Top Left Image Top Right Image

What are you looking for?

Design

Want To Paint Your Concrete Floor? Read This First (Here’s What We Did)

When we first started “fixing up the garages” (that’s a real understatement, I know), one of the few things that we knew we could salvage was the concrete floor of the first bay (where our prop shelves live). The second bay (where our sofas now live:)) would need to be poured because it was rotten wood + dirt. For most of the renovation, I was so budget-focused (this was not a budget project, mind you), I tried very hard not to spend more than needed. So I was like “just leave it concrete, maybe seal it, but that’s it”. No fancy epoxy or garage floor company for us. But then, of course, when it’s all done, the pine was on the walls, and it was so pretty, the gross rust-covered floor popped, and I changed my tune. So today I’ll show you what we did and why.

Ok, this was the OG prop storage garage and floor. I think the darkness was wet. We don’t know how old the concrete was, maybe 10-20 years, but it was FINE. Like, not incredible, but not worth demo-ing out and repouring. It had some cracks, and it wasn’t super level, but it was FINE.

See? For a garage, it was “ok”. Now, of course, when you are redoing a garage, you have so many other options – Epoxies, fancier finishes with flex, or even rubber squares? But all of them cost $5k + and it just wasn’t where we wanted to put any money.

This floor (in the other bay) had to be poured with new concrete. Now the reason I bring this up is because we actually treated the two differently – something I typically wouldn’t do, but it truly wasn’t important enough to me to spend the time and money. You’ll see.

So for the sofa bay, Ken poured new concrete. GREAT. It looked really pretty. And just needed to be sealed. We used a satin polyurethane that he just rolled on and called it a day.

But for the prop garage, which had a lot more stains and rust marks (and cracks), we decided that we needed more coverage. Something to cover the stains and make it look as fresh as possible.

But of course, we were in a rush. It was Thursday, and the IKEA task rabbits were coming on Tuesday to install the closets (that once installed couldn’t be moved). I did a dumb thing – I thought I was choosing a transparent stain from Sherwin-Williams and quickly chose a deep blue. But then I realized…

I actually chose a concrete paint that was opaque (aka not transparent, not a stain, a full paint color). Now I like the color, don’t get me wrong. But it was way too intense and jarring. I walked in and immediately called my brother (this was only one coat, thank goodness) and said, “I’m so sorry, I was wrong”.

We just wanted it to look like a clean garage floor appropriate gray cement color. But you can’t just choose “gray,” there are a lot of bad, cold, clinical-looking grays, and our garage is pretty! So we sampled many, taking into account the wood on the walls and the green of the cabinet fronts.

Left to Right: Mega Greige | Rushing River | Felted Wool | Elephant Ear | Illusive Green

You have to pretend the floor isn’t blue and that the color would connect the wood to the green cabinets. They are all neutrals and all warmer grays (a couple even taupier).

SW Mega Greige | SW Rushing River

SW Felted Wool | SW Elephant Ear

SW Illusive Green

And that there was the winner – Illusive Green. FTW! It had a slightly green undertone, which looked great with the cabinets and the wood, and yet was still super neutral, letting the cabinets be the star. And by the way, we used Sherwin-Williams color-match concrete paint. Two coats, and each took about 3-4 hours to dry (no long curing session).

I mean, sure, it just looks gray here, but I promise a bad gray could have looked flat, sad, depressing, and this gray does complement the green nicely.

It’s full coverage, and should be easy to clean. Super low maintenance and stuck really easily.

In that shot, you can see the undertones more, and how they complement the cabinets and wood. It was the cheapest option (besides just leaving it). My brother acid-washed it first just to clean it and get all the gunk up so that it would stick, and then the darker blue paint essentially just became a primer for this paint color. So that’s how we painted our concrete floor with “Porch and Flooring” product. Non-spon, Ken has just become great friends with the crew at the local SW, so he was psyched to use the product they recommended. Thanks, Ken!!

Pretty Images by Kaitlin Green | From: My New Prop Garage Reveal – Including IKEA Shelving (Non-Spon) And A Lot Of Vintage Collections

Fin
17 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
KD
20 days ago

Oooh! Painting our concrete basement floor is on my to-do list, too. Thanks for the tips!

