Today I’m showing you how to paint a concrete floor and also showing off my new turquoise laundry room floor! This is a small budget laundry room makeover so adjust your expectations accordingly, but the before and after photos do show what a huge difference it made to paint the concrete floors.
Nothing like a looming MLS listing to light a suitably sized fire under our butts when it comes to projects. We prioritized our to-do list and because the rest of the house has been updated over the years and looks quite spiffy, we tackled the dragged-on-for-eighteen-months basement makeover first. People have built houses in the time it has taken to paint and tidy our basement! Our house is to be listed as a partially finished basement because about one third of it is taken up by a walled off, unfinished storage room with a door but, apparently a “partially finished basement” doesn’t mean we can literally leave our projects partially finished. That was disappointing to learn. We started on the floor right away, knowing it would take a week to fully cure. Here’s what we learned about how how to paint a concrete floor – plus I’m sharing the colorful before/after of our turquoise laundry room floor!
Supplies for Painting a Concrete Floor:
- Porch and Floor enamel paint
- Roller cover suited to your concrete (for ex. 3/8″ nap if it’s mostly smooth)
- Roller frame
- Roller extender
- Paint tray and liner
- Angled brush
- Kneed pads (optional)
Notes on supplies: We used a roller designed for applying paint to concrete (our concrete was smooth so a 3/8″ nap works) and one of those extenders – it makes painting a floor less back breaking! You might need a different roller cover depending on the texture of your concrete floor. We also grabbed an angled brush for the perimeter of the room. Because you might need to edge around the floor, knee pads could be a good idea. Other than that, the supplies required for painting a concrete floor were minimal and, if you’ve already painted walls, you probably have them already.
What Kind of Paint Do You Use on a Concrete Floor:
For our basement laundry room, we used Sherwin Williams Porch and Floor enamel in satin, but lots of other brands make paint designed for concrete floors. The porch and floor enamel paint we used is latex based concrete floor paint, which is suitable for concrete floors with lighter traffic, like in a residential basement. For concrete floors that see more traffic, you might consider an epoxy concrete floor paint. For exterior concrete, use UV-resistant, breathable acrylic masonry paint – you CANNOT use interior concrete paint for exterior applications.
How to Save Money on Paint:
Here’s a little tip I found for saving money on paint. When stores have big sales on paint, I buy cans un-tinted. I knew I’d be painting the laundry room concrete floor sometime in the future so, even though I hadn’t decided on a color yet, when Sherwin Williams had a 50% off sale I bought a gallon of concrete paint. Once we were ready to paint the basement concrete floor, I combed through my hoard of turquoise paint chips to find a shade that looked perfectly cheery in the window-less laundry room and Valspar’s “Dive in”(CI 249) was the winner. I brought in the can to have it tinted and shaken. As a side note, I love this turquoise floors! It’s a vibrant and not too green but not too blue hue – the perfect turquoise. In the photos it looks paler, but in reality it’s richer than even my turquoise chair makeover.
How to Paint a Concrete Floor:
- Empty the room, if possible.
- Vacuum and wash the floor really well, removing all soap residue.
- Let the floors dry overnight.
- Use an angle paint brush to paint the perimeter of the room.
- Use a roller and extender to paint the concrete, starting away from the door and painting yourself OUT of the room.
- Allow to dry according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Sweep the concrete floors again.
- Apply a second coat, repeating steps 4 + 5.
How to Paint a Concrete Laundry Room Floor – More Detailed:
First we vacuumed and washed the poured concrete floor really well (the old carpet that was there wasn’t glued down at all – whew, no sticky residue).
Concrete Floor BEFORE Painting
Concrete is porous so I wanted to be doubly sure the floors dried thoroughly before painting. We let the wet floors dry overnight. In humid climates, you might consider running a de-humidifier to ensure the floors are dried. Then we moved the washer and dryer to the middle of the room and painted behind them. If you can completely remove things from a room before painting the floor, that’s ideal! But this is the best we could do in our space.
