Finished floors.

So, yesterday I showed ya’ll the first post of the priming, painting, and stenciling process we did to our faux brick vinyl flooring in our kitchen. Well, we’ve finished four coats of polycrylic on our kitchen floors, and in a very humble way, can I just say that I’m really proud of ‘em! I love how they turned out – SO much better than they were before! How about we start with the fancy before & after comparisons, since I’m so psyched about the results {for just $80.}

Can you believe that’s the same floor, just with a little {or 7 layers} of paint and poly? Crazy!

Okay, now on to our process.

We used this poly because it is water-based {meaning it supposedly won’t yellow like an oil-based.}

The saran wrap is a super helpful tip Eugene found online. If ya cover the lid with saran wrap then the dried bits of poly won’t fall into your fresh gallon of polycrylic.

Before each coat of poly, you have to sand the floor with a fine sand paper {we used 100 grit}, and then clean it all really well.

These two steps were by far the worst part of the whole process, although the hours stenciling weren’t really a blast either. But the sanding & cleaning left me with a battle wound…

My leg looks weird, but the point of the picture is to show you that I have a big red blister on my KNEE! Who the heck gets blisters on their knee? Well, I’m one of the few & proud I guess.

The first coat we did, we went the slow rookie rout – foam paint brushes. Then we got creative & bought four foam mops at the Dollar Tree. I simply dipped some Dixie cups into the poly, poured it on the floor, and mopped it around evenly. And surprisingly…it worked really well!

One nice factor is that the poly only has to dry 2 hours between coats. Here’s the poly drying – exciting stuff…

And here are some more pictures of the pretty shiny “new” floor we’re left with…

The picture below is pretty true to color…

We still need a metal strip to go between the two floor types & need to fill in the piece of wood floor where we opened up the half doorway.

And here are two in natural lighting without any of the ceiling lights on.

How’s that for an affordable solution to faux brick vinyl flooring?

I had to add $3 to the total from the first flooring post for the mops we bought…

Primer – $0 {already had, but it’s around $18 in the store}
Stencil – $3
Stencil brush – $1
Floor paint – $25
Poly Sealer – $45 {not used yet, but will be in a post coming soon. I hope.}
White paint – $0 {already had, but it’s around $25 in the store, but didn’t use more than a cup full}
Foam Mops – $3

I’m pretty darn happy with the results! The kitchen’s certainly come a long way from the bricks, apples, and checkered wallpaper days! {To see all the kitchen updates, click here.} :)

Project linked to:

http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/08/transformation-thursday.html
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/
http://lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/