DIY Painted Bathroom Floor

I have been working really hard to makeover our kid/guest bathroom without replacing anything. I really hated the brown linoleum floors. After living with them for 7 years now, it was time for a change. I went back and forth between doing a painted stencil and peel and stick tiles. Ultimately, the peel and stick tiles were too busy for the overall design, so I decided to go with a DIY painted bathroom floor. You do no need an expensive stencil to achieve this look, I actually made my own stencil as you will see below!

Let me show you how I did my DIY painted bathroom floor. If I can do it, so can you! Hopefully you have another bathroom in your home that you can use while you are working on this project.

Supplies

• Painters Tape
• Primer
• Ultra White Rust Oleum Floor Paint (we used 1 quart)
• Pink Paint (quart of Pink Ground using this paint)
• Semi-Gloss Rust Oleum Floor Paint Top Coat (we used 1 can)
• Cardstock
• Brush (to cut in)
• Tiny flat brush (for squares)
• Rollers (3/8″ and 1/4″)

Step 1 Clean

Clean the floors! I dry swiffered a few times and then used vinegar/water to clean them really well. You do not want to be painting over dirt.

Step 2 Prep

I taped off the baseboards (we had just painted them when we did our walls) and toliet with yellow frog tape. Try and remember to remove the tape after each coat and then re-tape. If you leave the tape on too long it may rip off the paint when you try and remove it.

Step 3 Prime

I did 2 coats using this primer. It took me about 1 hour to do 1 coat. I waited 1 hour in between coats and then did my 2nd coat. The floor was still a bit sticky when I went to do my 2nd coat, but I did it anyway. I wore clean socks so I did not get the floors dirty (or wear booties). It is about a 3 hour process (depending on the size of your bathroom). I used a paintbrush to cut in on the walls and around the toilet. Behind the toilet was very narrow so I used my brush there as well. I then used a smooth roller to apply the primer everywhere else.

Step 4 Paint

I waited around 4 hours and then my husband did 1 coat of the ultra white rust oleum floor paint with a 3/8 roller (per the instructions). He is so much better at using rollers, I need to get my act together! The can says to do 2 coats if you are doing white, however we felt it looked great after only 1 coat (probably because I did 2 coats of primer). We also did not test an area like it said to do, who has time for that!

Step 5 Stencil

I waited overnight and then started painting my stencil the next morning. The floors were still a bit sticky so I wore clean socks while I was painting my squares.

To make my stencil, I used my Cricut design space to make a square that was about 1″ by 1″. I had my Cricut cut it onto heavy cardstock paper. I then cut the letter sized paper down so my template was small enough to maneuver near tight edges. You do not need a Cricut, you can cut a square into cardstock as well.

I held my stencil down tightly to the floor, centered it where each tile meets, and turned it to make it look like a diamond. Using a tiny flat paint brush I painted the diamond in the Pink Ground Farrow and Ball color. Push down hard with your hand around each edge of the stencil so your paint does not bleed. Use barely any paint to prevent bleeding as well. After 1 light coat, I removed the stencil and wiped it with a baby wipe (every time) since there was some paint on the back each time.

The paint I used was left over Pink Ground Behr Interior/Exterior enamel I had from my DIY painted shower tile project.

I did one coat for every square. Then I went back and did a second coat right after I had finished all of my 1st coats. I didn’t wait for the pink to fully dry. I freehanded the 2nd coat with the same tiny flat brush.

I then went around with more of the ultra white rust oleum paint with the same tiny brush and did some touch ups. I had scratched the paint in one area and had to go over eraser marks (originally I had traced a square onto a few areas and ultimately decided a stencil would work better for me) as well as pink mistakes.

I let the floors dry for 6 hours per the ultra white can recommendations.

Step 6 Top Coat

Before doing the top coat, I gently used a dry swiffer to catch any hair or fuzz on the floors.

Then we did 1 coat of the rust oleum top coat with a 1/4 in roller. Cut in first with a brush. We only used half of the quart. It is really watery. You may see fuzz and you will need to grab that and go over it. Once you are done, wait 24 hours and then you can start walking on it lightly. We let it cure for the full 7 days before putting anything heavy (like our kid stool) back in.

That is it! I know it sounds like a lot and it is but I love my new floors. The process was definitely worth it! I think this bathroom was out of commission for about 3 days.

If you liked this DIY painted bathroom floor project, you may also like:

• DIY Painted Shower Tiles
• Modern DIY Peg Rail