Faux Ceramic Tiles

Teresa
by Teresa
5 Materials
A few years ago we were building a Garden centre /gift shop, and because of an error in framing the outside doors, we did not have the 1” clearance we needed to lay a ceramic tile floor, and so, I decided to paint it.
The garden gift shop was a wooden floor – plywood –
When we started building our own home I decided to do some of our conncret floors like this too. This is one of the floors.
Clean the floor completely and paint a basecoat, I used some leftover paint that I mixed together to get this ugly yellowish off white colour – the colour does not matter as long as you are not doing a light colour over it that will allow it to show through.


Pick your paint: a grout colour, two other colours, and a white.


I marked 2 foot marks along the walls to create a 2’ x 2’ grid, then I got a 12 foot 1” x 2” board and lined it up so I could make a midway mark on the floor. Then I used the board to draw the line so I had a pencil mark for my grid.


Then I painted lines in the colour I wanted my grout


lines to be over my marks. Remember if you want light grout, do not make dark marks, as they may show through.
Take your ¼” painters tape – and this is easier with a helper – relay the grid work in tape. The easiest way is with a helper so they can hold one end to a mark on the wall and you can go to the other wall and pull it taut – then press it into place. If you are alone, like I was when I did the garden shop, use the 1 x 2 to help you mark it on the floor again. You can use chalk if you have dark grout lines
I used left over paint to paint the whole floor. Paint over the tape.
Take 1/4 of each of your pant choices and mix them with the white so you have 4 colours of paint. I like to put them in pie tins while I am using them.


Sponge paint a tile and move onto the next trying to stay within the grid of each tile.
Sponge paint the floor trying to keep any change of pattern on different parts of the grid.


Let dry and lift the tape - I needed a utility knife to help me.
If you are like me and didn’t wait quite long enough for your first coat of paint to dry, you may have to do some touch up of the grout lines.
You can see where the "grout" lifted. I was impatient and only let it dry 4 hours - 24 is recommended.
Let dry overnight and apply polyurethane
Then I did the walls and I will do a faux tin ceiling come winter!


I love my floor and did a darker one in another room, plus a marble one, but that is a different post!
Darker one!


Materials:


1/4” painters tape


Paint (colours and amounts depend on what you want I had 2 plus white and mixed them to get 4 colours- the dark on was my grout colour)


2 Sea Sponges – each ripped into 3-4 pieces


Polyurethane


Paint brush to touch up grout lines
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  • Dee Dee on Feb 27, 2019

    Looks great, what about where your plywood pieces met, did you fill that up with something? Sawdust, floor leveler caulk?

  • C C on Mar 03, 2019

    Have you considered a "coffered ceiling"? Please share your ceiling when you are done.


  • Myra Jane Walker-Young Myra Jane Walker-Young on Mar 12, 2019

    I want to paint my two porches which are concrete. Should I use concrete paint?


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  • Charise. Charise. on Oct 13, 2021

    That looks fantastic! ...nice work!

  • Allison Newby Allison Newby on Jan 31, 2022

    It does look so amazing! I can wrap my head around your instructions too. Lol unlike a stencil lol😆 for some reason I get loopy throwing a stencil into the mix and the reverse .... you get the idea hopefully. This seems perfect and looks so stinking great!!!! I love it!

    • Teresa Teresa on Jan 31, 2022

      Thank you! This is fun, and very forgiving, i didn’t like one “tile” just before I put the polycrylic finish one, so I redid that one tile. Done!

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