If you’ve seen our DIY countertops, you’ll know all about our phase 1 makeover for our master bathroom. We are planning to completely renovate this space in 2-3 years and I am SO glad we took on this project! First, because it’s so nice to have a space in the meantime that you absolutely love, and second, you can experiment with things that you think are a bit risky because it’s only temporary.
One of the things we really wanted to update was our planked tiled floor with a wood look – the photo above shows the floors in their original condition. I understand a lot of people love this type of tile, but I’m not one of them (and neither is my husband) so we decided to paint over it and choose a really fun stencil. After doing a lot of research on painted tile, I personally don’t think I would have done this for a long term solution just because many reviews I’ve read say things start to show wear and tear after a year or two.
Another part of our decision to get the paint job is that we can be confident that there are no shoes on this surface since we don’t wear shoes around the house – pretty much all bare feet / sock feet. My biggest fear was that stenciling over the grout lines wouldn’t look right as it isn’t a square tile / perfect for the stencil, but you won’t even notice them now that everything is done.
If you’re curious how long this project took I would allow three days. One for preparing, one for stenciling / mending and one for sealing. First of all, we cleaned the whole floor thoroughly with a Krud Kutter (a degreaser) and masked everything. Then we primed with an adhesive primer with high adhesion. We applied three coats of primer, which may be an exaggeration, but we really wanted everything to be thoroughly covered. Note, however, that due to the nature of this type of primer, this type of primer may not look completely opaque, even after a few coats – the purpose is not to hide the surface underneath, but to make sure the surface is prepared for the Colour.
Next, after the primer had dried, we painted three coats of a white latex paint. Our tile was kind of textured so we really needed all of these coats to make sure everything looked nice and even. The photo above is between layers 2 and 3 so you can still see the tile.
Next came the stenciling! Here is the template we used. I love this company because you can choose the size of stencil you need for your tile size (we went for the width of the tile which I thought was 8 inches and we decided that we would paint over the grout lines on if necessary Length). The other benefit of this brand is that you get two stencils – one for cutting when you need to maneuver around corners and hard-to-reach places, and another to keep it intact.
Here are some of my stencil tips:
– First practice on a piece of cardboard or scrap wood, as the stenciling definitely has a rhythm.
-Don’t be afraid to stencil over grout lines.
-Keep a cloth or towel nearby to wipe any excess paint off the bottom of the stencil so it doesn’t carry over (this will likely still happen, but don’t worry, you can touch up everything later).
-Make sure you seal your work! We made three layers of poly and it feels really strong and protected.
Hope this is helpful when deciding on a stencil project!
PS Here is a link to a similar bathroom rug.
Credits // Author: Keely Rust. Finished project photography: Amber Kelly. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.
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