DIY!!!!! Painting old vinyl floors

It's winter in NH, perfect time for indoor projects! My Dad taught me to rewire a lamp and change a tire when I was 10.  Scots & Irish New England Yankees at our best, I learned early on-don't needlessly throw money at things, we can do ourselves. 

Spending a small fortune to start to redo the flooring on first floor of my house. One of the things I have always wanted to try, was to "refinish" old linoleum, to see first if it was possible? And, second because the Kitchen was one space I wasn't sure if I wanted to extend the other flooring into yet. 

The idea of unique and free-form design also harks back to my Textile Design & Fine Arts degree...I love textures and variety. So, I read a bunch of blog posts, watched YT videos to figure out the techniques and materials I would need. Prep is the most important thing!!! 

I bought all of my supplies for painting at Home Depot, my go-to place for DIY! Stencils can be found online, I found a large paisley one I loved at Michaels and of course used a coupon to get it on sale! 

MATERIALS:
Krud Kutter, scrub brush & mop to clean
Deglosser if newer vinyl, otherwise just sandpaper works!
blue tape for edging
Good quality latex primer-I used Zinsser 1-2-3
Good quality porch and floor paint-I chose a low gloss sheen
Water based Polycrylic
Chalk paint
Stencils
Box cutter knife
Decent edging paintbrush, rollers

STEP ONE: CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN the floor and area you are going to work in. I used Krud Kutter and swept and cleaned the floor 3X, before taping off edges of cabinets with blue tape. Prep really is the most important part-don't skip cleaning and using a good quality primer. 

With dogs and cats in the house, I also had a microfiber duster/sweeper to catch random hair floating through the air as I painted (admittedly there might be a little extra texture painted in, in spots)-this de-fluffing step got repeated often. 

STEP TWO: De-gloss and/or lightly sand the whole floor-rinse with damp mop and let dry completely. I only needed to lightly sand, as floor was older and had little sheen left. If you have a highly textured floor, you may want to sand down a bit more. I liked the bit of texture coming through my paint. 

STEP THREE: Apply Primer and let dry completely. Different brands will give you suggested times, I waited overnight. You really only need one coat of primer. 










STEP FOUR: Apply first coat of your floor paint, after cutting in edges. Most floor paints dry pretty quickly. I waited 24 hours before applying 2nd coat. Once it is dry enough to walk on, socks only...and I gated off the area, no dog toenails allowed. I chose a super dark grey, that almost looks black in an eggshell finish. 

STEP FIVE and SIX: So....this is when I would have stenciled, but at first I loved the dark floor so much I was actually thinking of leaving it like that for awhile. I wear mostly black, but I am not a black floor or furnishings person, but for some reason I love it! 

So, my step 5 was to apply the first coat of water based low sheen Polycrylic-which some do not use, and some do. It goes on looking horrible!!! Yikes, I was regretting using it. It was streaky, milky looking and generally a mess. Within an hour, it magically looked so much better! So, again after waiting for dry time-in this case first coat was early morning, second coat was late PM, I was planning to just end there. 

EDIT UPDATE: Polycrylic had not cured long enough, no water spots after several days. 
~I let it sit for about a week and realized that one thing they don't mention on any blog I read, was that polycrylic surfaces show water spots!!!!! It's a kitchen, water spots are pretty likely. It could be the type I got? But, I think it is likely also the darker color is part of it. 

So, last night on a whim I decided I would go ahead and chalkpaint stencil it, in a random pattern. Some inane and awful show (The Bachelor) was playing in the background as I worked-we were done long before the "cattle call" part of the show started. Sorry, if I digress...just think it is a stupid show...anyway, have a couple more spots to stencil and then will add one more coat of polycrylic. Chalk paint is pretty awesome, as it will stick to anything, but rather than waxing the floor to seal it, will just do another poly coat.


STEP SEVEN: One tip from me...score the bottom edge of your blue tape, as you peel it away. If you do not, there is a possibility that you may pull up some of your floor paint. It is easy to go around and touch up any spots, but by scoring the tape, less likely to need to. I plan to wait another 2 weeks at least before dogs and shoes allowed on it. 

Will it last forever? Probably not, but for now it is less ugly!!! And, as the other house projects get finished, that one can be added later on. Porch paints will say on the can how long they actually take to "cure" versus light use drying. I estimate 2+ weeks before there will be shoes or dogs allowed on the floor. Happy DIY'erselfing!!!