I Painted My Vinyl Floor

Can you  paint a vinyl kitchen floor?  Should you paint a kitchen floor?  How do you paint a kitchen floor?  Would painting the floor be worth the effort and time?

I struggled with answering those questions.  I came to 2 conclusions: 

1.  I really couldn't make it any uglier!

2.  Eventually we're going to install real tile anyway.

Just to give you an idea of my kitchen/dining-room  floor plan, I made this simple diagram.
The black represents floor covered in counter-tops, fridges, etc.
The yellow is my ugly vinyl flooring.
The grey is carpeting (yuck!).
Eventually, we're going to rip everything out and tile the whole thing,
but that project is possibly years away.

So you can see that I really didn't have a ton of vinyl flooring to paint.  Considering the back-breaking and mind-numbing work required in painting the small area of flooring I DID paint, I would never consider painting and stenciling a large area.  I have a new found respect for all you crafty people who painted and stenciled entire rooms.  Wow!  What a lot of work!

My inspiration!  Check out this fab post by Shabby Coast Cottage!
[Photo by Shabby Coast Cottage]

I got my stencil and learned the technique from this lovely post by JDC.  
[Photo by JDC]

TL: Primer | TR: Floor paint
BL: Tracing stencil | BR: Painting stencil

Here are the steps I followed to paint my floor:

1. Removed drawer under my stove. (mine's not a broiler)
2. Cleaned the floor with ammonia and rinsed it well.
3. Sanded the floor with 150 grit sandpaper.
4. Vacuumed and wiped up all sanding residue.
5. Taped off edges, trim, and bottom of fridge.
6. Painted on a layer of KLEAN-STRIP EASY LIQUID SANDER.
7. Painted on KILZ 2® Latex Primer.
8. Painted on BEHR PREMIUM® Porch & Floor Paint--2 coats.
9. Traced stencil guidelines with gel pen.
10. Stenciled in BEHR PREMIUM PLUS ULTRA® Semi-Gloss Enamel.--2 coats. 

I bought some clear varnish to use as a top-coat but have yet to apply it.  It's been several months since I've painted the floor and it's holding up so nicely, I doubt I'll ever paint on the vanish.  

Here's a couple more "afters": 

The texture of the floor is still evident, but I like it soooooo much better.  I mostly clean the floor with warm water.  When that isn't enough, I have a swiffer thingy that I use and it works great.  

How about you all?  Would you ever consider painting your kitchen floor?

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,

Before you click away, I'd like to invite you to join in my current sewing/craft challenge.  

From Ricochet's Tool Box

I'm not quite sure sometimes if I'm more clever or cheap or lazy.  Most likely it's a combination of these qualities that make me the crafter that I am.  Allow me to elaborate, please.  There is always a home improvement project going on at my house.  Hence, we always have an abundance of blue painter's tape lying around.  As you probably already know, the main use of painter's tape is to tape off areas that you don't want to get paint on.  Also, the main quality of the blue tape is that it is low tack, and therefore easy to remove and doesn't leave a sticky residue behind.  Because we have a lot of it lying around our home, I have been utitlizing it in various crafty projects.  Here are some examples:

I used lots of blue tape in my Paper Weaving Tutorial.  It really
helped to secure the weave and keep it nice and tight.  When
it was time to remove the tape, it left the paper undamaged.

I used blue tape in my Tudor Rose Tutorial to secure the leaves to
the petals.  When I tried it with stick pins, the pins caught up on parts
of my sewing machine and fell out when I was rotating the flower.

This is a photo of wallet I was working on a while back.
I used tape to mark where I wanted to place the inside pockets.
I also wrote the measurements on the tape.

When I buy a pattern, I unfold all the tissue and tape around the
edges of all the pattern pieces.  Then, I cut out the pieces.  This
reinforces each piece and makes it really easy to trace onto fabric.
The blue-taped pattern pieces don't fit neatly in their original envelope,
but usually I paperclip them all together an lay them on a shelf.
I only take the time to do this with a pattern that I know I will use over
and over again.  

As you can see, blue tape is used all throughout my craft room.

