Painting the Concrete Floor: The Living Room

Part Four About Painting Concrete Floors

Painting the Base Coats

Tape a paper barrier around the walls.  Now you are ready to paint.  Paint with an edging tool around the perimeter of the floor. Use a paint roller with an extension pole to paint the rest of the floor.  Use the same technique as you would to roll paint on a wall.  When the first coat has dried, paint the second coat. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for the drying time and the right tools to use.

The enamel dried quickly in our high elevation, summer Arizona heat.  I walked on it barefoot within two hours.  I waited for the instructed three to four hours before applying the second coat.  There were no noticeable odors with the windows open.  Some odor was noticed in the closets, of course.

The painting went quickly.  Since I was painting the living room and the hall, we had unusual exit plans.  My son hopped from his room to the master bedroom, stepped out of the low window, then entered the window in the dining room to step on the couch.  From the couch, he could step on the piano bench and finally enter the kitchen.  I reversed the process to reach the back of the house, but I'm considerably older so it was more of an adventure.

Two coats of brown floor enamel without top coat.

Now for the fun.

Decorative Painting

I decided to paint koi ponds on the floor.  Not an original idea, but I had some fun with it.  The ponds are not as detailed as I would have liked.  But my aging back and knees complained loudly and long while I was painting.  I was forced to do a less than optimal job as a result.

Mixing colors using white, blue, orange, brown.

I bought light brown for the base coat, and a quart each of white, dark blue, and orange floor enamel. These were mixed for the colors I needed to paint the koi ponds. I had light and dark grays, greens, blues, and greenish browns from these four colors.

Paper fish to lay out the design.

Large areas of a single color can be rolled on. Smaller areas require small brushes or artist brushes.   Artist brushes can be found at Walmart or Hobby Lobby.

For your design, lay out rolls of newsprint on the floor, taped together to make the size of the pond or other object you want to paint on the floor. Sketch the outlines on the paper. Cut out your biggest shape, see how it looks, cut, tape, cut, tape, till you get what you want. Then position it on the floor until it is where you like it.  Use a pencil to trace around the large shape.

After rolling on the background paint, other large shapes, such as koi in the pond, are cut out of newsprint and laid on the background to decide where to position them. The paper objects can be flipped and reused in different positions

Working on a sponge shape.

Sponge Painting

I wanted to sponge - paint maple leaves in an arc around my living room, as if leaves had blown in and scattered through the back door.  I thought a sponge would be the quickest way to do this.

Look for a sponge with small holes. Large holes will leave globs of paint. Use a sponge as is, or cut it into shapes.   The sponges I had did not quite work for this.  So I tried a stencil.

Stenciling

You can cut your own stencil from cereal box cardboard. It won't last too long, and you will have to keep cleaning the edges with a paper towel, but it works. Use a small roller, a brush, or a sponge to apply the paint. Your stencil will dry to use again later, provided it's not warped too badly.  I extended the borders of my stencil by taping newsprint around the edges.  This helped to keep paint from sliding off the edges of the stencil and onto the floor.

Do not go for a highly detailed stencil unless you want to use an art brush and spend way too much time in a back breaking position.

Cardboard and paper stencil.

Clear Acrylic Top Coat and Sealer

The floor is easier to clean if the sealer is used as a clear top coat. It protects the paint underneath from wear for a longer period.   Apply it with a brush around the edge of the floor, then use a roller for the rest of the floor.

At first I did not like the extra shine. It showed up every flaw in the floor, and I expected it would be more slippery. But I wanted a good seal against dog urine, as well as a protective coat over the koi ponds I had painted. If it were not for that, I would have preferred the satin sheen of the base paint.  However, a year later, the shine looks good.

One coat is supposed to be enough. But I had trouble seeing where I had applied the sealer. It goes on slightly milky, but I could barely see that. I kept stepping in it, which is dangerous. When wet, it is treacherously slippery.  Since I couldn't see it well, there were bare spots to go back and patch up. I added a second coat in part to make sure all spots were covered.   It should be noted that my vision is not that good.

Glitter

While I was rolling on the first top coat I stopped to sprinkle copper glitter on each section I had just rolled. I sprinkled an extra fine glitter out of a salt shaker, sometimes in a circular pattern, sometimes just broadcasting it. At times, because of some dampness, the glitter came out in clumps. I just took whatever I got.

Glitter and stenciled leaf.

I tried rolling over the glitter but it did not pick up on the roller and move around. It pretty much stayed put. I had rolled the top coat over the koi ponds first, to avoid rolling glitter onto the ponds. I rolled the second top coat over the glitter.

As the top coat and glitter wear off, I can reapply both glitter and top coat as needed.

Whether or not the glitter reacts with the acrylic and the sun to change color remains to be seen.  A year later the glitter still looks good.  If I had it do over, I would use a coarser glitter to show up more.  I purchased the glitter in the craft section at Walmart.

Design Ideas

If you are interested in ponds and other floor painting ideas, there are some great images if you search the internet.  Several of the paint manufacturers have floor painting images as well.  Dyes; these images can be somewhat adapted to paint.  Concrete floor pictures has some great looking designs.  For more design links you may go to to my post, Protect Concrete Floor From Dog Urine.

Update:  One bedroom floor is done.  For a few details and images, go to A Faux Torquoise Floor.   Three more rooms to go.  I'll keep you posted on what I learn.

Next post:  Pictures of the finished floor.