Paint a Tile Floor

Steps, Tips and Lessons Learned

We replaced all the tile in the farmhouse we remodeled except for in the laundry room.  The tile was in good shape and I thought that I could save some money and my husband some time by just keeping the tile in the room. After I got the walls painted and the floors done throughout the house, I hated the tile in the laundry room and had to do something about it.  I still didn't want my husband to have to mess with it because tearing out existing tile is VERY time consuming and that was on top of putting down new tile. and we had many other projects to work on  So, I decided that I would paint the tile floor. It took me longer than I anticipated because I messed up at the end, but my mess up will save you some time. I am really happy that I did the painted floor.  I love the look.  And, we have lived in the house for 8 months and the floor is holding up wonderfully. 

I loved the look of the black and white patterned tiles, so I found a stencil on Amazon and went from there.  I ended up using the Augusta Cutting Edge Stencil. I knew that if I messed up that I could always paint it again.  So, just go for it if you are thinking about it. 

Here are the steps that I followed to do my floor.  

1)Lightly sand the floor with rough grit sandpaper. I used 80 grit.

2 Vacuum/sweep and mop all the dust and grit off the floor and let dry. 

3) Tape off baseboard trim.

4) Paint primer on all tiles and grout lines.  I used a foam roller and  a small brush for grout, but the foam roller usually got into the grout lines.  Let it dry (I waited 48 hours). Remember to start farthest away from the door for exit. Note: The foam roller just makes the paint smooth looking when the paint dries.

6) Paint the base color with a foam roller on all tiles and grout lines. Let it dry (I waited 48 hours).  

7) Now it is stencil time!  Use a foam roller and paint pan.  Start the farthest from your exit point. Lay the stencil over your tile. You can use a spray adhesive to hold the stencil in place. Only put a little amount of paint on your roller.  If there is too much, the paint will bleed and the lines won't be clean.  Lightly roll the foam roller with paint over your stencil until you have the color you want.  Now, you just repeat with each tile.  

Notes: I wiped the back of my stencil off before placing it on the next tile to make sure any paint that bled was removed.I painted alternating tiles to make sure that I didn't smudge any wet paint in the process.  I waited a day and then painted the others.  I also had to trim my stencil because my tiles were an odd size compared to the stencil sizes that I could order.  I trimmed down my stencil after all the full size ones were done because some of my tiles were smaller on the edges.

8) Sealer.  I waited 48 hours after my final stencil paint was dry. Use a WATER-BASE polyurethane/polycrylic and paint over the entire floor.  I ended up doing 3 coats of sealer with recommended waits between each coat. 

NOTE: Now, here is where I really messed up.  I was worried about a painted floor being durable.  I thought an oil based polyurethane would be more durable and decided to use it instead of a water based poly.  I knew that the oil base would tint the white paint a little yellow, but what I wasn't prepared for was that the oil based poly turn the white really yellow after about a week.  The color was so yellow that I couldn't stand it and I had to redo my stencil.  So, DON'T USE AN OIL BASED POLYURETHANE IF YOU USE WHITE PAINT AND WANT IT TO STAY WHITE.

Supplies - I linked some of these in Amazon, so you can see what I used.

StencilHigh density mini foam rollers (I needed 4)paint pansmall paint brushPainter's TapeSpray AdhesivePaint Primer -  (I used Stix)Floor Paint ( I used Valspar Porch, Floor, Patio Paint)Paint for your Stencil.  (I used a Behr Marquee White)Polycrylic and A bit of patience :)

Here is the finished floor!