I’m excited to share this project with you today! I’ve been seeing these amazing concrete tile floors everywhere and they are beautiful. However, they are not cheap. So, my alternative – the also beautiful painted and stenciled floors.
To be honest, after tearing up our kitchen tile and all the work that entailed, I had absolutely no desire to try to take up the tile in our entryway. No matter how ugly it is. Exhibit A, B and C.
So, instead of tearing it up and replacing it, I decided to paint it. I followed the tutorial that I found here at Classy Clutter. Sometimes when I do a project that I’m unsure of the outcome, I forget to document the steps, so no tutorial here, but I promise theirs is better. 🙂
First step was to clean the floor. Of course. Then, painting the base coat. I used chalk paint for this, as was recommended, and it worked great. After that I started stenciling (I used my homemade chalk paint for this in order to match the new grey door.) It’s not perfect. If I were to zoom in on any of the pictures you would be able to see ALL the imperfections. But, honestly I kind of like it that way. Being in the entryway, it will be well loved and well used for sure.
Stenciling in the corners and under the built-in was a bit of a pain, not gonna lie. But still not as much of a pain as pulling out all of the tile would have been!
After stenciling I noticed that it looked like rows. The grout lines on the original tile were so large that the stencils weren’t really connecting. I sat on it for a couple of days, not sure if it was going to stay or not. Already thinking about plan B. (sorry for the weird color variation, this is a cell phone pic)
Talking it over with my hubby, and he suggested that I paint some sort of lines to connect the tiles. Hmmmm. Maybe. And, then it hit me! I found my sponge paint dobber and added some dots in between the tiles – in the middles and the corners. Problem solved!!
After all the painting and stenciling was finished, I sealed the floor with three coats of Polycrilic.
Very happy with the outcome!! I still want to get a new vent cover – a white one to match the floors better. And, I need to paint the inside of the front door. Since the outside of the door is now green, it doesn’t make much sense to keep the turquoise on the inside.
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Here is the list of supplies that I used for this project in case you want to try it for yourself.
Here’s a side by side before and after! 🙂
This looks amazing Denise! Congrats – you must be thrilled with the outcome!
Thanks so much Lisa!! It turned out better than expected and we love it!
Wow, it looks beautiful! How has it held up after all this time? Thinking about painting my laundry room floor.
Thanks! It has held up pretty well actually! I do wish I would have added a couple extra coats of sealer. Since it’s a high traffic area (back packs and instruments thrown around all the time) there are a couple of small spots that have chipped. But otherwise it’s great!