I have had countless people contact me about the details of painting old tile floors.  It was an easy process from start to finish.  With Covid-19 time on my hands it made it that much easier. 

Step 1 - Paint the floor the solid color of your choice.  I chose Graphite by Annie Sloan® 

**** Tape off your moldings (I am messy, some may not need to do so)

****  Slightly water down your paint

****  Use a small low nap roller (for smooth finishes)

****  An angled brush will help you with cutting in the edges (even if you taped)

Step 2 - A second coat. ** Wait at least a day between coats or you will have trouble with the water reactivating the paint and pulling it up.  

Step 3 - Stencil - Annie Sloan has several stencils but this time I found the modern tile stencil I was wanting on Amazon. 

**** You will want to checker board your pattern so that you do not have to wait for the tiles to dry before moving on.  Later you can go back and fill in the blanks

****  Make sure you measure your tiles before ordering

**** WEAR SOCKS - you do not want the heat from your feet to risk "waking up" the water based paint and it subbing off on your feet.

Step 4 - Sand - I chose to lightly distress the whole floor to cover any imperfections.  I used a 600 grit paper so that it was gentle. 

Step 5 - Lacquer - Using the same type of roller, roll the lacquer in even coats

**** Add a little water to your lacquer

**** Do not go back and forth over the tile too much with lacquer.  It begins to dry quickly and will rick giving it a thick appearance. 

Step 6 -  Wait 24 hours and give it a Second coat of lacquer 

Step 7 - Be Very gentle with use for 2 weeks.  I would wait several days before I use it at all. 

***** This can be the most daunting part to hear.  I you are painting a high traffic area, plan to take it in stages so that you can have the ability to let it cure fully!!