Tuesday 29 September 2015

painted tile floor-no really!


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do!


First off, can I just say a HUGE thank you for all the positive feedback for the kitchen reveal? It was so great to hear how much you all liked it. I mean, I knew I liked it but to hear all of your kind comments really drove home to me how right I was to go with my gut and just jump into that makeover....even though people looked at me like I was crazy when I told them what I was doing!


So today I'm going to go through the process of painting our kitchen floor....and the pros and cons of taking on a project like this.




To refresh your memory, this is the delight that we started with....

(warning-brace yourself for some seriously bad nighttime photography in this post)

how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do!


The 90's called, they want their floor back.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do!


So firstly we cleaned the floor like it's never been cleaned before (the resulting cleanliness is a bonus of room makeovers!) and then we put on a coat of this primer...




We cut in around the edges and between the tiles first with a brush and then went over it with a roller. This took about 30 minutes with two people working.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com



Ah, better already!

After the primer had dried we busted out the special paint and repeated the process-edges and between the tile with a brush, then fill in with the roller. You want to keep the coats quite light in the hopes that this will help the paint adhere properly.

This is the paint I chose, it was €50 for 2.5 liters in Homebase, and this was more than I needed.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com


I went for this paint over one that was "tile paint" for a couple of reasons:

1) This was a hell of a lot cheaper than tile paint.
2) The tile paints I could find had really limited colour selections, whereas this was exactly the shade I was looking for.
3) To be totally honest getting paint to stick to the tile was the big problem, and seeing as I didn't hold out much hope that any of them would miraculously do this job better than the others (I thought it would be my job to help that with preparation and primer!) i decided that the smartest thing would be to go for the paint that would be the most durable. As "tile paint" seemed to be intended mostly for backsplashes, I thought paint intended for floors would be my best bet for going the distance.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com

how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com
First coat-still wet.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com
Second coat drying.

We did two coats and called it done. There are spots that would have benefitted from a third coat, but to be totally honest no-one but me would ever notice so it wasn't worth going over it again to me! 


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com


I let it all dry overnight and then removed the masking tape from the skirting boards. Max wanted to help but his approach was kinda just ripping tape off the wall willy-nilly, so it took some paint with it that I had to go back and touch up (you can just see the evil orange tile peeking through again in the photo above). So, lesson learned, babies are crap at diy. I did the rest alone and ran along the edges with a sharp craft knife first to detach the tape from the paint and prevent it cracking.


And voila!

how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com



how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com


The can said to let the paint cure for 48 hours before bringing furniture back in, so I gave it 72! When I did bring the furniture back in I made sure I had felt pads under everything, and I brought a rug in for under the dining table, which will be getting a lot of wear with all the moving of chairs.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com



I did at one point consider stenciling a pattern in white over the grey, but when I tried it I didn't like it. 


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com
This is now hidden under the fridge.


how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com



So that's how we did it, and it makes a HUGE difference to the look of the kitchen. I love it, truly I do. It makes the whole space seem so much bigger, cleaner, and more modern, and it gives me a neutral canvas that I can change the look of with just a few accessories if I want.



Now, for the serious bit. I've shown you that it can be done, but should you do it? Well, that depends on a few factors, the main ones being what your expectations are as far as durability is concerned, and what kind of traffic your kitchen will be dealing with.

Cos (brace yourself) my floor is six weeks old and this already happened....

~caution, graphic image ahead

how to paint a tile floor, and what you should think about before you do! www.makedoanddiy.com
In the interest of being totally honest...


This catastrophe was the result of a fairly successful three year olds party which was attended by eight hyper kids and fourteen adults, none of which removed their shoes and most of which congregated in this area (it was cocktail sausage adjacent).

So I touched it up that night with leftover paint and it's fine now, you wouldn't ever think it was there (it's surprisingly easy to touch up actually, no sign of it afterwards). But the thing is, no matter how well you prep your floor, or how good a job you do with the painting, this is paint on tile, and it's never going to be super durable. Now, I'm perfectly happy spending ten minutes touching it up with an artists brush and my leftover paint every month or so, because I absolutely hated the old floors, and I'm planning on ripping this whole thing out in a year or so anyway, but if I wasn't.....well, that might be different.

If say, I had pets that might scratch it, or my original tile wasn't my style, but was fairly neutral, or I needed the floor to last a long time, then this probably wouldn't be a project i would take on. 

So that's it. I'd love to be able to tell you all that this was an absolutely problem-free solution to an issue a lot of people have, but I really want to be totally honest here.
As it is though, for me, this totally works. I absolutely LOVE my new floor, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, the utility room floor will be getting the exact same treatment just as soon as I can get my act together to do it! :)


So what do you think? Is this something you would try, or would the upkeep put you off? Talk to me!

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If you would like to see the full kitchen reveal, click here.

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