I want to change the appearance of the ceramic tile surrounding my
bathtub. It is in excellent condition, no chips, cracks, scratches.
It's just an ugly pale yellow.

I have seen a ceramic tile refinishing kit at Lowe's that is an epoxy
based paint. That kit is spray paint based, so I am not interested in
it. I find that when spraying paint, there are often drips when the
pressure changes or when you are running out of paint. And drips would
be hard to make pretty.

Home Depot has a kit that is also epoxy based, comes in cans, and is
roller'd on. Here is a link to the item:
http://www.klenks.com/klenkspages/tubtile.html

I want to hear from someone who has used one or the other of these two
kits. Someone who has 'refinished' their tile themselves. I want to
hear how it worked, if it looked professional, and if they would do it
again. Could you see the roller marks in the finished product? The
Klenk's says that the paint is 'self-leveling'; I find that almost
unimaginable.

Please help me!

Thanks.

I have not used the exact product to which you refer, but I have
attempted to repaint ceramic tile in a bathroom. The results were
disastrous: streaky, bubbled, and pitted. Within a month, the epoxy
paint began to loosen from the tile, bulging in some places, peeling
in others. I believe such tasks are best left to professional
tub-and-tile refinishers.

What Pinkfreud said.  Similar experience.  My tile was textured so the
self leveling feature was of minor importance and I even thought the
texture might help the epoxy paint stick better.  No such luck.

Have you thought about using decals to brighten up the look of the
bathroom? They are inexpensive, easy to apply, and when you are tired
of them and want a new look, the decals can be scraped off and
replaced by new designs.

A friend of mine had a dismally plain tiled bathroom that was all
white. It looked like a hospital bathroom. She applied small decals of
autumn leaves to selected tiles, and it really looked nice, almost as
if the patterns were embedded in the tiles rather than overlying them.

Here's my two cents . . . don't do it.  I have not used the products
you mentioned either, but I bought a house where the tile had been
painted.  It was professionally done and looked good at first, a few
drips in inconspicuous places, but not enough to worry about. 
However, over time, the paint began to peel off in the shower that we
use most often.  Now, five years later, we have a huge mess --
splotchy areas of blue tile showing through the white -- and the only
way to make it right is to tear it all out and retile. In the other
bath, where the shower hasn't been used as much, we haven't had this
problem . . . yet.

If it were me, I'd try to work with what you have.  If the tile is
only in the tub surround, why not splurge on a colorful shower
curtain? Keep it closed and you'll only see the offending tile when
you're in the shower itself.  If the floor is also an issue, put down
a wall-to-wall, cut-to-fit bathroom carpet in a color you like.  You
might also try an interesting wall-painting technique on the bathroom
wall (not the tile), such as glazing, to detract attention from the
tile. There are a lot of easy-to-use products on the market.

Good luck,
helpful1