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That’s right, I stenciled and painted my bathroom floors and they turned out fantastic! It’s now been 3 years and they are still in perfect condition!
This was the basic builder style brown tile floors I was working with and they didn’t go at all with the design I had planned for this bathroom.
I’ve seen other DIYers paint their floors and I was intrigued! So I went to the store and picked up the paint they used: Rust-Oleum Floor Coating Kit. It’s a 2 part system, the paint base coat and the clear top coat. This stuff is STRONG!
I first removed the baseboards and scraped the caulk off the floor. (my method of removing baseboards has improved since then! I love using this baseboard remover tool now)
After that I cleaned the tile really well with a strong cleaner (using gloves and a mask of course!). Then sanded the entire bathroom floor with 80 grit sandpaper and my orbital sander just to scuff them up a bit so the paint would stick better. Then I cleaned them again to get any dust off.
After the floor was taped off and prepped, I got to painting with a brush and a foam roller. The instructions say to get the first coat on and then let it cure for 6 hours before adding additional coats. Below is the coverage after 1 coat.
I ended up needing 3 full coats of the white for full coverage.
It only took a little less than a half gallon for 3 full coats. Then I took the half gallon I had left back to the paint desk and asked them to make it a dark grey.
I picked up a stencil from Michaels that was a little bigger than the tiles and I taped it off evenly all the way around to make it the exact size of the tiles.
I used a sponge to dab on the grey paint. I didn’t want it to look perfect, mostly because I didn’t want to spend hours doing touch ups after spending hours stenciling. If it wasn’t supposed to look perfect in the first place, it wouldn’t be an issue.
After 4 hours of stenciling in the middle of the night, I was DONE! I never wanted to look at a stencil again in my life! I peeled this stencil off the very last tile and went directly to the trash to throw it away…never to be seen again! I have stenciled sense then…but at the time I was convinced that I would never subject myself to that again!
After the grey paint dried for the recommended amount of time, I applied the Step 2 top coat. It is kind of like a Mod Podge.
Once I peeled the painters tape off and added the baseboards back on I was thrilled with how it turned out! I couldn’t believe I had created this!
I still have people that ask me where I got this tile from and they are shocked when I tell them I painted and stenciled it!
Tap here for all the links to my master bathroom.
Next up, shiplap for under $100!
It’s crazy how much of a difference that one thing did!!! Looks great
Thanks! I love projects that are a lot of bang for the buck!
Great job on your website! Love that you put pics of key points during the project and the before and after pics. You inspire me, I’m just not handy. Your videos, tips, where you purchase your material and pricing is very clever. Rustoleum should take notice!
Thank you so much! I’m glad it’s clear for you!
Stunning!
Thank you!
Followed your instructions but my Lowe’s won’t color what’s left of my floor paint! They acted like I was crazy. Makes me mad. Lol
That’s so frustrating! The guy at mine did it with no problem at all! Maybe try again when a different worker is there or go to a different Lowes. The guy at mine said as long as its about 1/2 gallon or 3/4 or 1/4 it will be easier to know how much of what to put in it.
Did you have to make sure the back side of the stencil was clean before moving onto the next square? Did you have any problem with paint leaking out of the design?
I used a sponge because I wanted it to look imperfect that way I wouldn’t have to worry about it leaking because you wouldn’t be able to tell. And when you apply it with a sponge it does pretty well because there isn’t a lot of paint on the sponge. If you roll it on you will have to go back and touch up each tile where it leaks through and you may have to rinse your stencil every few tiles. I only rinsed mine every 10 tiles or so because I was sponging it on and it wasn’t really getting on the back of it. Does that make sense?