I was sitting in my apartment looking at some really old vinyl floors in my kitchen. I was glad my then landlord gave me free rein on doing whatever I wanted. I knew I wanted those floors changed, but I also knew that I did not want to put any money out on new flooring considering I did not own the place.
Out of desperate measures on not wanting to look at this golden brown floor any more, I figured anything would be better than nothing. Since it was one of those older style vinyl flooring that had raised areas, I figured they were going to be my biggest problem as far as wearing down first. I decided to take some light sand paper and gently sand down the floor. No major work or elbow grease as I did not want to wear it off. Once that was done, I took a clean rag and wiped off all of the dust from the sanding, making sure it was all removed.
I then painted two coats of white primer paint. This primer paint was not made for floors, but for walls, doors, etc. I figured I had nothing left to lose but my time and a few dollars. I edged out the floors with a hand brush and applied the remainder with a roller. I was absolutely amazed how much just the white paint alone brighted up the entire kitchen!
I then looked at this white canvas and decided what kind of a design I wanted. Since I enjoyed seeing some white, I decided to paint my own black and white squares. Actually, what I did was just mark off where the black would be, using the white primer as my white portion. To add a little flair to the floor, I put in sporadic shapes as in circles, diamonds, rectangles, etc., all being a different color.
Once everything was totally dried, I applied 5 coats of clear polyurethane. I then held my breath not knowing if it would peel off from walking on it once it was dried. Guess what? It didn't! Yahoo!
The floor looked great and I was so pleased. Every time I washed the floor with a mild detergent, I just finished it off with another coat of polyurethane. It lasted for years!
So, if you have vinyl flooring and want to change it with just a minimal amount of money and more time ... go for it!
It works! Check the photo out.
Copyright - Pat Mistretta
2009
