9.22.2012

Painted Vinyl Floors

woohoo!
we finally came up with a solution for the hideous kitchen floor
and i cant wait to show you

when we bought the house the kitchen had this discolored vinyl floor
it was essentially in good condition, just not so easy on the eyes
we covered it up with an area rug until now...

{before}
since we don't really have the funds to replace the floor right now
we thought we'd give painting it a shot
we really couldn't mess it up any more than it already was
 thankfully my mom found the blog the Beautiful Nest who shared how she painted squares on her kitchen vinyl
we pretty much took her lead and crossed our fingers

the first thing we did was sand the vinyl
twice with 100 grit sandpaper followed by 220 grit. 
we washed the floor really well and basically tried to remove all the sheen.

we then primed the floor completely with zinsser bulls eye water-base primer and sealer. 
we primed it twice letting it dry really well between coats


after the floor was primed, we used porch and floor paint by Valspar
we had it tinted to be 'swiss coffee' by Valspar.
it is a creamy white that almost matches the Ikea cabinets
we painted the base coat 3 times, letting it dry several hours inbetween coats


then we carefully taped it off using the green 'frog tape'
this tape worked surprisingly well, just make sure to press it down really well
(especially in any grooves you have)
we painted the checkered squares a grey color 
called 'notre dame' by valspar
its a great gray that doesn't really have much blue-ish or purple-ish tones which is exactly what we wanted


it definitely took some patience not to just rip up the tape immediately
we were busting at the seams to see if this was actually going to work

we sealed the floor with four coats of polyurethane which really changed how the floor looked. we used "floor finish" polyurethane made by Varathane, in semi-gloss. we love the shine! it went on really easily and dried pretty fast. we used a foam brush to apply it.
this was kinda pricey but i really think it made the floor.

so here it is folks..ta da!











the semi-gloss finish makes this floor super easy to clean
and fun to slide on with socks


go ahead, you can do a little happy dance if you want
we did.


xoxo
megan

1 comment:

Monica said...

I came across your blog when I was looking for a way to make a painted floor mat. Then I saw your floor. What a great job you've done with your "pantry" and the floor and everything else. Such neat ideas!