Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chalk Paint Floors and Lacquer

You have heard that Annie Sloan Chalk Paint can be used on just about anything. We wanted to share our experience of using Chalk Paint on floors.

Below is exhibit A - our store. The commercial grade basic carpet wasn't doin' much for us and it had a lot of wear and dirt patterns to it from the previous tenant. So one evening after closing the store, we jumped in with both feet and ripped out the carpet.
Of course, we had pulled up a small area in the corner to check and see what was underneath, just concrete! We were good to go. Then, look what surprise awaited us in the back. Yup, that's linoleum flooring from 30 years ago! And, yes, it was glued down like iron!
We worked into the wee hours of the morning and wished we had some dynamite to blast the cursed linoleum off. After way too many, and I mean many hours of stripping it down and questioning our sanity of our little project, we finally came up with this.
We had decided to use Graphite and stencil some patterns on with Old White
Fortunately, this went really quick and easy.
Rolled on the Chalk Paint and it covered beautifully!
And we just had to try out Annie's new water based Lacquer
Check out the after
We rolled the Lacquer on with a sponge roller in no time flat. We used only one coat since we want the floor to wear and have more of a natural patina.
Very little smell, even in an enclosed area
The stencils took some time but we think well worth the effort
I love how we can just sweep and mop the floor now.
Are you ready to do your floors?

39 comments:

  1. oh my goodness, this is awesome! I must get some lacquer!! Well done and worth the effort!

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  2. Fantastic job! I've been wanting to try some ASCP but can't find a distributor anywhere even close to my area ha, do you ship? I live in MT.

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    1. Absolutely, we have a full online store and can ship anywhere!

      http://www.shadesofamber.net/category_6/Annie-Sloan-Chalk-Paint.htm

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  3. absolutely beautiful, I use chalkpaint but was unaware that it could be used on floor and was unaware of the lacquer, thanks so much for sharing this is amazing!!

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    1. Thanks.

      The lacquer is Annie's formula from England, new here to the states. It is wonderful!

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  4. Wow! This is absolutely fantastic!

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  5. Looks Great! Do you think it would work on stairs? Does the lacquer make the floor slippery at all?

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    1. Lisa

      The lacquer is designed for floors, wood or concrete. I thinks wood stairs would look stunning. Our floor is not slippery, even when wet.

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  6. Seriously cannot believe how awesome that looks! I would love to see how well it holds up in a few months! Great job! - Susan

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    1. Susan

      The floors were done three months ago and seem to holding up great.

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  7. Hey guys...I have Annie's lacquer on order...can't wait to use it. I used to paint Canvas floorcloths and I'm hoping it works great for that also. Your floor ROCKS with a capitol R!!!

    janet xox
    The Empty Nest

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  8. Amber and Brad -
    Do you know if this might work on an older vinyl kitchen floor?
    Thanks,
    Sara

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    1. Sara

      I have never tried it before, we get a lot of unique application questions and my answer is always give it a try. Pick an area that may be hidden or if you have a left over piece, try it on that. We are always surprised at what this paint is capable of.

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  9. I am saving this idea for my front porch!! It's concrete, but covered with 30 year old brown turf carpet that the squirrels have chewed on. It's so hard to keep clean, but his is stunning and would be a huge improvement!!I am now a Linky Follower!

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  10. I'm thinking of painting my stair treads in graphite. You'll have to let me know how the floor is wearing so far!

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  11. That is absolutely gorgeous! I love the look!

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  12. Oh wow...the floor is stunning!!!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  13. This is Lovely!!!! It looks great! What a difference that makes to your store!

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  14. Fabulous job! I love the look, great stencil!

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  15. Thanks for sharing!! I would love to try doing this to my daughter's room!!! :)

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  16. I struggled trying to remove linoleum and the glue underneath before, too. I found that using a heat gun from a hardware store works amazingly well and is easy. Just be careful to not start a fire with a hardwood floor. You just need to heat the glue to melt it a bit and it comes right up.

    The floors look fantastic, though!

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  17. Hey y'all! I'm painting my stair treads graphite and the ugly, ugly, ugly oak banister and railings with pure white. Was going to use wax on the railings and lacquer on the steps.... Also painting bathroom cabinets with pure white and was wondering how the lacquer would be over pure white... I heard from one person it won't yellow, but read on another blog that it will yellow.... So what's the scoop? Just trying to avoid waxing all the cabinets!!! Lazy, as usual. Thanks and hope y'all are having a great day :)

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    1. Pia, Great to hear from you. I am a big fan of the wax on cabinets and not the Lacquer. From my experience, the lacquer will slightly yellow the pure white and old white a bit. I like the wax for cabinets because if for some reason a cabinet gets damaged or scratched it can be fixed real easy with the wax, and clean up is a snap. Clorox wipes work wonderful in a kitchen and won't affect the wax finish.

