When we first started “fixing up the garages” (that’s a real understatement, I know), one of the few things that we knew we could salvage was the concrete floor of the first bay (where our prop shelves live). The second bay (where our sofas now live:)) would need to be poured because it was rotten wood + dirt. For most of the renovation, I was so budget-focused (this was not a budget project, mind you), I tried very hard not to spend more than needed. So I was like “just leave it concrete, maybe seal it, but that’s it”. No fancy epoxy or garage floor company for us. But then, of course, when it’s all done, the pine was on the walls, and it was so pretty, the gross rust-covered floor popped, and I changed my tune. So today I’ll show you what we did and why.
Ok, this was the OG prop storage garage and floor. I think the darkness was wet. We don’t know how old the concrete was, maybe 10-20 years, but it was FINE. Like, not incredible, but not worth demo-ing out and repouring. It had some cracks, and it wasn’t super level, but it was FINE.
See? For a garage, it was “ok”. Now, of course, when you are redoing a garage, you have so many other options – Epoxies, fancier finishes with flex, or even rubber squares? But all of them cost $5k + and it just wasn’t where we wanted to put any money.
This floor (in the other bay) had to be poured with new concrete. Now the reason I bring this up is because we actually treated the two differently – something I typically wouldn’t do, but it truly wasn’t important enough to me to spend the time and money. You’ll see.
So for the sofa bay, Ken poured new concrete. GREAT. It looked really pretty. And just needed to be sealed. We used a satin polyurethane that he just rolled on and called it a day.
But for the prop garage, which had a lot more stains and rust marks (and cracks), we decided that we needed more coverage. Something to cover the stains and make it look as fresh as possible.
But of course, we were in a rush. It was Thursday, and the IKEA task rabbits were coming on Tuesday to install the closets (that once installed couldn’t be moved). I did a dumb thing – I thought I was choosing a transparent stain from Sherwin-Williams and quickly chose a deep blue. But then I realized…
I actually chose a concrete paint that was opaque (aka not transparent, not a stain, a full paint color). Now I like the color, don’t get me wrong. But it was way too intense and jarring. I walked in and immediately called my brother (this was only one coat, thank goodness) and said, “I’m so sorry, I was wrong”.
We just wanted it to look like a clean garage floor appropriate gray cement color. But you can’t just choose “gray,” there are a lot of bad, cold, clinical-looking grays, and our garage is pretty! So we sampled many, taking into account the wood on the walls and the green of the cabinet fronts.
Left to Right: Mega Greige | Rushing River | Felted Wool | Elephant Ear | Illusive Green
You have to pretend the floor isn’t blue and that the color would connect the wood to the green cabinets. They are all neutrals and all warmer grays (a couple even taupier).
SW Mega Greige | SW Rushing River
SW Felted Wool | SW Elephant Ear
And that there was the winner – Illusive Green. FTW! It had a slightly green undertone, which looked great with the cabinets and the wood, and yet was still super neutral, letting the cabinets be the star. And by the way, we used Sherwin-Williams color-match concrete paint. Two coats, and each took about 3-4 hours to dry (no long curing session).
I mean, sure, it just looks gray here, but I promise a bad gray could have looked flat, sad, depressing, and this gray does complement the green nicely.
It’s full coverage, and should be easy to clean. Super low maintenance and stuck really easily.
In that shot, you can see the undertones more, and how they complement the cabinets and wood. It was the cheapest option (besides just leaving it). My brother acid-washed it first just to clean it and get all the gunk up so that it would stick, and then the darker blue paint essentially just became a primer for this paint color. So that’s how we painted our concrete floor with “Porch and Flooring” product. Non-spon, Ken has just become great friends with the crew at the local SW, so he was psyched to use the product they recommended. Thanks, Ken!!
Pretty Images by Kaitlin Green | From: My New Prop Garage Reveal – Including IKEA Shelving (Non-Spon) And A Lot Of Vintage Collections