Could you post some pictures? That way we can see what you are dealing with and offer more specific ideas :)

Even scrubbing the grout can be time consuming, but you can bleach and scrub (we used soft scrub with bleach and a stiff brush in our last house). There are also companies that professionally clean grout (some do the cover up stuff too -- not a fan of that).

You can replace grout -- yes it is a pain to do. It is mainly labor -- the materials are not expensive, so if you DIY, the payoff is much better.

I'm not a fan of the grout paint pens. They are going to look fake and if the job is messy, you just made a problem worse.

I don't know if you could use an epoxy coating like you would on a garage floor, nor that you would want to.

Another option is to look at a laminate, engineered floor, cork or other option that you might be able to put down over the tile.

Yes, you can have the floor etched with muriatic acid and then coated with an industrial epoxy but that will cost a heck of a lot more than buying even $10 a square foot tile and having the floor redone.

The only permanant fix is to get out your hammer and chisel and start taking it up. Yes, it's messy, but it's within the realm of anyone on the planet to DIY. It's just chain gang labor, not much thought needs to happen to accomplish it. After you've done the hard part, you can hire someone to tile the floor or you can DIY it yourself as well. It does take some math ability and a 4 foot level in order to tile, but it also can be done by almost any DIYer if they go slow and do a starter project first.

As live_wire_oak said, removing tile (and even tiling) can be done DIY. In fact, demo is a lot of fun. I've now tiled two bathrooms (tub/shower walls included), laundry room, pantry, and most recently my entry/foyer. All this work was literally by myself. I also helped my brother tile his kitchen and it was much easier with two (and sometimes three) people. It can be time consuming at first, but the effort is definitely worth it. I am so much happier with my new spaces (and especially the tile I chose) than what I had before.

I've heard removing grout can be slow and tedious (though it depends on the grout joints to an extent), but grouting is fairly easy. I've heard about grout paints, but I've never tried them myself. I know my tile store mentioned that they can change grout colors when clients are unhappy with the grout color they've selected. You might talk to a tile store about the available products for changing grout color and see if they have any samples to show what the results look like.

I can't find it on a search, but there is a floating vinyl tile that is supposed to go over a ceramic tile floor without having to use a leveler. Someone at Home Depot or Lowes told me about it.

The Trafficmaster Allure floor is a floating vinyl floor that can be laid on top of tile as a "beauty fix". It's around $2.40 a square foot, and is a temporary fix if you lay it over tile. Over time, it will begin to telegraph the grout lines and tile size that it covered.

For the same $2.40 a square foot, you can DIY a pretty decent tile floor because all you'll pay for is the materials. The box stores will usually have some great specials on porcelain tiles around $1 a foot, and the thinset and grout might cost you another $.50 per foot. Even if you "splurged" and bought $5 tile, You're still under $700 for the average sized 10'x12' kitchen, even if you have to buy a $59 tile saw and other tools. And you now own those tools to be able to move on to the bathroom projects!

I've used Aquamix Grout Recolorant and found it to be an excellent product. Like most of the Aquamix products, it isn't cheap, but it's a different animal from the grout color pens you find elsewhere. It's a water based epoxy material that seals and recolors the grout. I used Antique White, over a badly stained white sanded grout on a bathroom floor. The product comes in a range of colors.

Aquamix says the life of the grout colorant is 12-15 years. Mine has been down on a bathroom floor for about 4 years and it's held up to repeated scrubbings (with a bristle brush) with no problems whatsoever.

A friend of mine (who has more energy than I do) used Aquamix grout colorant to change the grout color in most of her house from a dated brown grout to a soft beige, and it truly updated the look of the tile floor. She also used it on a kitchen tile countertop, but in that location it did finally start to peel a bit after years of hard cleaning.

The main downside is, it's slow and tedious to apply. A child's toothbrush works well to apply it to the grout (trying not to get a lot on the tile.) You can apply multiple coats if you're going for a big color change. After it sets for an hour or so, you mist the area with water and then buff the excess colorant off the tile edges with a white scrub pad. You get to spend many hours sitting on the floor!

If you give this a try I'd only use Aquamix, it seems head and shoulders above the other stuff out there. If you Google Aquamix Grout Colorant you can pull up some product reviews.

Although this is admittedly slow and tedious, I tend to think it would be easier than removing all the grout and regrouting...?

I saw on tv a product that looks like a pen or marker that they just draw right on the grout and it's brand new.

It's messy, loud, and annoying to take up existing tile, but it's not that enormous of a job, either. Unless you're seriously budget-challenged and few hundred dollars would put this out of reach, I'd just do it.

Just to point out for the 467th time, TV isn't real life. Nor are salemen always truthful. Nor subways timeless. Nor electric cars always "greener". Nor is hydrogen the most common element in the universe. (per Harlan Ellison.) Yada yada yada.

The only good way to deal with an ugly tile floor is a sledgehammer followed by a hammer and chisel. It's pretty satisfying to smash it to bits too!

I agree with many of the above posters that the best long term solution is to replace the ugly tile with something you like better (and I agree that a new tile floor doesn't have to be expensive.)

However (depending on what other projects the OP is juggling) there are times when a temporary fix can be a big visual relief, and it can allow you to tackle even more pressing things (often the case in my big old house.) In my case the floor looked dirty no matter what I did, and it was depressing. Now it only looks...boring! But at least it looks clean!

I do look forward to the day when I can apply a sledgehammer and chisel to some of my ugly tile...I could use the satisfaction!

We removed over 900 sq. ft. of 30 year old tile out of our entire living area and laundry room. It was a rotten miserable job. Never mind the chiseling... the cleanup was worse. Tile is freakin' HEAVY! Really really really heavy. getting all that tile out of here and then the dust cleanup was a bear. And we weren't really living here at the time. There was no kitchen and no furniture to speak of. One room I could probalby deal with. But an entire house? I'd be hard pressed to do that again.

Mudhouse, I know exactly what you mean about a room looking boring but clean! We once did a $65 update of a bathroom with the same result. Years later, it's not a bathroom anymore, so I'm glad we didn't spend more.

Remodelfla, been there too. The tile and mortar IS incredibly heavy. But I bet you're glad you did it -- now that it's behind you!

There's a lot of good advice here, thanks everyone!

I used Aquamix too and found it to be a great option. I had picked the wrong grout color and Aquamix covered it well and made the tile look completely different.
Diane

OP, I'd love to see your current ugly floor and then your photo and analysis of what you decided to do about it. Lots of options here depending on your circumstances and inclinations.

Suzanne, It's actually the floor of a friend. I'll see if she minds if I take a picture next time I'm there.