I shared in my post about 2021 goals that we wanted to finish our concrete floors. We chipped up the tile in the laundry room, kitchen and entryway before the new year and it sat for a few weeks while we worked up the strength for the next step: to sand down the left over mortar.
This last weekend we rented a concrete grinder from Home Depot and finished the job! Or at least, we’re ready for the next step….Done with the dusty part. It actually wasn’t so bad. The grinder had a vacuum attachment and I thoroughly taped up everything….I was scarred by the dust that was EVERYWHERE from not-so-thoughtly taping when we chipped up the tile.
The light fixtures and vents got wrapped. I was so proud of myself because I’m not usually into prepping but just jumping into projects but, again, with the dust situation..
Anyway, we got that done and now my sights are set on the next part of the project. Let me walk you through what I’m thinking. We had stained concrete (read about that here) in our last house and, while I really liked that, I didn’t want to go that route again. I really love the tone of our floors as they are now so I ultimately want them to stay a similar color. You can see them in this picture below.
Another aside. I really love the painted floors in the mudroom,
It’s not very obvious but there’s no base color under the stencil. The lines in between the blocks are the concrete showing through.
Same with the floor stencil I painted at my parent’s house.
Ok. With all of those nuggets in your mind. Here’s what I’m thinking.
Painted DIAMONDS! Diamonds or checkered floors are so timeless. I think they would add dimension and interest to our floors. On the practical side of things, they’re budget friendly and can be done one room at a time which helps me to feel less overwhelmed and feeling like it’s a time sensitive project.
Here’s some inspiration except most of these are on wood floors. Picture this one with painted lines on concrete floors.
Same here. The white is the plain concrete and the grey lines are the paint.
Those images above are what I was thinking until today.. I actually did a mock up of the two options:
The concrete is not in perfect shape or perfectly clean or any of that. I knew that. I don’t mind that. But I’m realizing how uneven it is between the freshly sanded sections and the sections that were under carpet until we moved in…. So now i think I might want a little more coverage with the paint. So, more like this.
One section painted and the other bare concrete.
My handsome man is helping me with the math part…Or, he’s DOING the math part. I offer no help.
I’ll eventually paint all the common areas downstairs (kitchen, living, reading room, entryway) but I want to make sure the diamonds are centered in the kitchen and the entryway. All of those rooms connect so he has to figure out how big they need to be and where they need to be so they all flow together.
I’ve been thinking about color. I don’t want much contrast..Don’t want it to seem too busy and I want it to wear well. The fade well. I’m thinking something like mega gray or stone lion:
so less contrast, just visual interest. I also did this really bad mock up to give me an idea for what it will look like in our entryway.
I think I like the smaller diamonds (above) as opposed to the larger scale ones below..
It’s a process but I’m happy I can take my time and focus on one room at a time without uprooting life too much.
So, what do you think? I’m so excited. If you have any floor painting, taping or math tips send them my way. I’ll be sure to share the progress as soon as there is any.
Thanks for reading, friends.
