Our house was built in 1950 and we bought it in its original state (read: it needed A LOT of help). So, for the past six years we have mainly focused on fixing up the interior of our home. Finally, about a month ago, I decided it was time to move on to the dreaded garage. See what I mean?
Epoxy Floors
So the goal of our garage reno was to just make it less gross. We didn’t want to spend the money on cabinets for concealed storage, we just wanted this space to be less yucky. We used this Epoxy Floor Kit on the floors which included a concrete etch to wash the floors prior to application. In a lot of the reviews, it suggested buying extra (for instance, if you have a one car garage buy the 2.5 car garage floor kit because you don’t want to run out of the epoxy while applying since it has a pretty quick dry time). Our garage is about 370 sq. ft. and we bought the kit that said it covered 450-500 sq ft and that was sufficient.
The kit came with color chips but personally I didn’t like the blue/black/white color combo, so I searched for chips that could mimic the look of stone. I ended up buying 7 lbs of these stone-like flakes in the color Schist (1/4″). I wanted a full coverage of flakes and I probably could have purchased an extra bag for our 370 sq. ft. garage.
I HIGHLY recommend buying the clear coat and buying two boxes. I bought the one box because it said it covered 450-500 sq. ft on coated concrete, and we barely had enough. I actually had to go out and buy another box after the job was “done” because there were some spots that were missed and those bare spots felt rough and were not as easy to clean as the coated parts of the floor. (After the epoxy and flakes, wait the appropriate amount of time to dry and then sweep/scrape off excess flakes before applying the clear coat.)
We hired a contractor to do the garage reno since some of the walls were buckling and electrical needed to be updated. So, they did the epoxy and flakes. I’m not even sure if they had much epoxy experience, but here is what it looked like after it was put down. You can definitely see some lines but overall I was satisfied with it. I fancy myself somewhat of a painter (I painted our staircase!) and, not to toot my own horn, but I think I could have done a better job. So, I would say an epoxy DIY is very doable!
Stenciling
As I mentioned, we weren’t going to do any fancy in here. We bought 6 open storage racks from Costco (I can’t find them online but they are by Whalen) and lined them up on either side of the garage. Things were looking so neat and organized compared to what it looked like before, that I was inspired to do something a little extra in the laundry corner of our garage.
We had awkward pipes running behind the machines so I thought stenciling a tile around them (as opposed to wallpaper or putting up cabinets that would be hard to reach) would be a nice touch.
I bought this hex tile stencil and decided to use gray paint (Valspar Urban Sunrise). I also purchased their stencil essentials kit which included a foam roller, clip on leveler (which was SUPER helpful in ensuring the stencil was straight on the wall) and a stencil brush (which I used to stencil on the words). I watched some videos on how to stencil and some recommended using blue painters tape to keep the stencil in place while you rolled the paint. However, I just used this repositionable adhesive spray every other time I rolled and it worked like a charm.
To get around the pipes, I ended up cutting my large stencil up into smaller pieces. RIP, Stencil, you were great! The stencil came with a handy dandy smaller one that I used for edges and lettering.
Shop the Look
Sources:
Rug (and its indoor/outdoor)
Mirror is from HomeGoods but I found its twin here or a look for less version here and you can paint it
Sink (and I just swapped out the hardware for this)
Basket is from IKEA
Shelves were soooo cheap and also from IKEA
Towel rail is from IKEA
First Aid Kit is a DIY using this IKEA can and buying cross wall decals from Amazon
I am so happy I decided to do something special in here even though it isn’t my dream laundry room. The “hex tile” has made our garage feel a part of our home (instead of the forsaken dungeon it was that I threatened to lock my kids in when they misbehaved). We enjoy being in here so much more and it truly has added square footage to our home!
This is a cute idea. I’ve never considered stencils on the walls. I love the idea though. The walls also look great with your epoxy flooring. Truthfully, I’m a little envious of all your space!
Thanks so much for the sweet compliment! While real life doesn’t always look like the picture, I do have fun styling spaces and hopefully making it reach its full potential (when clean).
Your laundry room looks fantastic! Thanks for all your great advice and suggestions. I’m curious, how long (many days) did it take to epoxy the floor. I’ve been thinking of doing epoxy inside my home (marble looking finish) over outdated tile. I have about 1600 square feet of tile to contend with. Others have suggested stenciling, which would still require a primer (epoxy or chalk has been recommended) but stenciling seems very tedious and time consuming. I’d appreciate any thoughts you might have on either floor covering method. Thanks!
Hi Laura, putting the epoxy down was relatively quick and kind of just like painting a wall (you have to work quickly otherwise it hardens). I forget what the box recommends in terms of curing. I think we waited about a five days to a week before we moved the laundry machines back into the garage. Stenciling requires a lot of time and patience.
How much did it cost all together to do just the floor?!
Hi, i don’t have a cost breakdown for just the floor. However, I really think this epoxy application could be done yourself if you have some experience with painting.