HOME CHRONICLES: DIY Stenciled Kitchen and Dining Room

Friday, September 8, 2017

DIY Stenciled Kitchen and Dining Room


Hey guys! It is crazy to think that we have lived in Indiana, in our house, for almost exactly a year. To celebrate I thought I would do a big DIY project! I finally mustard up the courage to paint our kitchen and dining room vinyl floors. I know it sounds crazy! I have seen several Instagram friends paint their vinyl floors and it looks so pretty so I figured I would give it a shot. Here's what sort of gave me my excuse to paint them- we have stick on vinyl squares in our dining and kitchen rooms and a bunch of them started to rip and crack. So we finally found a vinyl square that was the same size as the ones on our floors however, they were not the same color. Yikes! Not cute!! We just don't have the money to completely redo the floors, I really want to do pine wood floors or something, but that is crazy expensive so this options was the way to go! 

Before I show you guys how I painted the floors I want to say thank you guys so much for all of the encouraging messages and responses to my Instagram stories. You all are amazing and the sweetest friends anyone could ask for!
In the photo above you can see the different colored tiles. Yeah, those weren't workin' for me and something had to be done. I started off by cleaning the floors really well. This will help make sure the primer sticks really well and no stains come through the paint.

Once everything was clean it was go time! I grabbed my roller and handle. I highly recommend getting a large roller, and a handle that you can twist on the roller this will save your back. I did one coat of primer on the whole floor. I used the 123 Zinsser bulls eye primer. This was my first time using this primer and I am really happy with it! For the edges of the floor I used a 2inch paint brush. I edged and then painted the floors. In my opinion the first coat of primer even looked better than the vinyl squares.

Once the primer dried, about an hour and a half later it was time to start the first coat of black chalk paint. Almost everybody that I have seen paint their floors has used the Rustoleum chalk paint in charcoal. However, I am painting a huge surface and I would have had to pay a pretty penny for how much paint I would have needed. So I ventured out and went to Homedepot and ordered a gallon of black paint, and I decided to make my own chalk paint.
Here's the recipe I used for the chalk paint:
- 1/3 Cup Plaster of Paris
- 1/3 Cup of water
- 1 cups of the latex paint
Mix the Plaster of Paris and water until the Plaster of Paris has dissolved, then add the latex paint and stir.
I don't know why I haven't ever made my own chalk paint before, it is ridiculously easy.
After I made the chalk paint (I doubled the recipe a couple times) I just edged the floors, and then rolled the paint on the floor. I don't know why I think it is so much fun to roll paint on floors, I just do!! After the chalk paint dried to the touch about an hour later I did a second coat.

Can can tell that some of the paint is still drying in the above picture, but I want to show you what it looked like after the second coat.
After the black chalk paint completely dried it was time for the stenciling. This was by far the hardest part. Play music or listen to a pod cast or something during this part!
I was thankful that the stencil I used from Michael's was 50% off because I bought it during their Labor Day sale. Score! So originally it was around $16, and I got it for $9. They have several different options to choose from.

I started stenciling the area from the living room to the dining room first because this is where most people will see the floor first so I wanted to make sure this part looked the best.

I didn't measure anything, I completely eyeballed everything. Basically, I just went for it! I knew that I wanted a worn look for the white stenciles so I started rolling the paint on in the middle of the stencil and gradually worked my way out pressing lighter so that I just got a distressed look. I love that every tile is different. If you look at real tile you will notice that every tile has a different look.
The stencil I used was not the size of the vinyl tiles on the floor so when I was came across one of the tile lines I made sure to paint it solid white to sort of hide it.


I just worked my way down the line back and forth. I found that it was a lot easier and faster to just bed over and pick up the stencil and place it back down than it was to sit down and scoot along the floor.
Once I had every full stencil squares done I let everything dry. Once the stenciled squares were dry I went back around the edges and folded the stencil over. For every stencil I used a little roller.

Once everything had dried it was time for the Polycrylic. I used Minwax water based Polycrylic in clear satin. I did two coats of this using this whole can. Those put the Polycrylic on I got a foam attachment from Walmart that I was able to attach my handle too. I start by pouring a line down the floor so I can start to sort of squeegee it onto the floor. 
The Polycrylic really brought the floor to life! I let the floor dry for 24 hours before I brought the furniture back into the room.

I was so happy to be finished with this project, and to see it come to life! I am so surprised at how much this new floor has brightened and updates my kitchen and dining room. Finally getting to move the furniture back into the room was so rewarding.



I hope this tutorial helps!

Thank you for stopping by, and saying hi,
Adele

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