Painted Kitchen Floor Cloth

Janis.greener
by Janis.greener
7 Materials
I had just finished upgrading my rental apartment kitchen in White and Grey and the dingy beige ceramic tile looked out of place. I wanted to add some colour to the space tied in with the rest of the colour palette so decided to do a floor cloth!
Here is the kitchen with just the beige tile floor! Hmmmm!


I saw an area rug online that I liked the design of but it would not be a good rug for a kitchen floor.


I had all this leftover paint from my reno in grey and white. They were both water borne alkyd paints so they were compatible to mix together. I painted a test piece and let it dry to make sure it adhered to the gesso covered canvas.
I am a crafty person and so I paint on canvas. I had bought a roll of gesso primed canvas from Big Duck Canvas. 72" wide on sale for $8.99/yd US (it's still on sale as of June 25/16)


This is the exact product I purchased: http://www.bigduckcanvas.com/artists-canvas/primed-rolls/72inch-number12


It is a great weight for a floor cloth!
Next I used 1" green painter's tape and masked out my design. Next I mixed up my 4 paint colours - Black, yellow, light grey and dark grey. With a 1" sponge applicator I started painting in the coloured stripes in a radiating pattern. I painted three stripes of each colour. I tried to make sure I was not painting the same colours next to each other in the next circular pattern (I hope that makes sense) I was worried that the pattern would not work out but it just did. I also tried to keep the paint away from the edge of the tape so that it would not bleed under the tape. Once it was all dry after a day I sealed the entire surface with a satin poly-acrylic sealer. You want to seal it to prevent wet spills like coffee from staining the unpainted white gesso. Once everything was dry I folded the edges using a square to make sure it was straight and used large paper clips to hold the fold pressing firmly. I used my hot glue gun to secure the fold to the back side of the carpet.
This is the finished floor cloth! I know this design might not be everyone's taste but I like bold graphic designs. I love grey and yellow pattern combinations. Instead of yellow you could use turquoise or another suitable colour. I also continued the pattern beyond the width I needed for the rug and did a flat valence for over the window.


I have since used my floor steamer to clean it and it has held up just fine.


I did not have to buy paint as I had everything on hand and was trying to use up what I had.


When it comes time to do another floor cloth I would purchase 1 qt. paint samples (testers) mixed to the colours I wanted to use from one of the big box stores that sells them. I will be doing a cloth for my balcony next!
UPDATE: I did end up purchasing an underpad at lowes: https://www.lowes.ca/rug-pads/mohawk-home-mohawk-home-rug-pad-better_11501326.html


It holds the floor cloth very well and it adds a slight amount of cushion underfoot!
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  • Theresa Sheppard Maness Theresa Sheppard Maness on Jun 03, 2019

    Can you do this for a outside deck and it will hold up ?

  • Jessica Davis Jessica Davis on May 21, 2020

    This is great and it is a beautiful pattern you really did a great job. I'm thinking about doing the same thing on vinyl. But I'm really concerned about protecting it. How did you seal it? Did if you used regular polyurethane, did that hold up? And how about cleaning it?


    Also, did you ever do the one with paint samples? I asked because I know that most brands have pigment in the sample but not the binders that are especially important for places that get a lot of contact, like the floor! Did it work, did it hold up? :-) Please let me know. I'm eager to do this, I'm just hesitant to do it without knowing that the investment of time and more importantly for me at least, money, isn't a total waste in a year or two.

  • Amber Dawn Bierhaus Amber Dawn Bierhaus on Jan 24, 2022

    Can a floor cloth like this be machine washable? I can’t purchase a bunch of “ruggable” products at the moment, but 5 kids living on a mini farm make wash-ability a top priority. I like a kitchen rug just to catch drips that can cause slips - I’ll often lay a beach towel if we are busy making a mess in the kitchen, so that I don’t fall down!

    What extra steps or alterations should be made if machine-washable is the goal? Should I paint with fabric dye instead? I’m unfamiliar with that type of fabric.

    Im excited about the project - thanks for sharing!

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