As soon as we started the guest room/office, I started brainstorming what to do about the floors. And then the room across the hall flooded and that sealed our idea to rip up the old blue carpet and stain the concrete floor. I was lucky to find this awesome site that gave us a big headstart on what we needed to do to make our stained floors a success. I pinned it on my DIYable board and a month later, we had our own stained floor.
After we ripped up the carpet, but BEFORE we stained (note--the carpet went up the wall, so this room has no baseboards right now):
After we stained the floor:
It was about 6 days of prep work and 2 days of actually staining. We opted not to put a shiny topcoat on because we liked the satiny leather look that 2 coats of stain gave us. We are thrilled with the character and warmth it adds to the concrete. We plan to lay a cozy area rug in the room to juxtapose the hardness of the concrete. If you are curious how the whole project went down, we aren't gonna leave you hanging.
Here's a short video of the entire process (for those of you who haven't seen it on True Value's Facebook Page):
If you take anything away from that video, it should be: if you plan on staining your concrete floor, make sure it is SUPER clean beforehand. Prep is key. And it will be all worth it in the end.
Of course, we don't make videos without tons of outtakes. You're welcome:
To see how our guest room and office turned out, check out this post.
Chris, Could this be done for a shower floor?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Smooth concrete can be a little slippery when wet, but if your shower floor is already concrete--the stain will make it look so much better. And it is permanent, so it is not affected by water.
ReplyDeletewe just stained our concrete floors, looks great but scratches very easy.....
ReplyDeleteAwesome to hear, Kathy! It was extremely affordable (like LESS than $75) and durable. We have so much peace of mind just knowing that we don't have to worry about water ruining a carpet down there. Let me know where you end up and we'll be sure to keep you up to date on how this room continues to progress.
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the facts are well written. I have subscribed myself for latest blog posts.
ReplyDeleteConcrete Floors
Oh my gooooooooooosh. You guys get SILLY at night!!! Love outtakes!
ReplyDeleteBAAA hahahahahah I loveeee outtakes reel. Chris is funny. You're cute.
ReplyDeleteThe later and the more tired....the sillier. And we had some LONNNGGG late nights working on this project.
ReplyDeleteAw shucks. Smanks.
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThis looks great! We are looking to stain indoor concrete floors in our own house so thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMORE OUTTAKES!
ReplyDeleteFavorite lines?
"That looks really fun for some reason... are you having a blast?"
"I feel like I was BORN doing this."
"My favorite candy bar issssss...... Reese's Nutrageous. You don't find them a lot of places anymore."
I didn't know you could find them ANYWHERE anymore!
Hi! Just saw you posted this for the Pinterest Challenge on YoungHousseLove. My husband and I are staining our floors! I'll try and post pics this week on our site: exumaunderway.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteLove the color you chose! We're going charcoal gray. Nervous!!!!!! :)
I did the same thing last weekend. We also took up linoleum and stained the adjoining bathroom. I was SHOCKED by the strenuousness of the prep work but love the end result. Your floor looks great!
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
ReplyDeletenow this is something i need to do. badly. our furnace room is horrible looking. but i don't know how to stain or paint it the best way because the floor goes right under the furnace..i guess i'd have to just...randomly stop my stain right before the furnace starts. whatever. either way, yours looks GREAT and i would like to do my garage floor. it's so....blah looking out there.
ReplyDeleteOooo! Can't wait to see how it goes for you!
ReplyDeleteI'd just paint as close to the furnace as you can with a brush. We're excited to tackle our garage one day...and the patio...and the laundry room. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing! I definitely want to try this in my basement and will be using your video as my guide :)
ReplyDeleteomg, Julia, I am so happy you did this! We had to rip up half our carpet in our downstairs den after an unfortunate incident involving our dog's digestive issues. We were hoping for hardwood floors under the carpet (the house was built in the 70's) but it was straight concrete. The hubs and I have been debating what to do with the flooring for the past few weeks and I am totally sold on this option. Hopefully he'll be on board too!
ReplyDeleteYour post is very helpful, especially for those who want to work on their concrete floors. You have provided not just photos of the projects but videos as well which makes it easier for other to understand the process of staining concrete floors.
ReplyDeleteWow it is amazing that it took you less than $75 to do all that! Not to mention the savings you get when you opt out of hiring carpet cleaners every now and then. Concrete floors are just so durable and staining them is definitely one of my favorites. I have seen a lot of stained concrete but never one that did it for less than $75. Amazing share!
ReplyDeleteI like the color that you chose. Can you tell me what color and product line that you used?
ReplyDeleteAfter scraping off the adhesive and all the sweeping and vacuuming what product did you use to clean the concrete? In the video it looks like it was sudsy but I did not hear the name of the product. Thanks Glendasuzie
ReplyDeleteIt is just "concrete cleaner." It was on the shelf next to the stain. Hope it helps!
DeleteSo glad I found y'all through YHL - I'm in the process of trying to do this to our entire basement. I have a few questions about your prep work and after - what did you do about the paint and other stuff that was on the floor? Also, I don't know about you, but when I took up the tack strips, it took some floor with it, so I have lovely little divots around the perimeter. What did you do with those? Finally, the bare concrete is VERY dusty - creates it's own dust. Does that still occur after you have stained it? I know that sealing can make that stop, but you didn't seal, right? Has the dust continued? Thanks! beth
ReplyDelete