DIY Pattern Tile – With Paint!

One of the first things I fell in love with about a year and a half ago walking through what would be my house was the floors.

120 year old wood floors with a beautiful pattern with a tile inlay in front of the fireplace. I insisted on keeping those beautiful floors, even though they were a pain in the butt to sand down and they needed a lot of touch ups.

The inlay had this unique black tile with a subtle brassy shine to it but it was hidden under layers of dirt and dust. I actually spit on the floor to wipe it away and look at the tile for the first time.

And after living here a while, I still love it, but I had an idea to spice it up just a bit.

*This post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase through a direct link I share, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you, because you were referred by me*

Again I’ll say it: I LOVE TEAL

It’s all over my house, everywhere you look. I picked up a gallon of exterior paint from the “oops” section at Menards for $5 and that’s what we ended up using for our front and back door. Since then, I’ve added it in small pops all around the house.

When inspiration hits, I just go for it.

Thank God, I am blessed with a husband who knows full-well I’m gonna do some weird random DIY stuff and ignore those dishes for another day. And he is just fine with it. He hates dishes too.

So I grabbed my teal paint from the basement, a foam roller I already had sitting around from the dollar store, and a ruler.

I looked online and found a cute design, popped it into Silhouette Studio, resized it to fit my tiles, and cut it out on my Silhouette Cameo. <<-*My Affiliate Link* It only took a couple minutes.

I actually used the adhesive plastic that is left from heat transfer vinyl to make my stencil. I cut it on “Kraft Paper – Adhesive Back” setting for those of you following along at home.

Next

All I had to do was lay the stencil down on the tiles and roll over it. Some dabbing as well with the end of the foam roller.

I was a little disappointed at first that the paint was leaking under my stencil, but after a minute I decided it actually made it look more like authentic hand-painted tile. Each one was just a little different.

In hindsight,

I should have either left more space around the edges when cutting the stencil, or just went back up to my office to get my painter’s tape. But, I was lazy and I didn’t want to leave my children unattended for even 2 seconds around wet paint. I ended up using baby wipes to wipe up any paint that went past the stencil.

I started by doing a pattern of every other so my stencil didn’t smear any wet paint, but quickly decided I really liked the look of it and went with it.

After about 30 minutes

…and one short trip to the kitchen to get a snack for my “starving” children, I was already done! I had my fireplace insert (heater) running to help the paint dry faster and it was dry to the touch in no time.

I had to remind the kids for a couple hours to stay off of it, just in case. I’m still debating whether or not I want to put a coat of poly over it for extra protection.

**UPDATE: YES!! IT NEEDED A COAT OF POLY!**

But I LOVE how it turned out! It makes me smile and I get lots of compliments on it.

Painted tile… I’m full of surprises. Even to myself.

Have you tried it? I’ve seen tons of ideas on Pinterest, what do you think?