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My Painted Bathtub 5 Years Later

My Painted Bathtub 5 Years Later

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Is bath tub refinishing really worth it? Can you honestly paint a fiberglass jacuzzi tub and expect the finish to last for years to come? In this post, I am going to give you the honest truth by sharing how my painted bathtub is holding up after five years….

I am having a hard time believing it, but this month marks six years that my family and I have been living in our 1980’s fixer upper.

Actually…Reaching such a milestone has made me a little nostalgic. Wanting to reflect on just how far our house has come, I dug up the original MLS listing photos .

When I came across this “before” shot of our master bathroom,  it occurred to me that I totally neglected to share my bathtub reglazing project with yall.

So here is what our bathroom looked like the day we moved in…
painted bath tub before

Yeah…nothing about this screams spa-like oasis. 

Not having much of a budget to work with at the time, the first thing I did was not only paint over the lovely ivy mural which graced the focal wall, but I also decided to refinish the beige-hued blasphemy that was our tub.

refinished bath tub review

Now obviously we did much more to this space as time and budget allowed (which you can read in our bathroom remodel post), but for the sake of time, today I am only going to be reviewing the durability of the epoxy tub refinishing.

Given this is a DIY oriented blog, this next bit of information may come as a surprise to you, but we actually decided to hand this tub reglazing task over to the professionals. You see..

I had actually dabbled with epoxy paint in the past when I painted my countertops with a refinishing kit. While the project turned out fine in the end, I found the whole process to be a royal pain in the a$$. So…

My husband and I paid a professional bathtub resurfacing company $800 to transform our 1980’s eye sore.  So in the end, was the investment worth it?

Pros and Cons of Bathtub Refinishing

painted bath tub review after 5 years

If you have done your market research, you probably know that $800 can pretty much buy you a brand-new soaker tub from any of the big-box retailers now days. So why in the world would someone spend so much money for a painted bath tub,  if you can buy a new one for the same cost as reglazing? Well…

It wasn’t  as simple of a matter as just replacing our existing tub with a new one (at least for our own unique needs).

In our case, we also needed to account for  demo, haul off, entirely new plumbing and even new flooring and potential subflooring (because I wanted a free-standing tub).

If  I could have known that a  complete bathroom renovation would be feasible for us fours years into the future, I might have just held tight, and not invested anything into the space until I could afford what I truly wanted.

But without a crystal ball, I was just trying to make the best of what little resources I had at the time.

Four years ago, we didn’t have the budget for new floors or new plumbing, so we concluded that professionally painting our tub was a reasonable compromise. And with a ten-year warranty provided to us by the resurfacing company, we felt a little more at ease about our decision.

So how durable has the epoxy finish proven to be after half of a decade’s use?

is painting a tub worth it

Other than the one trouble spot pictured above, we have not had any issues with our refinished tub.

While I am not exactly sure how  (or when) these rings appeared, I am wondering if soap and shampoo (which looks to have leaked out of the bottles) ate away at the painted finish over time.

I am not gonna lie…I don’t clean the tub all that often, so I have no clue how long these rings had been there. 

painting bath tub diy

While I don’t know what caused this blemish to surface, I can say with certainty that when my lazy a$$ does get around to cleaning the tub, I am extremely careful with what I use to clean it.

Staying away from abrasive cleaners and brushes, I typically only use a rag and a little bit of naturally-derived dish soap.

my experience painting a bath tub

In summary, I do believe that professional tub refinishing is a great solution if you are trying to avoid demo or plumbing costs.

But… would I do something like this in my forever- home? Given the company only stands behind their product for ten years, probably not.

Nonetheless,  bathtub resurfacing has proven to be a helpful, short-term solution- lasting us over half of a decade now.

For the DIY-ers: Should you attempt painting a tub yourself? Well….With all of the prep-work I watched the contractors do (not to mention my past experience using epoxy paint), I stand behind my decision of hiring this particular project out.

It is doable, but you need to possess a butt load of patience(which I do not have!).  Here is a helpful DIY tutorial for painting a bathtub.

One more tip…

If you do decide to invest in tub refinishing by means of epoxy paint, be sure you plan the project during a time of year when you can keep your windows open and properly ventilate your space. The fumes were no joke!

painted bath tub review

For any of you on the fence about refinishing your tub, I hope this gave you some insight.

If you are in the process of a bathroom remodel, you may also find these posts helpful:

Now get out there and design some good vibes along with a fabulous life!

And if you found this post helpful, it would mean the world to this small business if you could share with a friend or on social media. Thank you so much for your support!

can you really paint a bath tub

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Maria

Wednesday 17th of February 2021

This post is a great resource for anyone that is tackling a fixer upper or even a flip. So nice to get the actual unpaid thoughts from someone who has actually gone through the process!

Designing Vibes

Wednesday 17th of February 2021

Yes, girl! No one is paying me to review this. I think this would actually be great for a flip. :)

Donna

Wednesday 17th of February 2021

Erica, Thanks for your honesty on bathtub redo. We are in the process of determining how to best renovate our bathrooms- it’s never just changing out one thing, ever. Also, I appreciate the information you recently shared concerning your fitness journey. I have learned that I must invest in my health just like I would my home. My trainer has a few of us in a group, that helps with cost and the encouragement is contagious. Thank you for speaking out- I admire your strength.

Designing Vibes

Wednesday 17th of February 2021

You are sooo right, Donna! It is NEVER just as simple as changing one thing. Thank you so much for the support, by the way! Last week's post was a little nerve-wracking to share, but I knew it's what some of my readers needed to hear. It's just as important to invest in our health and bodies as it is to invest in our homes. :) Have a great rest of your week!

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