Ways to Whiten Grout

What follows is the part worth saving when a room has to function on a weekday. Today I'm sharing a quick and easy tip on how to whiten grout! After lots of product fails I found one that really works!
(post includes some affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})

The tile grout on the floor of our guest bathroom has always been totally discolored and gross. I tried pretty much everything to clean it from bottled grout cleaners to home concoctions of baking soda and peroxide to steam. They all made the grout look somewhat better but didn't come close to restoring it to the original color. I was determined to find a solution so I went searching for a product online and came upon one called Grout Renew (found {here}) that had great reviews so I decided to give it a try.

Oh my gosh, I wish I had known about it years ago! It made such a huge difference and completely restored my grout to its original soft white color (I used the Snow White color which is a great creamy white; there is also a Bright White if your original grout is a true bright white plus lots of other non-white options). Plus, it also seals the grout to prevent future stains. I tried a few different ways to apply it but the way that worked best for me was with a small angled paintbrush. This is the difference that it made after just one coat:

For about 75% of my grout lines, one coat was enough but after letting the first coat dry for several hours, I went back over the more heavily stained areas a second (and sometimes even a third) time. The process is a little bit painstaking but for a small bathroom like mine it only took about an hour to cover all of the grout lines. So {this stuff} is my new BFF and I highly recommend it if you were wondering how to whiten grout too!

Another newer product to try is {this white grout pen} that's also a colorant and sealer. The nice thing about the grout pen is that you don't need a separate applicator. You use it just like you would a marker and can choose either narrow or wide tip depending on the width of your grout lines. I tried it and thought it worked really well:

Update: See my new post on how to clean floor tile grout for details on the grout cleaners that work best!