48-year-old Nicola Hill didn’t exactly start her lockdown DIY project on a whim, instead being basically forced to do it after a small flood wrecked her utility room floor.
The mum-of-two and civil servant from Stoke on Trent tool up the laminate and discovered lovely 1960s tiles which were splashed with old paint.
The terrazzo tiles – despite being on-trend – needed a lot of love, so Nicola tried using a special tile cleaner to restore them to their former glory.
Unfortunately, though, the acidic cleaner had the opposite effect and left a white, powdery coating on the tiles. With that in mind, she instead decided to completely revamp the space.
Nicola went for an amazing DIY geometric floor pattern using stencils and Frenchic paint – and she spent just £40 to £50 on the entire project.
She told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘I came up with the floor idea from seeing other people’s outdoor patio areas on Facebook.
‘My partner is a maths teacher so the maths side of it was worked out by him, although I ordered the wrong size stencil as I didn’t listen to him!
‘He therefore made me one from a cardboard box which allowed the repeat pattern to work on the 9” tile.
‘These tiles were irreparable and a new floor was out of the question. I was recovering from Covid when I did it and had been off work for some weeks due to the side effects.
‘I’m not used to sitting still so became really fed up and low so would sit on the floor and take my time creating it.
‘It was a bit painstaking but worth it.’
Nicola started by cleaning the floor before painting with sugar soap and leaving to dry.
She then worked from the middle outwards, using the Frenchic paints that have become so popular lately to create a pattern.
The stencil – which was made of a sturdy dress box – was masking taped down to keep Nicola’s grip, and a specific stencilling brush was used before Nicola dried the area with a hairdryer.
‘Cost-wise, if we discount the price of the wrong size stencil, it cost the price of two tins of Frenchic paint and a stencil brush which equates to around £40 to £50 at most,’ said Nicola.
‘I used Swanky Pants paint for the base coat and the colours in the stencil are After Midnight and Blackjack.
‘I sat with a hairdryer to help dry the first coat before applying a second coat and then moving the stencil.’
Nicola is delighted with how her project turned out and felt a real sense of accomplishment with its success, especially given that she completed it while being ill.
‘I was really quite proud of myself given I was so poorly too, it looks amazing – but none of my family has seen it yet which is frustrating.
‘It’s really transformed the room with minimal cost.’
Do you have an amazing DIY transformation you’d like to share?
Get in touch at MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk.
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