Painted Bath FAQs

You can see them Right Here! Right Now! at the Classical Baths Painted Bath Photo Gallery or if that's not enough call or email us and we can arrange a visit to our Leeds showroom to show you a real physical painted bath.

Always use a manufacturer's swatch card or a sample pot of paint to choose your colour. Do not base your colour choice solely on how the colour looks on a computer screen or phone screen, the image may not accurately reproduce the original colours

The easiest way is the old fashioned way, give us a call and we can take your order over the phone. Alternatively just place the order on the web site choosing the 'painted exterior' finish option and we will contact you on the same or the next working day to take your choice of colour and arrange a delivery day. Also you can add a note to your order at the checkout with your paint colour but we will still contact you to confirm. Your payment will be authorised but no money will be taken from your card until we have contacted you and confirmed all the details of your order.

All of our baths can be painted. So all of our acrylic baths, stone cast baths, fibre glass and gel-coat baths can all be painted. The exterior only of the bath is painted, the interior and top edge of the bath are left unpainted. Where baths have feet the feet can also be painted if required, either in the same colour as the bath or a different colour (see next question below for more details of that). If your bath feet a painted in a different colour to the bath there may be an extra charge for this.

All the bath feet supplied with our baths can be painted. Some manufacturers such as Burlington supply most or all of their bath feet in finishes other than chrome onto which we can paint directly, for example white. Other manufacturers, such as Royce Morgan, supply most of their feet only in chrome. In these cases we cannot paint with wet paint (like Farrow and Ball) directly onto the metal surface of the feet as the paint would just run off. So instead we powder coat them first and then paint on top of that. Powder coating is a process which paints using a dry powder that sticks to the surface of the metal which is then baked in an oven. It is great on its own as a final finish for matt black or matt white feet but it also provides a stable surface onto which we can paint with Farrow and Ball or other suitable paints.

Usually the lead time for a painted bath is between 2 and 4 weeks. In cases of great urgency (which are many) we can often be quicker than this and we will do out best to meet any deadlines you have.

We know our paint, and what we don't know we can find out. So the short answer is we can use all (paints) and any (colours) as long as they suitable and if don't know that already we can find out. The most popular brands of paint we are asked to use are with Farrow and Ball, Little Greene, Zoffany, Paint and Paper Library, Sanderson, and Benjamin Moore - over 1500 colours to choose from between them. We can also paint any RAL Colour. We generally use a matt eggshell finish which is knock-resistant and washable and performs extremely well in a domestic bathroom but we can also use other suitable finishes. If you have a particular requirement not mentioned here call or email us and we will help you get what you want.

The main issue when it comes to choosing a paint colour is to get an accurate idea of how the paint will look when its on your bath. The worst way of doing this is to just use the colour as shown on a computer screen as a guide. The way in which colours are specified for computing, whilst covering a very large number of different Red-Blue-Green combinations, cannot capture the richness of the wavelengths reflected by quality paints such as Farrow and Ball. In addition different computer screens will render colours quite differently.

A far better way to start is with a colour swatch or colour card from the manufacturers. We keep Farrow and Ball swatches so ring us for one if you need one, or you can order one directly from the Farrow and Ball website, likewise for other manufacturers. Typically a swatch or colour card will show you each colour accurately reproduced on an area about 1 or 2 sq.cm. be aware that when the colour is on a larger area whatever qualities it seems to have on a small area will be more impact-full. Light colours will look lighter. Deep, dark colours will look deeper and darker.

So the next stage if you really want to work hard making your decision is to order sample pots of paint from the manufacturers, these can be bought directly from the manufacturer at low cost. Once you have your sample pot, paint a piece of card or paper of at least A4 size (the bigger the better) with it and look at it in your bathroom under the various lighting conditions that you will have in there. This will give you a really accurate understanding of what kind of experience your chosen colour will give you. If you need any help or advice don't hesitate to ring or email us.

