How To Stencil Kitchen Floor Tile & How It Held Up One Year Later.

I got so stuck into this project that I forgot to take a proper before photo of the floor but I found this one above from my mobile phone. It's a bit crappy but you get the picture.  I took it when trying to decide if I would paint the cabinets gray or not... but sin scéal eile.

I was a bit nervous about whether to paint our kitchen floor tiles or not because even though I love the look the more practical side of me said, but how long will they last??? Well let me tell you! Over one whole year later it has 100% held up to my expectations. It's still scratch free and perfect and here's how to do it.I used protective felt pads to stick to the bottom of the chair legs to protect the floor from being scratched.

Priming and sealing were the two the most important factors in stenciling this floor.  And knee pads! Ya need good knee pads!

So if you'd like to give this DIY a try here's what I did.First up before I painted the whole floor I scrubbed it clean with a really good degreaser. You need to do this so the paint will stick.  I googled and found that Krud Kutter sounded like my best bet and it worked perfectly fine for me.Another grainy mobile phone photo but this is the floor after  I painted it all white. Usually with Chalk Paints you do not have to prime as chalk paints are a primer and paint all in one but I decided to give my floor one coat of Zinzer Bin water based primer just to be extra sure seeing as this is our kitchen floor. That and the fact that we also have not only all five of us but two dogs and two cats trotting all over it on a daily basis.Next I gave it two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Olde White. One of the reasons I like using Chalk Paints is that they dry so quickly and you get the job done faster.Now for the fun part! I used a large sized stencil that I ordered from Royal Design Studio Stencils and I chose the Anatolia Tile Stencil design my this project

For the colour I mixed a tin of Annie Sloan Graphite Chalk Paint with a little of the Olde White Chalk Paint until I got the exact light gray colour I wanted. You can just use the Graphite as it is if you'd like but I wanted a slightly lighter gray.

Use masking to hold the stencil in place and if you use a good quality tape like frog tape (the green one)  you can reuse it as you move the stencil along which saves so much time.

After about five or six  uses I tended to get a build up of paint on the stencil  so to clean it I just popped into the shower and hosed it clean.

I used a paint tray and foam rollers for each step of this project from priming to painting to stenciling and sealing.  

For the stenciling part I used Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan in Graphite.  

When I finished stenciling the whole floor I then applied the sealant.   

I used Ronseal Diamond Hard, Floor Varnish in Clear Satin   on our floor. The sealing part is probably the most important part of painting any floor where there is going to be a lot of traffic.

 If you do try this project just make sure it says 'our toughest varnish' on the front of the tin.  You will see this written on the front of the tin on the bottom left (see the tin above)  This is the one you want to get that tough protective finish on the floor and keeps it from scratching or scuffing too easily.There are tons of varnishes out there but I found this one to be the best. It goes on so easy and it's not thick and tacky so it gives you more time to work with it.   It was the easiest part of this project really as it's clear so no worries about mistakes or smudges.   Just slap that stuff on.  The tin suggests using a 4 inch brush but I used a roller and it worked out fine for me.  I think they recommend a brush as I found that the foam roller can cause bubbles in the coat of varnish. So I used a new roller for each coat to avoid this.  The foam replacement rollers are so cheap so I would recommend buying four and use a clean new roller for each coat.You will need to do four coats of varnish to get a tough hard wearing finish. But like I said it goes on so easy and dries so quickly.

Just in case it ever got scratched badly by something sharp I keep a small jar of both the paint colours I used under the kitchen sink so I could easily do touch it ups if needed but I can honestly tell you that over a year later I have never had to do a touch up.

One other thing to note is that I used all water based products and in particular I used a water based varnish (as opposed to polyurethane which can yellow over time) so I stuck with all water based in the hope of keeping the white paint 'white'.  Time will tell..  Even my bin primer was water based.  You can decipher this easily from the information on the back of the tin.This floor  has held up fantastic. Not a scratch or any signs of fading or wear or tear yet. I'm delighted with it.  I sweep it, mop it and we do wear our shoes around the house. We have two cats and two dogs but it's holding up just brilliant one year on.  I really thought we would have to revert to plan B which was rip up the old tile (nightmare I'd imagine) and lay down new tile. But thankfully we did not. This is the bomb. Go paint and stencil your floors and I dare you to tell me you didn't get a massive thrill out of it!! Because I sure did.

Happy Painting Everyone 🖌🖌🖌

And that's it for this kitchen floor makeover.  Any questions contact me here or on my instagram account @paintitwhiteinteriors or Facebook Paint It White Interiors.