DIY Painted Floors

As part of my ongoing frump dumping efforts, I’m trying to do a few projects around the house.  I like my house, love the layout, but it’s in a house rut and we can’t afford to do much after putting a pool in.  That’s the home projects budget blown for like, ever.

One things I’ve never liked is our downstairs bathroom floor.  It’s limestone and it is baffling to me why the contractor who build the house put it in, over say tile or something.  It’s porous, wasn’t sealed well and scratches easily.  In fact the day they installed the sink over the bathroom floor they must have dragged the sink over the floor and left an enormous linear scratch.  It also always looks dirty even when it’s not.  It never occurred to me that a powder room would get so much traffic.  But being the only downstairs bathroom, it’s in heavy use.  And aside from the dirty look, it’s just really boring.

I’ve seen a lot of tutorials on stenciling wood floors with paint, which I may try next.  But I wanted to try a smaller area of the house that already was ugly.  Turns out almost no one knows how to stencil a stone floor.  Or at least there aren’t that many posts I can find about it and the paint guys at the paint store seemed genuinely baffled.  But because it’s so porous I figured a stencil and paint would work, along with a good sealant.  And I was right.

With some acrylic paint and a stencil you can redo a concrete or stone floor.

What you will need:

• Stencil:  I ordered mine from Etsy.  Royal Design Studio has lots of awesome, modern designs I loved.  I picked Large Moroccan Arches for mine.  The larger the stencil, the less work.  The stencils are very good and have special marks on them to show you how to realign the stencils as you move them to continue the design.
• Acrylic paint.  I got mine from Michaels and used lavender and deep purple.
• CLR.  I used this to clean off any debris, old dirt etc.  I diluted it 50/50.
• Clear acrylic sealer.  I bought spray made by Modge Podge to seal the floor.  I’d recommend getting a spray for this, not a paint on to make it easier on yourself.
• Sponge or stipple brush to apply the paint.  I liked a sponge better for this, because the floor was very smooth and I think sponges apply better on smooth surfaces.

Royal Design Studio Stencils from Etsy

Tips:  Figure out where your center is and start your design.  Don’t overload your sponge or paint will bleed out of the design.  As a side note, I took the register off the floor so I wouldn’t have to mark it off with painters tape and when I was almost done with the project, I put my foot into the hole accidentally and seriously skinned my shin.  In a small place you might as well not have a hazard like that because you’ll be doing a lot of maneuvering in such a tight spot.  Just tape it off.

Not pictured: Stencil

Use spray adhesive or painters tape to hold stencil in place.

If you wanted to paint on a rug and not do a whole floor you could do a border and be done.

Finished!