Floor me?

January 14, 2016 8:08 PM

I'm trying to make our TEEENY TIIIINY kitchen very awesome. the floor is a rectangle, about 7'x3' wide. I want to make a custom vinyl floor out of a banner, then use vinyl adhesive to stick it to the existing terrible vinyl flooring, then protect it with some sort of varnish. Can I do this? Is it an awful idea? Could it be cool or will it just be a huge disaster? What should I do instead - think small budget for a small kitchen.

I was thinking of using this company (or something like it) to make a pattern like this (or something like it).
Custom vinyl flooring exists in this world, but it's like $400 for our tiny space, which is just out of our budget. We want to make a cool patterned floor for less than $100 for sure. We are pretty avid DIYers but we haven't done anything like this.
Have you tried anything like this? did it work? what should I know about this?

Thanks!

posted by andreapandrea to Home & Garden (26 answers total)

I'm going to vote 'huge disaster.' Vinyl banners aren't made to endure being walked on. No varnish will make it work. If your budget is $100, then live with the floor you've got.
posted by jon1270 at 8:15 PM on January 14, 2016 [5 favorites]

It might feel crinkly or odd underfoot. But it also sounds similar to a canvas floor cloth, for which there are lots of diy instructions available. Maybe ask the sign place for some scrap material so you can test it before spending money?
posted by Dip Flash at 8:20 PM on January 14, 2016

You can paint a vinyl floor. Here's just one how-to. And here's another where they did lines. I feel like you could also go over the paint with a sealer like polyurethane for a good shine and protection. Lay out your design with snap chalk lines after you prime it to fill in the colors. I've seen people use stencils and rollers too.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:20 PM on January 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

I used to print vinyl signs. A cool graphic banner is not going to survive. Individually-placed cut vinyl shapes might, if they're simple and you don't mind the edges getting icky over time.
posted by teremala at 9:15 PM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Could you get some peel and stick vinyl tiles in a range of colors? Perhaps you could get some leftovers from a local flooring place. Then, you could rent a vinyl tile cutter and cut the individual tiles as you like (triangles, perhaps?).
posted by bluedaisy at 9:28 PM on January 14, 2016

When I go to the grocery store, they have advertising stickers(?) on the floor. They get walked on, spilled on, and have cart wheels all day abusing them. I would find out who makes them and see what it would cost for a custom one. They are temporary so I would find a varnish to protect them in the long run.
posted by AugustWest at 9:33 PM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

There are some nice peel and stick vinyl tiles these days at Home Depot and other home stores. For about $45 for a 30 sq ft box of tiles that look like stone, wood, ceramic or Formica you'd have enough to cover your floor with some left over.
posted by cecic at 9:45 PM on January 14, 2016 [5 favorites]

If you want something printed to survive, a varnish is probably not going to be enough to keep a vinyl banner from getting trashed. I would recommend an epoxy or similar finish to protect it, in multiple coats to develop sufficient thickness. I would still not expect it to last forever. I would also expect to spend more than $100 with the banner and a good quality finish.

You could potentially do something cool with peel and stick vinyl tiles that you cut yourself into different shapes.
posted by ssg at 9:58 PM on January 14, 2016

I'd go with linoleum. Feels nice on the skin and you can play with patterns--even cut blocks to shape and create original designs.
posted by Scram at 9:59 PM on January 14, 2016

The vinyl sign idea is a very bad idea. Will not work. Will not wear. Will not like the clear coating on top. Just bad all around. I'm sure it looks great in your mind's eye, but a sign is not the right way.

Instead of the odd solutions, I note that 7x3 feet is only 21 square feet, or, you know, 21 one-foot tiles. That's two boxes, or a box and a half.

There are many, many decent solid tile options under $50 per box, from solid vinyl to real stone. Heck, there are $20-something options at Lowe's.

Rip up what is there with boxcutters and butter-knives, scrape scrape scrape the old glue and mess to make it as level and smooth as possible, and apply new adhesive tiles. Modern ones are very good and can pass as stone quite easily, with the added benefit that they flex a little to deal with irregularities where stone would break. They wear better, too. But you need as flat and smooth a surface as possible first.

The tear-up and smoothening will be 80% of the work.