The enamel cured quickly, so once the paint was dry to the touch we pushed the washer and dryer back and then proceeded to paint the rest of the concrete floors. A paintbrush was needed for the edges, but then a roller made for concrete floors – and a handy little extender – made light work of the rest of the room. After painting the concrete floor, I noticed one coat wasn’t enough (some patches of the original grey peeked through) so we swept it quickly and applied another coat.
This was a smelly job but only took an hour or so to apply the first application and only twenty minutes for the second coat. This paint isn’t meant for garage floors (shame) but it works well for a concrete laundry room floor. The gallon we bought was twice what we needed, just FYI.
Best Tip for Painting Floors:
Order of operations painting floors is important! We first painted the perimeter and then started at the side OPPOSITE the door, so we could paint ourselves OUT of the room, lol.
How Long to Let Concrete Floor Paint Dry?
Although we walked on it later that day, we waited a full week to return the laundry hampers and begin using it as normal. Paint typically has a DRY time and a CURE time. It may be dry to the touch within a few hours and be ready to light use in 24, but latex paint can actually take weeks to fully cure. That’s why a paint project may seem done, dried and ready for use but can be damaged with too much use too soon.
Handy Hubby was such a cutie during the painting process. We painted the walls together but then he painted the floor while I worked on making the rest of the basement look good for listing photos. I tried to snag a few good photos of him, but he was moving too quick! We are in a time crunch, after all…
Colorful Basement Concrete Floor Makeover – Before + After:
The fruits of his labor are what you’re here to see anyway! With the walls freshly painted the same color as the rest of the basement (including the stairwell), the new floors make a formerly grungy space look fresh and cheery. I’m so glad it was easy to paint a concrete floor – I just wish we’d done it sooner!
The walls, floor and light fixtures are all looking good (comparatively) but let’s be honest: our washing machine and dryer are work horses, not show ponies, and the paintbrush-rinsing-sink (it serves no other purpose), water heater and mess of plumbing and wires looked even crummier after the floors looked so clean and crisp. I asked Hubs to paint the rusty legs of the old sink and that was a super quick fix that made it look less sad.
How to Hide an Ugly Washer and Dryer:
There wasn’t a lot we could do to further improve this laundry room on a small budget, but we did hide the washer and dryer with DIY curtains!
Will Painted Concrete Floors Peel?
Yes, concrete floors CAN peel. In my childhood home, the painted concrete floors in our basement peeled. I have no idea how many years (decades?) the painted concrete floors lasted but by the time I was old enough to note the home improvements needed, the concrete floors were peeling in areas. However, the laundry room saw a LOT of water on the floor and, for awhile, there was a small business in the basement, so I think the paint was no match for the moisture/heavy foot traffic. If your basement gets water in it routinely, you will likely see problems with your painted concrete floor. However, if your concrete floors are fairly low traffic, dry, and are properly cleaned, you will enjoy your painted floors for many years!
Wow – this looks seriously amazing!!
Thanks Jenny! I hope buyers think the same thing!! It was scary before.
Cute colour. I like your Finnish flag magnet too…
Thanks! We also had a pirate magnet up, lol. They will all come off later today to make a more neutral space. But I have to represent!
I would never have considered turquoise, looks gorgeous! Love how you guys painted the sink legs too.
Turquoise is my default colour, lol. Painting the sink legs really makes it look less noticeable. Once the floor was painting, the rusty legs really "popped" and they so are not a feature! It was a quick fix because a new sink just isn't in the budget (plus I'd wreck it in two minutes anyway, lol).
Looks great! We painted our basement floor of our new home just to keep dust away (kind of like 'sealing it') because concrete continusously makes dust. We put a tiny bit of vanilla in and it completely took away the smell 🙂 ZERO smell! We painted a HUGE basement with it and you wouldn't tell walking into the house when we did it 🙂
SUCH a genius idea!! I wish I'd known that tip. Our basement was fowl smelling for a day or so. Just FOWL. The only thing is the dirty floor colour hid the dirt better. Now I feel compelled to sweep it every day because every little fluff of dust or lint shows so easily.
My husband is curious as to how much vanilla you used. I want to paint the basement floor this spring/summer and there is no ventilation. Thanks.
