Work with what you GOT-Painted Kitchen Floors

FLOOR UPDATE:  (4/15/2015)
I know you have all asked for update pictures and I have FINALLY gotten around to snapping some iPhone pictures to share.  The floors are now 3 years old and while they are dirty in these pictures (sorry), they are still holding up really really well.  I am very pleased with their duration of numerous gatherings and 3 toddlers constantly running, playing and dragging toys along them all day long.  I would still recommend this method and am pleased with them each time I look down.  

We have an update in the ever evolving kitchen.  I recently painted the linoleum kitchen floors (another Pinterest inspiration) with regular old house paint.  It was a fun process and not one that I was sure was going to "stick" but it did and I am so happy.  Before I go into detail about the "how to" here are some kitchen evolution shots...

Picture 1:  How the kitchen looked when we moved in

 Picture 2:  How the kitchen looked after we painted the kitchen cabinets white and installed new Ikea counter tops, added a white subway tile backsplash, and painted the walls.

  Picture 3:  How it looks now, after the painted floor project

I am so in love it with it.

So now for the HOW TO...

Let me start with saying that painting linoleum is not for all linoleum.  Peel and stick or slick linoleum will not work for this process.  We had old, worn linoleum that was installed in one big sheet.  My sister-in-law tried to paint her peel and stick bathroom linoleum and the paint is just peeling right off.

Here is the process:
Step 1:  clean floors really well and let them completely dry (I used a degreaser and mopped the floors)

Step 2:  Paint the floors with the Base/Bottom color.  I used Behr Paint and Primer In One-FLAT.  Here is a picture of the paint cans. 

 

Step 3:  Stencil the design.  I bought a Martha Stewart stencil from Michaels and used the same Behr paint in a different color. I used a small foam roller to keep the paint even, make sure you don't load the roller with too much paint or it will bleed under the stencil and make a mess.  As far as the placement goes, the old linoleum had squares in it so I just used them as a guide and did every other square.

Step 4:  Let paint dry and then apply poly urethane.  I used a water based poly and followed the instructions on application.  I applied 4 coats of poly just to be safe.

Let dry for 2 days to be absolutely sure its cured and DONE!!!  We have had these floors painted for about 2 months and they still look absolutely gorgeous.  

In case you are wondering about paint colors, the colors are:

Base:  Glidden GLN40-Wood Smoke, I had it color matched so that I could use the Behr prime/paint

Stencil:  GLC13-Crisp Linen White, also color matched to Behr Prime/Paint 

Color Codes:

Here are a couple more shots of the floor taken just this morning.

Please email me or leave a comment if you have any questions about technique or process.  And leave a link if you did this yourself, I would love to see others work.

:)