets, replaced our countertops, and we plan to tile our backsplash with white subway tile. We also took on a grout restoration project.

Something that really bothered me about our kitchen was the tile floor. The tiles have a yellow undertone and the grout was FILTHY! 

After Failed Grout Restoration Attempts, I Tried Something Else

When we first moved in, I attempted to clean the grout. I used toilet bowl cleaner with bleach, and then I tried a cleaner specifically made for grout. Neither worked!

We are not ready to invest in new tile, but I figured if I could get the grout looking better, I might hate the tile less. So I did some research and decided to try painting the grout with grout pens.

I bought a wide-tip grout pen on Amazon in the color cream. Cream is slightly darker than stark white, which I felt would look better on these floors.

I tested it out on a patch of tiles and immediately saw an improvement. While still not my top choice of tiles, the new grout color made them look fresher and less dirty.

Grout Restoration: My Process

I realized quickly that a challenge of using this pen is to avoid getting paint on the tiles themselves. The wide grout pen was too wide in some areas, and I had to use paper towels to wipe the excess off the tile. 

I ended up trying out the thinner grout pen, too. The thin pen was used to do the edges of the floor under the baseboards, and it worked well for that purpose. I tried it on the floor instead of the thicker pen. I ended up deciding it was quicker to just use the thick pen and clean up the excess. But I liked using the thin pen to do touch ups once everything was dry.

It took three thick pens and one thin pen to complete the whole kitchen floor. It turned out great!

Tips and Tricks for Grout Restoration

Here is a summary of what I learned:

• When using the pen, only shake it with the cap on. You’ll get paint everywhere if you don’t have the cap!
• If using the thick grout pens, be careful to remove excess from the tiles before it dries.
• If you prefer, you can use the thin pen on thicker grout, but it might take more time to get coverage.
• If working on a large area like me, try working in sections and taking breaks in between.
• Use the thin grout pen around the perimeter, where grout meets trim and baseboard.

• You may need to do touch ups where paint is uneven. I recommend getting the section done, letting it dry, and then doing careful touch ups with the thin pen.
• The tip of the pens will start to wear out after a while, sometimes before the pen has actually run out of paint. Using gloves or a paper towel, you can pull out the tip and flip it around for a fresh start.
• To give an idea of the coverage of one pen, I completed a section of 28 square tiles that were 12″ wide. This came out to about 56 linear feet of coverage.

You can order the same pens I did on Amazon, or you can find them at Lowe’s or Walmart. The links to my exact colors are below:

• Grout Pen Cream, Thin 
• Grout Pen Cream, Wide

Follow Me for More Inspiration

To see more of my kitchen renovation, be sure to check out my “Kitchen” highlight on the Instagram account for @Lauren_Rose_Home.

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