Floor Cloth
Our upstairs hall has always been pretty drab. It's dark, since there is only one light, and it's very long and plain. I am working on a new floor cloth to cheer things up. I love floor cloths because they're bright and colorful, you can make them to match any room, cut them to any size and shape, and they're CHEAP! There are lots of ways to make floor cloths but I start mine with a remnant of vinyl sheet flooring that I cut to size. I buy the big remnant rolls from the home center. The last roll I bought was $5, and from that I have made a 4x6 floor cloth for the pantry, this hallway runner, and a 2x3 for the laundry room. And there is still a lot left for other projects! They are great for busy areas because once they're sealed and finished properly, you can vacuum and mop them like a regular vinyl floor. And if they start to look a little shabby after a couple of years of wear, you can give them a light sanding and a few new layers of the original clear finish to make them look like new again.
To start the floor cloth, flip it over so that the patterned side is on the floor. The floor cloth gets painted on the white backing.
Luckily we have a spare room where the floors need painted, so I had plenty of room to spread this out to work on it. Usually I do floor cloths in the basement but this one was too long for my tiny craft room. I started by weighing down the edges with paint cans to keep it from curling. Then, I dusted the surface really well and primed it using Bulls Eye 1-2-3.
Then I laid out the pattern. I wanted something simple and clean for our hallway so I went with stripes of different widths which remind me of a rag rug pattern. I measured the center point of the length of the piece on both sides, and then measured all other points from that center line to make sure that the stripes would stay straight and evenly spaced.
I smoothed the blue tape down well with my fingers to make a clean line, and then sponged on the stripes. A sea sponge was used for all the painting. The red sections are sponged with two colors - first red, then buttermilk. The neutral areas are sponged with a butter pecan color, buttermilk, dark brown, and charcoal gray. To me, sponge painting looks "flat' if you only use one color - the more colors I used, the deeper and prettier it became.
Then I peeled up the blue tape to reveal the off-white stripes.
Finishing the floor cloth is the most important step. I use Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss on mine. The gloss finish is more durable than matte finish, and the gloss does dull down over time so it doesn't have a shiny look. Here are the steps:
* Allow all paint to dry overnight before applying any finish.
* Apply an even, light coat of Minwax Polycrylic spray to seal in the painted areas. (I spray the first coat to avoid any chance that the paint might smear with a brush.)
* Allow to dry overnight.
* Slowly stir a quart of Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss with a clean stir stick until thoroughly blended. (Do not shake! Your finish will have bubbles in it.) Brush on an even coat with a good brush designed for latex paints.
* Allow to dry overnight.
* Stir finish slowly and then apply one more even coat.
* Allow to dry for four to seven days before using.
The finish brings out the color and pattern of the painted pattern. Here's a close up of my finished floor cloth:
To see how it looks in the hallway, click here to take a tour of the house.