4 Fast & Cheap Ways To Update Outdated Flooring
If your flooring is outdated, hard to clean or just doesn’t match with your overall home decor, it’s time to give it a “facelift.” You don’t have to spend a lot of time or money to give your floors a new look with these four easy, fast and inexpensive ways to update old flooring. Whether you have tile, linoleum, carpet or concrete, these fun ideas will transform your home with very little effort and expense.
1. Use Peel & Stick Tiles
While self-stick floor tiles are indeed cheap, they’re not necessarily “cheap looking,” contrary to popular belief. In fact, peel & stick flooring tiles are one of the easiest and fastest ways to update outdated floors in your home. They can be placed directly over clean linoleum, vinyl or even sub-flooring, so you don’t have to tear out your old flooring unless you have carpet. You will need to remove baseboards so you can fit the tiles as tightly as possible up against the wall, and you’ll need to make sure your current floor is meticulously clean. Whether you want to grout or not is up to you, since there are a variety of self-stick floor tiles available that do and don’t require grouting.
2. Paint Vinyl Floors
If your vinyl flooring is in relatively good condition and simply has an outdated pattern, you can use a high quality floor paint and gloss to paint directly over the vinyl or linoleum. You can paint the floor a single solid color, or you can paint any design or pattern that you like. Prep includes cleaning, sanding and de-glossing the vinyl floor before you paint, and applying a coat or two of primer. Using a roller as opposed to a brush for the primer or solid colors is the easiest way to get a smooth, uniform looking coat of paint. To finish, simply apply a one or two coats of glossy polyurethane.
3. Redo Floors With Brown Paper
Brown paper flooring is a very unique, fast and inexpensive way to give your floors a one of a kind look. Surprisingly, you can use a mixture of glue and pieces of thick, brown paper bag to redo your floors, using a similar technique to paper mache. You’ll need to prep your floors by cleaning, sanding and de-glossing them much in the same way you would if you were going to be painting your floor. Lay down large pieces first without overlapping any, and then lay down smaller pieces to fill in the gaps. When the flooring is dry, stain the paper with your choice of stain and seal with a few coats of high quality polyurethane sealant.
4. Stain Your Concrete or Plywood Sub-Flooring
If you have a plain concrete floor or plywood sub-flooring, you can stain and seal it to give it a bright new look without adding any additional flooring. To prep both types of floors, you’ll need to remove baseboards and trim work, and thoroughly clean the floor. For stained concrete floors, you’ll use an acid stain that can be sprayed onto the floor. For plywood sub-flooring, you can simply stain the wood with a brush and regular wood stain. After the floors are dry, you can seal both the concrete floor and the plywood sub-flooring with a polyurethane seal.
Redoing your floors doesn’t have to put a huge dent in your wallet or take weeks to do. When hiring a professional is out of your budget, or you simply prefer to work on improving your home yourself, these four fast and cheap ways to update outdated flooring are a great way to give your home a new look without breaking the bank.