Tired of your Floor? Try budget-friendly paint and a stencil

Do you find yourself not liking a room because of its floor? Maybe it’s tired and shows a lot of wear and tear; maybe it’s the wrong color tile or maybe you just want that room to be refreshed and different. I don’t consider myself an expert, but I have painted and stenciled a bathroom tile floor, a bare concrete floor and a wooden one. Each project is a few years old and I can tell you they are all holding up nicely.

Painting a Concrete Floor

The very first time I mustered up enough courage to do this did involve a rather small space. Back in 2017 while restoring a 1922 Jeffersonian home for resale, I convert a small room off of the formal dining room into a linen, crystal and china closet. The room has a bare concrete floor, a window and not much else.

Due to its proximity to the gorgeous dining room, I want to make this ancillary space as elegant as possible. A space beautiful enough to leave the door open all the time. Because the concrete floor is at the same level as the adjacent original hardwood floors of the dining room, I cannot add new flooring on top of the concrete. So why not paint it?

For my first attempt at stenciling a floor, this was a bit ambitious using so many paint colors with a rather complicated stencil. But it is worth the effort because I now feel I left an original piece of art for the new property owners. To see the original post with a detailed tutorial, you can click here. If you would like to see the restoration of this gorgeous historical home, you can find it here. I promise you will not be disappointed!

Painting a Tile Floor

During the 3 year restoration/renovation of our historic home, I really do not recall why I selected some of the finishes I did. Maybe it was construction fatigue or I was just tired of making choice after choice for all the numerous, tedious details in a home.

Well, fast forward 20 years and I do not like the floor tiles in our pool house bathroom, which happen to be the same tiles in our master bathroom. It is very expensive to rip up a tile floor and replace it so I choose the more affordable way to update the floor in the pool house with paint and a stencil.

Inspired by a blue and white vase, I have a stencil custom made (very affordable) to fit the larger porcelain tile pattern. The key to painting a tile floor is the proper preparation, from cleaning thoroughly to applying the right base and top coats. Cutting any corners here will result in problems later.

Using 3 different shades of blue, and really good knee pads, I paint the entire floor. A lot of cursing is done while wedged next to the toilet trying to stencil partial tiles~a humbling experience indeed!

Like the first stenciled floor project, and childbirth, you forget the pain and just bask in the results. I am thrilled with how this floor looks now. Now 2 years later and it has held up with multiple guests using it.

Just writing this post is making me consider tackling our master bathroom floor…maybe?

To see the two blog posts about this pool house bathroom floor:

Stenciling a Tile Floor

Update~Stenciling a Bathroom Floor

This handprinted, stenciled floor is also the inspiration for the recent pool house refresh which you can see here.

Stenciling a Wood Floor

In between the two above mentioned projects, I decide to take my stenciling knowledge and update a stair landing at our cabin. For some reason, whoever built the staircase, took a cheap route and made the landing out of what appears to be plywood, or some lesser quality wood.

It has bugged me for the last decade. I was once told by a contractor, if you cannot hide it, make it a focal point.

Our mountain cabin is in the White Mountains of Arizona and is surrounded by Ponderosa pine forests. In trying to replicate the forest floor, I use a random patterned stencil that feels like nature. The paints are also relatively neutral with a pop of color.

The landing isn’t very big, but again, trying to fit the stencil in awkward positions near the wall and upper step are a bit tough.

Here is the view when coming down the stairs. No longer does it appear like a cheap piece of wood or an after thought, but an intentional design.

For the full post and DIY tutorial on stenciling a wood floor, click here.

Perhaps the most challenging parts of stenciling the floor is trying to determine what you want to accomplish, what colors and what level of difficulty. All of the above stencils would have been far easier and faster if I chose one color paint.

I never stenciled a floor before and now that I have done it 3 times, my confidence level is higher but I am still hesitant to take on our master bath floor. Mainly because it involves lots of tile and I haven’t put my finger on what I want to accomplish in this space yet.

Nonetheless, I always hope my posts are an inspiration to you! Please let me know if you have done any floor stenciling. Would love to hear all about it.

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This post shared with Fabulous Friday Link 6.10.22