After years of wear and tear, grout lines start to look a little weary with stains, fading, or discoloration.  It’s time to start thinking about how to renew the look of your grout.  Obviously, reaming out the current grout and replacing it is an option, but that is extremely labor intensive, and if taking on a project like that is not on your radar, there are other options.

For years, people have used coffee to stain wood, dye fabric, and even dye hair.  The beauty of coffee when used as a stain is that it is completely natural.  There are no chemical odors or risk of chemical burns to the lungs.  Women who are pregnant or people with lung or breathing problems have found coffee to be a life saver when doing DIY projects because it provides the freedom to do staining projects without the lung-scorching chemicals of the usual stains.  Coffee is also a deodorizer.  Coffee absorbs bad odors, and let’s face it, coffee is one of the best smells there is.  And because coffee is completely natural, no risk of chemicals affecting your children or your pets.

So using coffee grounds as a way to update grout?  It works!  If you are looking to give an earthy, warm, cozy feeling to your home, earth tones for your grout is a great way to start.  Let’s talk about the process, and then we will talk about a few considerations.

Start by brewing yourself a small pot of coffee.  The darker the coffee beans, the darker the stain, so this is something to keep in mind as you decide on how dark you want the final appearance of your grout to be.  After getting your pot brewing, take 1 cup of ground coffee and put it in a bowl.  Once your coffee is finished brewing, add ½ to ¾ cup of the coffee you just brewed to the coffee grounds in the bowl.  Mix this into a paste.  After cleaning your grout, use an old toothbrush, and start to scrub the coffee ground paste into the grout.  Now that you have completed this step, use an old towel to lightly wipe away the excess from around the grout, but don’t wipe the grout itself, as the coffee needs time to soak in.

Now the depth of color you are wanting will determine the number of coats you want to do.  Wait for your first layer to dry and see what color your first coat gives you.  Sometimes, even though the same grout is used throughout, the coffee may take differently to different areas on the grout, and certain areas may require more coats of the coffee than others.  Also, you will need to let this set for a few hours, if not overnight, to allow it do as much soaking in as it will do.  Again, be sure you wipe up the excess so there is no staining on the tiles.  After you have let the coffee set on the grout for a few hours, assess your color, repeat as often as you desire, and after your final coat has set for a number of hours to overnight, wipe up any excess.  At this point, you can use grout sealer to prevent any other staining to occur from undesired sources.

A few considerations do need to be made.  Using coffee to refresh your grout will give you a tan/brown color, depending on the depth of the coffee you use and depending on how many layers you apply.  If a tan or brown grout does not match your tile, you probably will not want to do this particular grout update.  The other thing you need to consider is what type of tile you have.  If you have a very porous tile, such as a natural stone, you may run the risk of staining your actual tiles, which is not desirable, so be very aware of that as you proceed.

Lastly, using coffee to stain your grout may not give you a massive change in color, depending on what color you being with, but it will even out some inconsistencies in your old grout color.  If you start with a tan/brown grout, you will end up with a tan/brown grout.  If you have white grout, you will end up with tan grout.  What using coffee will do is provide you an inexpensive, chemical free, easy option to update your grout.