So, the carpets in my house were pretty old and REEKED of dog smell from my friend’s dog who live in the house before me, as well as my roommate’s dog. I decided to go ahead and take up the carpet, but what was underneath was concrete. These days there is a fix for everything, and thankfully there is concrete stain to make plain old gray concrete look good!
I’m really kicking myself now for not taking a before picture, and pictures of the process. I’m really glad though that I took some afters though!
How to Stain Concrete Floors:
Materials: Concrete stain ($25), Sprayer ($10), Paint rollers, Dawn dish detergent, a bucket, water, string, painter’s tape, Concrete sealer ($20)
1- Pull up that carpet! There will also be tack strips all around the edges so get a pry bar or a flat head and pry those babies up, too!
2- Clean the floor. There are solutions to clean concrete with, but since this was inside and not in the garage where most concrete floors are stained and have to use that super tough cleaning stuff because of oil and grease, I decided not to spend money on that. Instead I just got a scrub brush and mop and a bucket with Dawn dish detergent and cleaned it all up!
3- I went to the Home Depot to get the stain and it was about $25 for a gallon of it. Now, pour that into your sprayer and get to spraying the floor! You may want to put up a protective plastic sheet on the walls so there isn’t stain everywhere.
4- Once I did one coat of the spray I cut some string and layed them out to make it look like stones and then sprayed 2 more coats over it.
5- I wanted the border to be darker so I got a roller and brush and put several more coats along the border.
6- I wanted to separate the floor and border so I painted a gold trim between the two of them.
7- Once everything is dried, take a paint roller and put on the sealer. I use a wet-look sealer and it looks great!
cindy says
Can you tell me what brand and color of concrete stain you used. The floors look great.
godfreykelly7 says
It was Behr product and I got it from Home Depot. I’m not quite sure what the color was though, sorry. But when I go back I will be sure to look!
nikkie says
Great tutorial! Found you on pinterest today. Your floor looks great!
Bob says
I really like that look it can be done in so many ways Thanks going to give it a try then who knows what could happen next Thanks
Cindy @ Our Shabby Nest says
Hey there! Your floor looks great! I’m about to renovate my basement, and had to tear up our carpets for the same reason… so we will be painting or staining concrete floors as well. I saw this post is from march 2013, so I’m curious how your floors are holding up? I’m worried about ours pealing, so thought I’d ask!
Hollie says
I really want to do this to my front and back walk ways. I’m only concerned it’s not as easy as you make it seem. did you rent the sprayer from home depot too? how do you know how much to use?
godfreykelly7 says
I bought a $10 sprayer from home depot. And you can ask the guys there how much you need.