You can paint the outside of a clawfoot tub any color your heart desires. Scuff-sand it, prime and paint - your basic semigloss enamel will do all right. You can also have it painted at an auto-body shop if you don't feel like tackling it.

I have seen plenty of these tubs painted the accent color for the bathroom. There was a bright red one in a magazine not too long ago. The designer was Kathryn Ireland.

I was going to suggest black, to pick up the black granite, but if you go with dark floors, I would not go that route. Any ideas on an accent color yet?

We painted ours ( I didn't do any prep, but it is always better to prep) at least 5 yrs ago. I was worried it would peel because of the constant temp changes, but hasn't yet. We just used latex wall paint.

I painted the exterior of my tub silver (aluminum radiator paint). I like how it looks but wish it looked a bit more silver. I think it would look even better in a true silver leaf but I didn't have time to research the most cost effective way to do it.

A glossy black would also look great.

Thanks for the input everyone! I feel confident enough now to try something other than white but i am not sure yet what we will decide. I will definately post some pictures =)

Again, many thanks!!
Stacey =)

We had our clawfoot tub painted black. Because of family issues our bath remodel got delayed and the company was nice enough to hold onto the tub until we are ready for it. I believe they used it in a photo shoot for the front page of their website as they have never showed a painted tub before and now they are showing my specific model painted black (the color I chose). I think this was my 15 minutes of fame.

My old bathroom was kind of hideous and also had the outside of the tub painted navy blue (which didn't bother me - it was the matching toilet that bothered me!) The tub was the best looking thing in the room. Every time I picture a plain white tub in my new bathroom it just seems too big and too white, I'm glad I had it painted black.

Here is a link that might be useful: vintage tub