Hi Jennifer, I'm not sure how much Jazmyn used – it sounds like just a few drops. But you can probably contact her via google+ to find out. Happy painting!
Looks SO good! Way to go!Curious, how did you finish the walls down there? My basements walls look similar… and I'm curious how you hung the drywall? Thanks!PS. can't wait to see what you and your mom cooked up!
Thanks Amy! The walls were Hubby's job. He did the framing, the screwing in of drywall and then the taping. It was such a beast of a job but we muddled our way through it. I asked him to help me do a tutorial for the blog, but he said it's better to consult google or a pro because he just isn't equipped enough to provide a good tutorial. Darn.
I LOVE that you picked turquoise for the floor. What a fun choice. Painting the sink legs was a great idea and looks so cute.
Thanks! I took forever agonizing over the right shade, but I'm in love with the one I chose. So perfect with the greige walls (that read a lot more beige in the laundry room).
love love love that color! just a little paint goes suchhh a long way sprucing up a room!
I never tire of seeing makeovers where a can of paint made a world of difference!
You've really done a great job with the basement. Those before and after photos are pretty impressive.
Thanks Dana, wait until you see the rest 🙂
This is inspiring! We have a scary laundry room that will never be one of those beautiful space you see in magazines, but you've shown me that some paint will go a long, long way to making it a much more enjoyable space. Good luck with the sale!
Thanks Amelia! I had the same issue: so many makeovers involve fancy tile, tearing down walls and new washing machines. It was hard for me to form a plan. Hopefully when the room is all done and I can share a full reveal, people with similarly awful laundry rooms and similarly tiny budgets will get some ideas!
Hi, we're about to paint our concrete slab floor with SW Porch & Floor Enamel, too. How was the smell? It's supposed to be low VOC, but we're VERY sensitive to paint smells. Just wondering about your experience…
Really, really smelly!! But it dried quickly and once it dried the smell was gone (a couple hours). But the space was very small with no windows. If we could have opened a window, I'm sure it wouldn't have been so bad. It wouldn't prevent us from using it again, although we're both only slightly sensitive to paint smells. Hope this helps. Happy painting!
So, the paint smell was totally gone after the couple-hour dry time? We have plenty of windows to open, etc.
I did not smell it after it dried (but there's a chance I got used to it). It does dry really, really fast. But when it's wet, super smelly.
I am totally going to do this in my house!!!
Awesome!!! I'd love to see photos when you're done 🙂
Hi Tanya, looks great!! Can I ask if you painted over the old tiles also ? I have a 100 yr old basement I'm painting, bought the same paint, Have asbestos tiles in parts, I's a mess. Trying to clean as best I can without pulling up the old tiles. Yours looks so nice! I hope mine sticks to the tiles as well as the cement. Any advice?? Thanks, Elissa
I didn't paint any tiles in this laundry room, but I did paint the tile in my bathroom (over the vanity) with Rustoleum's tile transformations kit. It is awesome stuff, but you need to work quickly and follow the instructions to the letter. I've also heard primer and floor/porch enamel together can work – I've seen it done on the blog Little Green Notebook. I'd talk to a paint professional at your local paint supply shop and see if they recommend that paint for your tile. You might need to add a primer. I hope it works out!
Just curious how the floor is holding up & the amount of foot traffic you guys get down there?
Sorry, we've since sold the house and moved. In the time we were there, no wear but the foot traffic was light.
I cant wait until you tackle the walls! VERY GOOD BLOG!!! I will definitely be following suit in my laundry room.
I am terrible at picking colors! TERRIBLE I tell you!! can you please tell me the name of the wall and floor colors? Absolutely LOVE them, it looks amazing! My laundry room for many reasons, has been relocated to a very dingy space under the stairs and plan to make the best of it. Your colors will be perfect. Thank you!!
I will be honest and say that picking wall colours isn't easy for me either! I always end up with something too bright (I have kermit green walls in my past, lol). But I was very happy with this beige – it had a real Martha Stewart feel about it. It is called "glacial till," by Benjamin Moore.The floor was Valspar's "Dive in" (CI 249).I painted both the walls and floor a couple of years ago, so I hope those shades are still available.