Faux Stained Brick Floor Tutorial

Thank you to The Nester for featuring my brick floor and all of you for your interest!

I've had so many people ask about how I did it that I thought I would go ahead and answer some of your questions here.

Ok, a couple of things first...
1. I've only had my done for about a month now, so I don't know how well it will hold up through the years. I have dropped stuff, scraped it, sanded it, gotten it wet and so on and it has not changed the look so far;-) This is also the reason I chose stain instead of paint, to avoid the chipping, peeling, scraping stuff.

2. I used what I had on hand, so I am not recommending or advocating that you do the same or use the same products.

3. I hate to do things the right long way! I do things as quickly and cheaply as possible which normally works for me, but you may have MUCH better results if you take more time!

Now on to the good stuff!

The first thing I did was scrub the floor with bleach and water, then rinse it. If your concrete is really dirty then I would recommend purchasing a heavy duty concrete cleaner.

After letting it dry for a few days (I was actually just letting my sinuses clear) then I took the plunge!

What you will need:
1. A fairly large sponge that you can cut into the length of a brick. I would suggest buying at least two or three since they get VERY saturated and start leaving a different look. You also might want to cut some smaller "bricks" to use for the "odd" spots. I plucked some foam out of mine in random spots to give it a more "real" look.
I bought a sponge much like the one shown here in the auto department at Wal-Mart.

2. Some red wood stain. This part is really up to you as far as what kind you want to use. I used what was left in our shed when we moved here and I loved how it turned out. The red might sound scary but it dries a nice darker, brownish color. This is the exact stain I used. I ended up using about 1/2 a gallon for an 8x8 room.Yeah, it's waterproofing stain. I have no idea what impact that will or will not have.

3. A paint pan to pour the stain into. I put my pan in a trash bag since this was oil based and it made clean up real quick!

4. Some gloves. Your hands will be nasty if you don't use them!

Now, that is all I used. I eyeballed my lines but if a chalk line works better for you then go for it! I also stamped a few trial "bricks" onto a piece of plywood, which does not dry the same color, but it gave me an idea of what to do.

My How-To Guide:
I started by doing a "brick" border around the edge of the room. Make sure you think about what pattern you want your bricks to be! I almost ended up doing mine in straight lines instead of staggered lines because I wasn't thinking.

Dip your sponge in the stain and set it onto the spot where you want it. I learned after the floor dried that you should not "squish" the sponge onto the floor. You end up with darker spots on the edge of the "brick". Instead, lightly rub the brick back and forth or sideways (in kind of a gentle rocking motion)just a little so that your stain really covers the spot. If you rub too much then you end up with a monster size brick.

This is an 8' by 8' room and it took me about two hours to complete. I did go back over a few of these with a foam brush because they weren't dark enough.

Dry time for completely dry is about 5-7 days. (that is with the particular stain that I used)

Last but not least, the above photo is what it looked like before! So go make an amazing transformation!

All these instructions may make it seem difficult, but this was truly one of the easiest projects I've done. Promise!

Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have and email me your results if you take on this easy-peasy project!