Painted Tile Floor Stencil DIY

The tile in my butler’s pantry is in rough shape! But I don’t want to replace it (yet). The floor is connected to the bathroom and I need to figure out a solution to moving the claw foot tub before I can re-tile both rooms. In the bathroom, I used peel and stick tile (which worked great)! But I wanted to do something different in here- something affordable without replacing the tile.

So what did I do? I painted the tile with a stencil so that it looks like cement tiles! It was A LOT of work, but it was affordable! And a great solution for floors you’re not ready to do a full renovation on!

Painted Tile Floor Stencil DIY

Let’s start with the video tutorial so you get a brief overview on what I did. Then, I’ll dive in with more details below:

If the video doesn’t work here, you can watch it on my YouTube Channel here. P.s. I’m trying to build that page up, so if you’d subscribe, I’d really appreciate that!

supplies

• TSP heavy duty cleaner $4
• Paint roller tray $14
• 4″ cabinet foam roller $8
• Primer- Kilz Original 1 Quart $9
• Floor Paint- Ultra Pure White $29
• Kerala Stencil $10
• Stencil Brushes $16
• Gator Hide Top Coat $16
• Paint for stenciling- Driftwood, Soft Pink, and Rice Curry Around $15 
• Painter’s Tape $8

Total- $130– note, I had most of these supplies on hand and you probably do too! This price is just if you have to buy everything for this project.

Step 1:

Start by prepping the surface. Dilute 1 part TSP heavy duty cleaner with 1 part water. Use a scrubbing pad to clean the tile floor with this mixture. Rinse off any residue from the cleaning mixture with warm water.

Side note- I need to be better at taking progress photos. The video above has each step, so if you want a better visual, just watch the video. It’s less than 1 minute and you can watch it on mute (I added captions since its not always convenient to watch a video with sound on) ;).

Step 2:

Prime your tile floor with Kilz Original primer using a foam roller and the grout lines using a paint brush. After applying the primer over the entire tile floor, allow it to dry for 2 hours. Make sure to paint yourself out of the room so you don’t have to step on the newly painted floor. 

Step 3:

Apply 2 coats of Floor Paint over the entire tile floor using a foam roller. Allow each coat to dry with the final coat drying overnight. Make sure that you prep well! These steps are crucial to making sure your paint sticks for the long term!

step 4: 

Gather your stenciling supplies- your Kerala Stencil, Stencil Brushes, Painter’s Tape, and Paint for stenciling. I used- Driftwood, Soft Pink, and Rice Curry (I liked the idea of my paint coordinating with the stripes I just painted on the wall)

step 5:

Place and secure the Kerala Stencil onto one of your floor with painter’s tape. Load a 2” Stencil Brush with paint and offload the excess paint onto a paper towel.

step 6:

Continue stenciling. Use the registration mark on the side of the stencil to line up the stencils.

For me, figuring out the layout for where the stencil would go was really difficult because my floors were laid with some of the tiles on an angle. I started by stenciling the full square tiles with 4 stencils per tile. Then I continued that pattern on the angled tile. I had to make sure to space the tiles inside the large tile centered so that they’d all line up. You can kind of see what I mean below:

As you stencil the floor, make sure to wash your stencil as the paint builds up. I waited too long and have a few squares that are messier then I’d like. 

step 7:

To finish stenciling the areas near a wall, place and secure your stencil on the tile near the wall with painter’s tape. Use your free hand to push the stencil into the corner between the floor and the wall. If you want, you can protect baseboards with painters tape. I just painted onto the wall/baseboards and later touched them up with paint. When I touched up the baseboards, I also touched up any bleeds from the stencil

step 8:

Finish the floors up by painting on a clear protective coat. You don’t want your paint to chip and this should help. I used Gator Hide because I know it doesn’t yellow pattern and protects against water and wear. I used a foam roller to apply it.

after

Now your floors are done! You can stand back and enjoy them! I’ll be honest, this was a slooooow project. Each 6″ square took me about 5 minutes to do. I wanted to quit at the end. But I’m glad I pressed on and kept at it!

You should be able to clean these floors as you normally would. I’ll keep you posted on how they wear though! Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments!

Update- if you’re wondering how these floors are wearing/any regrets, check out this post.

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