      Talk soon

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  18. Ok, I'm convinced! I'm going to try this in my studio! Thanks for the inspiration! ~ JP

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  19. I love this! Would you be willing to share how it's worn? Pics? Also I'd like to hear about the quantity of paint needed for the square footage.

    Thanks!

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    1. Jessica,

      I don't know why this comment is just now popping up, but here it is!

      The floors have worn very well, after almost a year, they still look fabulous! We sweep and mop them often, and they receive lots of foot traffic without any issues. In fact, we have painted 3 more rooms because they have done so well (which we need to share the pics : ) One quart of paint covers roughly about 150 sq ft. We did 2 full coats of Graphite for good coverage. Hope this helps to answer you questions.

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  20. I have been dying to do this because I have the same yucky linoleum, but I wondered how many cans it takes. Thanks for sharing in the comment above.

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  21. How many square feet did the lacquer cover? Can I skip that step or is it crucial to the life of the floor?

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    1. Hi Jennifer - The lacquer covers about 100 square feet per container. This step is crucial to the life of the floor as it is what seals the paint. This allows it to be durable to foot traffic as well as allowing it to be mopped and cleaned. The lacquer is water based and dries to a matte finish.

      Thanks for stopping by : )

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  22. Hey everyone! Just thought I'd chime in with my own comment on my experience with ASCP and her lacquer. It seems like forever ago that I painted each step in a mix of graphite and a few other grays... I painted all those steps and landings and didn't cover it right away. Amazingly, with not just my own 4 children running up and down the stairs every single day multiple times a day, there are always friends here with

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  23. Sorry something's up with my iPad. Anyway I finally got around to using the lacquer to seal the floors (which were in amazing shape without a topcoat!!) and applied it incorrectly so it was all uneven looking. I planned on redoing it all but still haven't gotten around to it. My steps have not chipped, flaked, gotten scratched it anything else... Amazing as that sounds. With teenagers, adults, and very active kids using these steps in a rough way every single day I thought it wouldn't last a week but it has. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't use the lacquer, you should. It's awesome and when applied correctly looks even better than amazing. I'm just saying don't hesitate.... It's soooo worth it. Can't get this look with any other paint... Not even sure you could get this durability with a poly. I'm still amazed. Brad and Amber are always there to answer questions (thanks Brad!!) and I'm here to say JUST DO IT! You won't be disappointed! Follow the instructions, use a roller and cut in with a foam brush and voila. Painted floors finished. And it doesn't take forever to dry. We did not wait the recommended time to dry and cure... No issues whatsoever. But that may not be for everyone. I'm just a rule breaker. ;)

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  24. Can the lacquer be used on a custom chalk paint mix - latex paint, plaster of paris, water? I need to make my own because of the color I need for my stairs

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    1. MJ, As far as using Annie's lacquer over another product, I can not tell you what the results and durability will be. Annie's lacquer was designed to work with her paint and we know it works well together. The secret of Chalk Paint is more than just mixing plaster of paris into latex. We have not heard good results as far as durability with people trying to make their own chalk paint, when you add other products into paint, you are compromising the quality and therefore the durability of the product.

      One of the great things about Annie's paint is that other than Graphite, the colors do not contain black pigment. Therefore, you can mix them and get true artisan colors. We currently have 30 colors available and can use those to mix up just about any color you are looking for. If you need help with recipes, let us know and we can help you come up with the perfect color. Thanks for the question, hope you have a wonderful New Year!

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  25. Your floor is fantastic! I linked up to this post on my blog today to share it with my readers!

    http://www.drivenbydecor.com/2013/01/using-annie-sloan-chalk-paint-on-floors.html

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    1. Thanks Kris, it was a lot of work but worth it.

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    2. Your floor is so inspiring. We have an enclosed sunroom that was an original patio of the 1970's home we bought this summer. The flooring is the original patio concrete. It's the kind that has a lot of texture with those tiny pebbles in it (very unattractive in my opinion). It would be such a fun improvement to chalk paint over them. My question is about sealing the concrete first. Doesn't concrete just soak up liquid? Did you seal yours somehow before painting? Or,were they already sealed to your knowledge? Thanks and what a beautiful floor!

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