Painted Floor Tiles DIY

We are in the home stretch of our basement renovation and last week I devoted some time to my own little studio space! I never wanted carpet or any other type of flooring I could damage with paint splatters down there, so I knew I was sticking with concrete.

I had planned all along to follow this tutorial from DIY Network to stain the concrete floor to achieve a natural stone look. I was sooo looking forward to it! Well, my contractor forgot to tell the painters, and soon I had paint drips and over-spray all over my floor! After some tears, I decided to come up with a new idea...

What if I painted my floor with a faux finish to look like ceramic tiles? It worked! For about $30 I can teach you how!

Painted Floor Tiles (Faux Ceramic Tile)

Supplies:

1-Part Epoxy Acrylic paint (I used Behr Concrete & Garage Floor Paint in "Cold Lager" color)
3/8 inch nap roller
2-3 inch painter's tape
1/4 inch Painter's Tape (I couldn't find this and needed immediate gratification so I cut a roll of 3/4 inch painters tape in half with a saw. Not easy.)
Rag
White and brown acrylic paints


Instructions:

Begin by taping off the baseboard with wide, 2-3 inch painter's tape.



Cut in with a brush, as usual, then roll the rest of the floor (I had a long mop handle that screwed right to the end of my roller that allowed me to stand and roll). Let dry at LEAST 24 hours. I let mine dry about 18 hours and I should have waited until the next day since some of the undercoat pulled off with the tape.

I chose a mid-range color that coordinated with my carpeting, many colors are available.

Using a tape measure, begin to mark off a grid with your 1/4 inch tape. I planned for 16 inch "tiles" and simply started in the center of the room and worked my way out to the sides, much as you would when installing real tiles.



I poured my remaining paint into 3 large plastic cups (any container will work). I left one cup alone, I mixed some dark brown acrylic craft paint into one cup and mixed white acrylic craft paint into the other. I wanted 3 tones of the same color - light, medium, and dark - to create a realistic ceramic tile.

Using a thick paper plate as a paint palette, I poured out a bit of each color, then dipped my wadded up rag so that it picked up some of each color at once.

Then, I simply "pounced" the paint onto the floor. I concentrated on one tile at a time, filling the entire square before moving on to the next. Take a look at an actual ceramic tile to see what you are going for here:



See the light and dark variations? No two tiles need be alike, but if the colors are the same, they will come together to form a realistic faux ceramic tile. I usually started with a bit more dark and determined the pattern I wanted it to take and where I wanted it to originate from and travel to - then highlighted with the lighter colors. For each tile, I tried to create a different pattern and use some dark close to the edges so that there was enough contrast to notice the "grout" lines.

I ripped off my tape as I completed each 3 rows (mostly because I couldn't stand to wait to see it!). Soon, I had a "tiled" floor that cost me around $30 and took about 2 1/2 hours!


**(I did not receive any compensation from Behr for this tutorial - I just loved the paint and the results!)

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