In all places in our dwelling we’ve used darkish grout with tiles. I really like the way it seems to be towards a basic, cheap tile (see our toilet right here) and there’s the practicality of it not highlighting mould, stains and marks, particularly in a excessive site visitors space equivalent to a household toilet or kitchen.
So why didn’t you employ darkish grout within the kitchen I hear you asking? Properly, we did, however we additionally used crackle glaze tiles – which we sealed! However solely as soon as – and the darkish grout bled onto the tiles so badly that we needed to tile a complete new layer over the part (as a result of to take away them would’ve taken the plaster beneath off).
We then sealed them an additional thrice to make certain however nonetheless received scared so simply went with a lightweight gray grout.
It was wonderful, they appeared good, nevertheless it simply wasn’t my imaginative and prescient, you understand? Our tiles (‘Ludlow’ in Ammonite from Porcelain superstore), for my part, would sing that little bit extra with a darker encompass.
I had been that means to strive a grout pen for ages, actually I purchased one (through Rainbow chalk) and it sat unused on my desk for ages – partly out of nervousness however principally out of lack of time. However we’ve lastly received spherical to it and listed here are the outcomes!
It took lots of getting used to at first, as we had gotten used to the lighter grout, however for me, the room immediately feels extra ‘us’ and what we initially needed – the tiles ping, as do the gadgets leaning towards the wall. Right here are some things to notice:
I didn’t ‘prep’ the room or the tiles.
Our grout within reason current (below 2 years) so it was in state, and our tiles had been miraculously fairly clear!
One pen won’t do a complete room
Don’t give it a go along with only one pen (like me) in case your house is as giant (or bigger) than this. I booked out a complete day after which ran out of juice (each metaphorically and actually!) after a few hours. Ultimately we used three pens for this space, I in all probability didn’t use the pen proper till the final doable drip because it will get trickier to navigate and extra room for error (and I used to be filming on a deadline so wanted to be considerably fast).
There are completely different dimension nibs
I used a 7ml one however they promote smaller and thicker (we unintentionally purchased a 15ml one and it was like a jumbo marker – we despatched that one again).
The nib usually will get worn down and tough after some time
Because of this your strains aren’t as easy and it will get a bit harder to make markings on the grout. That’s while you change pen.
To make use of the pen you shake, then push down on the nib to convey the ink out (a bit like these gold pens all of us utilized in college?!) – I might suggest having a notepad helpful to do that as you go. When you push down straight onto the grout the nib will probably be ruined faster (see above picture!).
Attempt a tester space in a much less seen a part of the room earlier than you begin
Simply in case you don’t prefer it! I examined it below the breakfast bar first.
Don’t fear in the event you go over the tiles
I usually had a moist flannel that ran over the sting of the tiles and would tidy up after it had initially dried.
I’ve not tried this in a rest room or moist room and can’t say whether or not it’d maintain up – just a few folks on TikTok have mentioned it’s wonderful; just a few haven’t! It appears much less upholding on flooring grout (for apparent causes).
Be sure that, when you’ve got completely different tiles like crackle-glaze, that they’re sealed earlier than making an attempt this. Possibly thrice to make certain! You should buy some right here (and we discovered utilizing a mini curler was a very fast and helpful approach to do that).
All in all, we’re actually proud of the outcome and it’s precisely what I ‘thought’ our tiles had been going to seem like after we first completed our kitchen. It’s value mentioning that that is clearly freshly performed and I can’t vouch for the way lengthy it lasts – however will in fact share if there are any main flaws. If this was one thing you had been contemplating (or perhaps you hadn’t considered it as an choice earlier than!), it’s a very reasonably priced change you might make with out an excessive amount of effort.
See the grout pen in motion on my TikTok dwelling account
