We used a "sticky" primer.. I can't recall the name of it.. I'll check in a bit. Kiltz maybe?? I then took a few different brown colors and an off white color and just went to work sponging and brushing on until I got the look I wanted. LESS IS BEST! I also used half glaze and half paint so that I could clean up mistakes better. The hard part was cleaning up the white grout intbetween the tiles as I wasn't very careful about keeping the paint off. The space between tiles is tiny .. .ugh. I still need to put a few layers of polyurethane on it to protect but I was waiting until I was completely satisfied with my results. Sea sponges are your friend!! Don't be afraid... the worst thing that can happen is to paint it white again and start over.

I looked up "Tumbled tile" on the internet and had a few pictures in front of me so that I knew at least where I was going.

Hope this helps!