Jen
20 days ago
Reply to  KD

Same!

Sally
20 days ago

Could you give more info regarding acid wash please? Sounds important and not to be glossed over but also a bit dangerous. Do you need a professional like your brother for this step? Or even the whole thing?

Mary Evers
20 days ago
Reply to  Sally

I have a cement concrete floor that needs painting. I would also like to know more about acid washing. Is it difficult to do? What products do I need? Maybe your brother could do a guest post on the subject.

Kasia
20 days ago
Reply to  Sally

Me too! I’d love a post on this. I have a cabin outbuilding that used to be a garage and is now used for living space. We really need to empty it and do something to seal it and get rid of the oil/gasoline smell emanating from the floor. I assume that means acid washing first! But that sounds very intimidating, and I shouldn’t put this project off another ten (!) years…

another Emily
20 days ago

so glad you still have the Thonet mirror!!

Jj
20 days ago

How did you fill cracks, and does the paint work like a sealant as well?

REN
20 days ago

we had our sewer pipe back up in our basement and ruin the carpet down there and in general, while carpet in basement warms the space, it also can make it smelly so we ended up staining the 100 year old concrete brown and love how it weirdly warms the space up and gives you the feel of rich wood without actual wood (and any sort of vinyl would have warmed very quickly with the wonkiness’ of the aforementioned 100 year old floors. We had to put rugs down for feet warmth but love the look overall

Julie S
20 days ago

I hate how off the shelf concrete paint is battleship gray (cold blue) not the warm greenish gray of actual concrete! We’ve had 2 occasions to paint concrete and yes, I always custom tint so it’s a natural color that you don’t notice.
Emily, there’s something to think about with Brian’s vintage truck in the gravel floored bay – yesterday my husband had a beautifully restored vintage VW bug dropped off at his car shop (he does a lot of antique/vintage) and he showed me how the whole underside was covered in fine rust that was dropping onto the floor bc the owner keeps it in a dirt floor garage, and the ground moisture is bad for the car. Just wanted to mention that as I immediately thought about you!

Annie
20 days ago

That’s really lovely :)

Damia
19 days ago

Wow that blue is something! The final color looks so good!

Like others, addressing a sad concrete floor is on our to-do list (basement for us); would love to know more about the prep work (filling; acid wash) and is this paint supposed to be resistant to wear and tear? The previous owners painted the basement floor but I think they just slapped on whatever grey they had handy (wall paint maybe? no primer?) – it is not a durable finish!

MKP
19 days ago

Well this is crazy good timing for me bc I am waiting on a quote to get my garage floor done. I hope ppl will share more in the comments abt doing a garage where cars will park.

Years ago I did my basement floor with concrete paint and it was easy and mostly held up. I didn’t do any special prep but did sweep and mop first.

I thought I could do the same in my garage but have been told by several people that it will not hold up to cars if I DIY it ( even the epoxy kits that Lowe’s promises will work). Over time it starts bubbling and peeling up. I want to do only do this once and do it right so I think I’m going to pay for a professional service or just skip it altogether. Anyone have experience with this?

Amy
19 days ago

I have the same questions – mine is a garage floor that needs help. I’m interested in your experience v. The Sherwin Williams reviews that you linked too. It looks like many of the reviewers are calling out this paint for staying tacky for weeks or months and debris sticking to it. I take it you aren’t having those issues, so I’m interested in any process tips from Ken if he’s got any ideas.

SueSue
19 days ago

So timely as we’ve been talking about painting our garage floor. Thank you for all the good info!

Kalia
19 days ago

Hi! Great post. Nice to see someone else cares about all areas, even the garage. Can you provide a link to the concrete paint you used? I don’t see a kink for that and there isn’t something called just “concrete paint” on the SW website. Thanks!

Kalia
19 days ago
Reply to  Kalia

*link

Marika
19 days ago

We used Illusive Green for our foundation, steps, and porch floor when we painted the house last summer. Its a great color!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.