While I love our home now, if I’m honest, I was a little disappointed when we first bought it. I wanted a historic house with lots of character, and this builder-grade ranch didn’t provide that at all. There were lots of yellows, honey oaks, and bland vinyl flooring.
This was the foyer when we moved in. Sad, right?
However, thanks to a little bit of elbow grease, we’ve started to add more character and charm in our suburban farmhouse through a few stages.
The first stage was adding our church pew and hanging some gallery wall pieces.
The second stage was adding faux shiplap to the wall. Once this was installed it felt more like a farmhouse, but I still felt like it was missing something.
We couldn’t decide if we wanted to leave the vinyl flooring, install ceramic tiles, or install hardwood throughout the whole first floor. Then, a few months ago I read a blog post that you could paint vinyl flooring.
Enter stage three.
Flooring.
The first thing I did was scrub the floor clean with TSP to make sure there was nothing on it.
Then, tape off the edges and lay three coats of primer. I used KILZ 2 Latex Primer to cover the entire floor with a small foam roller, but I would recommend using a regular 9 inch roller for this step.
After the first coat, I was certain this wasn't going to work. Just wait a few hours, and put a few more layers of primer on.
After three coats, you should be ready to stencil! I purchased the Augusta Tile Stencil off Amazon and really liked it. CuttingEdgeStencils has a ton of other designs if you don't love the one I chose! I would recommend that you purchase TWO a week or so prior to starting the project so you aren't waiting on it to arrive. I takes the full 10 days to get to you.
I don't believe there is type of paint that you have to use when you paint the stencil, but I used charcoal chalked paint.
Use a piece of painter's tape to lay a level line so you can start your stencil sequence.
There's three corners on the edge of the stencil that makes it super easy to line the stencil up with the squares around it. Use painters tape to help you hold the stencil in place.
If you forget the majority of this post, remember this.
USE MINIMAL PAINT!
Dab your foam roller in paint, then roll it off until it looks dry.
THEN, AND ONLY THEN, roll your foam roller over the stencil. Trust me, you don't need a lot of paint.
"BUT I want it to be dark."
NO! It will bleed and smear and you will cry and want to quit the whole project. Trust me on this!
CAREFULLY, remove the stencil.
Using a hair dryer, dry the paint. It helped that I went every other square so I made sure the paint was good and dry before I placed the stencil back down.
The trickiest part was bending the stencil to get the edges. Thankfully, these stencils are super durable and could withstand a light bending.
Once every area is stenciled, let the flooring dry and set for a few hours.
Lastly, finish your floor with a Polycrylic. I chose a matte finish because I did not want a glossy floor. I did three coats of poly, waiting about 2-3 hours each coat.
Overall, this project was more time consuming than hard or expensive. There are some spots that show my learning curve, but I'm really happy with the look of the whole foyer.
I have placed links throughout to help show you where or what to buy for this exact project. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I have placed links throughout to help show you where or what to buy for this exact project. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.