We generally paint using an eggshell finish. This is the same kind of finish you might use on skirting boards, window boards or interior doors so it is washable, knock-resistant and relatively hard-wearing. It will last in the same way and withstand similar usage to the same paint on your doors and skirting boards. So with care you can expect it to last 10 years or more.

If you get dirty marks on the surface of the paint use a soft damp cloth - a microfibre cloth is by far the best kind to use - be as gentle as you can be but you can be quite robust with it if you need to be and this will remove most marks.

If this happens ring us for advice, sometimes its possible to fix a scuff by careful use of a solvent such as t-cut, at other times the best way is to use a small atomiser to respray the affected area. If you need this we can send you a suitable atomiser pre-loaded with paint.

First the surface of the bath is prepared. This means rubbing the bath down to provide a key for the primer, during this phase tiny faults that can't be seen on a gloss white surface but that can be seen when the surface is painted with a matt finish are filled and corrected. The bath is then expertly sprayed with two coats of primer. The second primer coat is then matted down - that is, it is rubbed down all over with fine abrasive paper by hand to provide a fine and even surface. The bath is then sprayed with two top coats, matted down for a second time and then sprayed with a third and final topcoat to give an unsurpassed finish. With traditional roll top baths we paint under the roll right up to the bath edge. For contemporary baths we create an edge on the outside of the bath a few mm's down from the top of the bath, this is a job for a skilled craftsman or craftswoman as many baths have a curve in two directions at the top of the bath. Our painted is very experienced and is also a quality master cabinet maker and he does a fantastic job of this. Having the edge just down from the top of the bath creates a stunning contrast which brings out your bath colour even more.

It's easy to find the price of a painted bath. Just go to the page for the bath you are interested in and find the 'Finish' drop down box - its just below the price. Click on the box and it will show options including a painted option (this may say 'Farrow and Ball Painted Exterior' for other paint brands choose the same option). Once you select the painted bath option, the price will change to show price for the bath when its painted. This includes the cost of the paint as well as the actual painting itself. If you want the bath feet painted as well and in a different colour to the bath then there may be an extra charge to cover the cost of the different colour paint.

We don't' apply lacquer to our painted baths. We don't do it because its unnecessary and also because it can spoil the finish. Its unnecessary because we prepare the surface properly and we apply the paint under the right conditions to get a very high quality and stable finish. We do not get calls from people saying that paint has 'come off', we never get such calls, we've not had one in 10 years of painting baths. Secondly lacquer tends to change colour over time becoming yellowish instead of clear and this spoils the look of the paint. Lacquer also detracts from the fine matt surface of paints from brands such as farrow and ball.

If your bath is a roll top such that the edge you will be painting to is under the roll edge of the bath then the answer is yes, if its a contemporary style bath with no roll then you would have to create the painted edge and that is a job for an expert only. If it's a roll top you've got and you want to do it yourself then this is how you do it...

Rub down with P240 abrasive paper (wet-n-dry) to provide a key for the paint. Paint with suitable primer, use a 4" roller Paint with Top-Coat (minimum of 2 top coats)

Paint Type: Use eggshell - which is knock resistant and washable or any paint suitable for skirting boards/interior doors. Use primer suitable for use on wood and with the top coat chosen. We fix any tiny faults we find as we prepare the surface of the bath, invisible on a gloss white bath, these can show up more on a matt painted surface, you probably won't do this. We spray 2 coats of primer and matt down after the 2nd coat (go over it by hand with fine abrasive paper to get a fine finish on the surface). But you do not need to do this. We spray 3 top coats and matt down again after the second coat, you also do not need to do the matting down but you can if you like doing that kind of stuff and have time. You can get 75% of the result we get and your bath will look great, but the extra 25% is the bit that's hard to do and that gives your bath the top quality professional finish that the centrepiece of your bathroom deserves.

Find out more about painted freestanding baths.