Chalk Painted Tile Floors

Chalk based paint is so versatile that yes – it can be used to paint over ugly floor tiles and give them a whole new fresh look.  We were working with 10″x10″ outdated and very ugly, flesh-toned ceramic tile.  We decided not to paint areas of the floor that would ultimately be covered with accent rugs and here you can see we went around the outer edges of the dining area and left the center unpainted.  Didn’t see any need to spend more on paint when 1) the tiles would be covered by rugs and 2) the hope is to have all the tile taken up and replaced by hardwood flooring within two years.  So, chalk painted tile floors is to an intermediary plan until we can ultimately replace all the flooring with hardwood.

Here is the hardwood flooring that will eventually cover the whole house.  Right now, it’s only in the master bedroom.  Unfortunately, our newly purchased house also needs a new roof and we just finished replacing all the windows and sliding doors with hurricane impact glass.  Very expensive.  One project at a time.

Below is one coat using Poet’s Paint Waterglass Paint chalk-based paint in Vintage White which is a color match to Annie Sloan’s Old White.

You can see the difference between one coat of chalk paint on the floor tile and two coats.  And you can see how hideous the original tile is.

So what do you use to maintain the floor and help protect it from scratching?  We used Miniwax water-based Polycrilic in a clear matte finish and we’re pretty happy with it.  We applied it using a sponge mop but I think it would have been easier with a paint roller and long handle.  We topcoated with two coats of the Polycrilic over the chalk paint.  We did try another product and it created terrible amber color streaks everywhere and we had to recoat with more chalk paint.  I don’t remember what product it was but it was suppose to be a clear topcoat.  It wasn’t.

We also looked for different stencil designs to see if we might want to stencil some artwork on top of the white but finally decided to just leave it white.  I could see someone doing a checkerboard pattern using the paint – maybe Vintage White and Blackbird to get a black and white checkerboard pattern in the right room.  Or maybe a Moroccan stencil pattern but our design theme is what I call “Vintage Beach” and the creamy white chalk paint was perfect.

We’re very happy with how the chalk painted tile floors came out and has made such a difference in the room.  The tiles are a beautiful creamy vintage tone and go very well with our decor.  I don’t feel quite so anxious about getting the wood flooring down as quickly as possible.

You can do it and it’s very easy.  Clean your floors first before painting and wait until the first coat dries before applying the second coat.  We used a paint roller to apply the paint and then a sponge mop to apply the Polycrilic top coat but a paint roller would probably work better or just as good.