(I've done and redone a few floors lately. I now know.)
posted by rokusan at 10:16 PM on January 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: argh. thanks. we wanted to avoid peel and stick tiles - i have used them in the past and haven't loved them. a floor canvas is a nice idea though. The pattern that we were hoping for is slightly more intricate than, say, vinyl stick tile checkerboard - we were going for something like this or more intricate. we might even do vinyl floor tape, i dunno. perhaps painting, though the amount of colors we were hoping for turns this into a very expensive project, unless anyone knows how to get tiny sample amounts of a huge number of colors of paint?
posted by andreapandrea at 11:37 PM on January 14, 2016

You can generally get a sample size of paint. They're for testing the paint before you buy a whole ton. Home Depot online is saying they're about $3 to $5 for 8oz samples. They may also offer pints and half pints. Just call around and see who offers what. You could also experiment by mixing your own colors from primes plus black and white.
posted by Crystalinne at 11:47 PM on January 14, 2016

Are you renting? Don't do this if you are renting. Just... from experience on the renter's side and the landlord's side (in non-profit housing for the formerly homeless) just don't do this unless you after a very low deposit and don't expect the landlord to respond to this kind of alteration/damage
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:07 AM on January 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Maybe a linoleum rug? You buy some ready-made, or DIY.
posted by ShooBoo at 12:12 AM on January 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

If you own, you can go directly over vinyl with tile. You can buy sacks of broken tiles and make your own mosaic.

Here are instructions from the granddaddy of DIY, Bob Vila.

You can also go to the big box store and buy the tiles loose, they are VERY cheap.

It's actually a pretty good starter project.

If you rent, just get a rubber backed rug for the kitchen. Here's a rug from Target. It's sort of what you're looking for, although it looks a bit plush for the kitchen. But there are runners you could get, or get a few kitchen rugs and duct tape them together.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:34 AM on January 15, 2016

Ok, not really responsive to the question, but if you wanted a project what about a penny floor? In a big space it would be way too much work, but I've dreamed of this for a tiny space.
posted by EtTuHealy at 5:20 AM on January 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

How about wallpaper? I have friends who've done it and found it held up all right for at least a couple of years.
posted by metasarah at 5:30 AM on January 15, 2016

If it's only 7'x3', how about you put down your banner or paint or tape or whatever and cover it with one or two of the transparent floor mats that are meant to allow use of a rolling office chair on carpet, cut down to the appropriate size? Most I've seen are made with plastic spikes on the bottom to keep them in place on carpet but I've seen ones that are smooth on both sides too.

I guess you could actually apply the design to the bottom of the mat rather than the floor itself. These sort of mats are often more like frosted glass rather than fully transparent, especially once they get scratched up from use, but I'd expect the simple geometric patterns you're linking to be quite visible.
posted by XMLicious at 5:36 AM on January 15, 2016

(I think you might find the largest selection of those sorts of floor mats at office supply stores rather than furniture or Home Depot places.)
posted by XMLicious at 5:38 AM on January 15, 2016

if it's small, are you sure you want a patterned floor? it's going to make it look busy and even smaller.

i'd go with a light coloured (will help open things up) vinyl / linoleum flooring, with enough of a pattern / texture that it hides dirt / marks.
posted by andrewcooke at 5:46 AM on January 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

RB: If you own, you can go directly over vinyl with tile.

You can, but you generally shouldn't. Doing so without knowing what's under the vinyl, i.e. whether it's rigid and solid enough to support tile without cracking, is a substantial risk.
posted by jon1270 at 6:22 AM on January 15, 2016

I say go for it. Print the vinyl, glue it down with something that you can undo, and it will last for a a year or two. Then print out different one. Worse case you are out $100 and have to spend time cleaning the adhesive off. Huge disaster? no way. Not as durable as you would hope? most likely. Look cool? Sure for at least 6 months.
posted by bdc34 at 7:17 AM on January 15, 2016

I have used vinyl plank tiles that stick to each other, but not the floor, in small areas where I wanted to just cover up what was there. They overlap and glue to each other, making a water-proof floating floor which is great for areas like bathrooms, kitchens, and entrance areas. It is usually called "resilient flooring" and is quite tough and hard-wearing. I re-did our main bathroom with it 8 years ago and it still looks like new.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:15 AM on January 15, 2016

perhaps painting, though the amount of colors we were hoping for turns this into a very expensive project, unless anyone knows how to get tiny sample amounts of a huge number of colors of paint?

Get paint in the 3 primary colors, along with black and white.

Go to a restaurant supply store and get a bag of those little containers with lids that some restaurants use for sauces.

Mix your hundreds of colors.
posted by yohko at 11:05 AM on January 15, 2016

Along with what Crystalinne says, Lowes will sometimes put their paint samples on sale for like $1.99.

They did it last summer and I ended up buying about 40 of them. It took about an hour for them to mix all the sample colors I wanted but worth it.
posted by magnetsphere at 11:20 AM on January 15, 2016

Yes, paint it. I did that in the floor of our cabin. Painted the brown vinyl-tiled floor with latex paint and then sealed it with 2-3 coats of water-based acrylic sealer. Held up like a champ for over 5 years, despite the enormous amount of sand that was regularly tracked in.
posted by sarajane at 1:36 PM on January 18, 2016