Asked on Aug 17, 2016

My living room has a concrete floor, help me with cheap ideas

Hud9787086
by Hud9787086
My living room is open to the kitchen and has a concrete floor. I don't want to cover it with wood or ceramic. I want help on how to paint the concrete and what I need to use to make it look modern and clean.
My living room it's to big and have concret floor. I need help to tarn this old floor to new and modern look. Like what I have to use to pint the concrete floor. Thank you
  17 answers
  • Barb 'n Norm Barb 'n Norm on Aug 17, 2016
    Just waxing it might make the colors in it, pop! I think it is quite lovely!!
  • Sarina Correa Sarina Correa on Aug 17, 2016
    You could Unicorn SPiT it!! On facebook search "Unicorn SPiT" and it will come up, it's a gel stain!
  • Sue c. Sue c. on Aug 17, 2016
    The big box stores carry paint and finish for concrete. Go get a color chart, dream on it and pick your color. Be bold! The staff as well as the paint/stain makers are ready to walk you thru this job. And let us see how good it looks when you are done!
  • Deanna Deanna on Aug 17, 2016
    Research brown paper bag floors. Great for concrete and easily protected. Then show us what you end up with here!
  • Sue  T Sue T on Aug 17, 2016
    I took up the carpet in my old house and painted my floors to look like bricks in the living room. and in the hallway I laid a floral wall paper. The wall paper was the fastest and easiest, gotta use strong wall paper paste , and seal with a satin finish sealer. The bricks were a little more artistic. I painted the whole floor grey, then picked out three colors in the same family (beige, brown, and chocolate) then pour one small amount of each color in the paint pan, (next each other but not touching very much) then use a 3 inch roller, dip the roller in all three colors, just dip, don't roll, and paint a brick sized rectangle (the roller is 3 inches wide, so make the "bricks" 6 inches long ) and paint these "bricks " in any pattern you wish, I did two side by side, then under those two I did two going at a 90 degree angle, so two going this way (II) then two under those going this way (=) If I can find old pictures I will come back and post them...
    • See 1 previous
    • Sue  T Sue T on Aug 24, 2016
      Hi Liz, Yes I did write a book~~! Southern Porch Settin' by Reed Tait... We use a pen name. It is available on Amazon.com in paperback form And in e-book form also. We had the best time writing it..... What part of Alabama is your family from? We are in Washington County, the county directly north of Mobile County...Do you visit family here in the "Deep South"?? Small World~~! Oh PS, I used two coats of sealer, but in a living room I would use three. Make sure it dries completely in between coats. Mine wore pretty well, my wallpaper was the thin papery kind and it would have been better if I'd used a thicker paper. But it was still looking pretty good after 2 years when we sold the house. Good Luck with yours!
  • Cyndi Moore Tippett Cyndi Moore Tippett on Aug 18, 2016
    One of the coolest ideas I have seen lately is to paint the floor then purchase a large stencil and use it to put a design on the floor. The options are endless. Modern, Traditional, Country etc. After you paint and stencil put several coats of polyurethane and you are good to go until you want to change it again. Post pictures when you decide.
  • Murphy Murphy on Aug 18, 2016
    There is a product that makes concrete floors look just like hardwood! Go to YouTube and key, 'concrete floor looks like wood' in the search! These ideas are beautiful and are supposed to be easy to DIY and uses inexpensive supplies! Good luck!
  • Sue  T Sue T on Aug 18, 2016
    Hi Liz... The wallpaper was in a hallway so there was not much traffic on it, I put 2 coats of poly on it, and it lasted pretty well, 2 years when we sold the house. Of course the heavier the wallpaper is the better it will last. But three coats of Polyurethane or some other kind of heavy duty sealer should work fine for your living room. When you pick the pattern I'd say choose a random one, nothing with visual borders or discernable lines or anything, something abstract. I used a pattern or sort of small flowers with no real direction or design to the placement of the flowers. In a bigger room like a living room you may be able to use a larger design (flowers or whatever pattern you like.) Please let us know how this goes for you! I'd love to know ,and see pictures of it~. A word though, DO let that sealer dry for a couple of days in between coats, making sure it is sealed and completely dry before doing the next coat.
  • Jart37 Jart37 on Aug 19, 2016
    I do not know if this is an old post or new. I painted my livingroom concrete floor with floor and deck paint, semi-gloss I did not poly as I have serious allergies and problems with odors I could not move out. No children, we walked on it for five years until I changed my room colors.
  • Marilynn Joy Marilynn Joy on Aug 19, 2016
    My daughter-in-law wanted to do something unique in their basement after it was finished.She wanted to keep the cement so she got black shiny paint some thin masking tape and fabricated "marble" floors.You would not know it was not marble. She used a script liner brush to paint the veins in the "tile" .She did a marvelous job.Once everything was sealed it also held up....just like marble tile for about 50.00 and hours of labor.Beautiful.
  • Marilynn Joy Marilynn Joy on Aug 23, 2016
    Hi,they have since sold and moved away. But I can tell you one very big reson they sold really fast was the basement floor. She measured and marked 2 feet square (she first of all scrubbed the floor with TSP). Then she used the very thin painters tape to square off the whole floor .It looked like a checkerboard.Then she painted the whole floor with a shiny black paint for cement.when dried she carefully pealed off the tape so the grey cement underneath looked like grout lines.She then "Ragged "it with 2 different color greys using plastic grocery store bags using VERY little paint.Then for the finishing touch she use a script liner and painted in the veins.After everything cured she sealed it and boy it was absolutly beautiful.It was not a job she did in a week but the finished product was certainly worth it.,If you don't like black marble you always reverse the colors.I wish you well with your project and if it turns out anything like what my daughter-in-law did you will be proud of yourself.let me know how you do if you go this way.
  • Eileen Douglas Eileen Douglas on Aug 23, 2016
    We had cement floors throughout our little house in CA. We ground them down first to make them level, then painted them a stone gray color. Then I drew flagstones with a pencil. Next I went back and sponge painted the flagstones in several shades of darker gray. Finally we sealed it. Everyone wanted to come see it. When we sold the house, it was the outstanding feature everyone talked about.
  • Hud9787086 Hud9787086 on Aug 23, 2016
    Can you tell me the name of the paint. And from where you get it. Thank you
  • Eileen Douglas Eileen Douglas on Aug 25, 2016
    I don't remember specifically, but any home improvement store can sell you floor paint. I just mixed and matched varying shades of gray for the flagstones.
  • Woo8655770 Woo8655770 on Aug 28, 2016
    Sounds like you want a concrete stain. Home Depot and Lowe's sells paint which is not the same. After you clean....clean....clean you apply the stain along with several other steps until you end with the top coat for the shine. It's really neat how the stain reacts with the different minerals in concrete. I purchased my supplies from concretecamouflage.com.
  • Ednaslone1971 Ednaslone1971 on Oct 23, 2016
    I have rock floors in large log home beautiful but floors are awful what can I do with it I can't clean it I need help I even had pofessional in here it's awful
  • Timi Timi on Jun 15, 2017

    I think it looks awesome the way it is! Maybe just add more sealer and wax to bring out the shine!