These Painted Floor Before and After Transformations Will Wow You

There’s one genius money-saving trick we saw again and again this year: Instead of replacing their wood, tile, vinyl, or concrete floors, plenty of savvy homeowners just painted over them. The project takes time and a bit of elbow grease, but has an incredibly high impact; the effort is worth it. For evidence, check out the five best painted floors we’ve seen in 2019. You’ll be itching to pull out a roller and brush by the end.

The dingy vinyl floors in this kitchen were desperate for an update. Once the homeowner peeled up the floor and painted the concrete beneath, the cook space took on a whole new life. Painting the concrete with porch and patio paint cost just $30; the satin finish is chic, subdued, and very modern. 

If you’re really down for an art project, consider hand-painting a pattern on your old linoleum floors like Katherine Nye did in her rental apartment kitchen. The groovy geometric pattern is a true focal point when surrounded by white cabinets and walls. “I’m a perfectionist, and I still have flashbacks to obsessing over the floor pattern and touching up every square with a fine paint brush to make sure the lines were sharp and nothing was out of place,” she says. “That being said, the floors have been, without a doubt, the most rewarding improvement.”

One way to pull attention away from ugly floors is to simply paint them white so they fade into the background. That’s what Hannah Otto did in her kitchen, instead bringing the cabinets and backsplash into focus with a bright blue paint and pretty pattern on the backsplash.

These rainbow floors are one of a kind and the perfect transformation for this gloomy laundry room. The alternating gray stripes and pastel hues keep them from looking straight out of a kindergarten classroom. “I was going for a Kate Spade look while sticking to my girly aesthetic,” homeowner Ashley says. “I know this space is more colorful than most people would choose for their own home, but by choosing pastel colors in the furnishings, it really is a happy space to do laundry in.”

Believe it or not, these vibrant geometric bathroom floors have also been painted by hand. Playing into the shape of the existing tile makes this a super convincing paint job. The optical illusion look was achieved by following this tutorial. 

You’d never believe that these charming “cement tiles” are actually DIY stenciled vinyl floors. They’re courtesy of three layers of white porch and floor paint topped with black patterns from a Cutting Edge Stencil. “Using a light hand and rolling off the paint before applying, I rolled each 9-inch square, and waited 30 seconds for it to dry a bit before I moved on to the next,” homeowner April Waltrip explains.

Similarly, homeowner Whitney Donley used stencils to create a patterned tile look on her bathroom floor. She primed the floors with sandpaper and an abrasive cleaner and then painted them using a porch and floor paint. Next came a black Sharpie paint pen for the outlines of the pattern, to make them ultra crisp. Finally, Whitney filled in the pattern by hand using black paint. This feat cost her 30 hours, but she’s satisfied with the results. “I love that it is modern and sleek, but whimsical enough for a children’s bathroom,” Whitney says.