The masking tape doesn't have to be blue, of course.  When I was making
 The Envelope Wristlet Tutorial, I used some regular masking tape
to help me mark where to place the magnetic clasp on the flap.

Because it has a higher tack than the blue tape, I used regular masking tape
to keep the edge of the flap clean and decoupage free.  You can see
the finished project here: Another Modge Podge Upcycle.

Stay tuned for more unconventional crafting supplies from Ricochet's tool box.  Also, please check out our current sewing challenge, The Naughty Notions Challenge.

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,

"Like a pink nightmare..."

I case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted for over 2 weeks.  It's been way too long
my friends, way too long!  I've been busy-busy painting my daughter's bedroom (that's what this post is about), having house guests, and making my first rag quilt (my next post).
Above you see a pic of my daughter's bedroom.  I took this photo in April 2009, just after we moved in.  You see the creamy yellow on the walls?  The entire house was painted that color.  The previous owners were prompted to paint the whole house in neutrals to appease eligible buyers, I'm sure.  However, the color was NOT a selling point for me as I don't like it at all.  It's my mission to eradicate it from the house, one room at a time.  The month of October I've dedicated to painting the kids' rooms.

Besides the wall color, this room had some other obstacles to overcome.  One being this huge hanging light fixture.  It was originally an olive green color, but the previous owners thought to "lighten it up a bit" with white spray paint.  Improvement?  You be the judge.

Another choice decision made by the previous owners.  The storm windows were painted shut as well.  Fun times!

I went to Home Depot and picked out 3 shades of pink for the wall colors.   I painted 3 walls the lightest shade and the remaining wall the medium shade.  I reserved the darkest pink (almost a burgundy) for some sort of wall art.

Once I got the paint on the walls, the movie The Christmas Story came to mind.  You know the part where Ralphie was forced to model his pink bunny suit for his parents?  Ralphie's father declared, "It's like a pink nightmare."  Well, that line ran through my head quite often while painting this room.  The pink was so intense, it glowed.  Just look at how Lucy the Cat is tinged in pink!  

I created a pinterest board dedicated to finding the perfect wall art for this room.   I found a cool tutorial on how to rig up your own overhead projector with a lamp and a box but couldn't get it to work for me.  So I just free-handed it on the wall.  The cherry blossom design I chose didn't require precision so I felt comfortable just "winging it".  ;-)  

Here's the finished mural.  The birds are in a flat craft paint so they really contrast with the satin wall paint. I liked the effect.  Notice I painted over the wall vent?  Well, it was really unavoidable--already sporting several layers of poor paint jobs, I attempted to camouflage it.

The first mural went so smoothly, I painted another on the opposite wall.

The wooden valances were an original feature I actually really liked.  I thought the turquoise of the birds needed to be repeated in the room somewhere else, so I tried it on the valances.  Is valances the correct term?  Well, you know what I'm talking about, I'm sure.  Rather than painting them a solid color I opted to  do a little blending with white and create a ethereal or sky-like effect.  I have a bunch of white vinyl butterfly stickers I was thinking of putting up there too.  What do you think?  Too much?

I moved the bed, so the finished room doesn't compare well with the "before" photo I posted initially.  Once I got all the white furniture and the blue bedding into the room, the pink became less "nightmare-ish". However, I noticed the how the pink glow of the room infiltrates the hallway when the sun is filling the room!  My goodness, that room is P I N K !!!!

You can see here the light fixture has changed.  It's still an older style, but an improvement nonetheless.  You can barely see the rag quilt I made on the headboard.  I'll talk about that in my next post.

When I started this blog back in June, my crafty world revolved around sewing bags, and since then I have really been inspired to broaden my crafty horizons.  What started as some way to drum up some interest in my handbags has turned into a crafty journal of sorts, much to my surprise.  Since I've entered the blogosphere, I've just been so inspired to try new things that I simply can't limit myself to totes any longer.  I hope you're all OK with my lack of recent focus and stick with me on my crafty journey.  It's no fun to create new things and keep them to oneself.  I'm so pleased to have you all to share them with!
Speaking of sharing, I'd like to share our newest sewing challenge with you.  We hope you'll consider participating and sharing your talents and creativity with us!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,