Faux Marble Floor Treatment

Marble floors are an expensive luxury that most of us just can not afford. If you have existing linoleum or concrete floors though, you can easily paint your own faux marble floors that will fool everyone who walks across them.

With a little paint and some elbow grease you can easily paint your own faux marble floors over the weekend.

This project will cost you about $150. You should be able to complete your faux marble floors in one weekend, but a lot some extra days to apply coats of polyurethane to protect your hard work.

To Faux Paint Your Marble Floors You Will Need:

Paint tray
3 china bristle brushes
artists paint brushes
latex paint, eggshell sheen: (base coat: Antique White); three or four marble-like colors (Tatimi Tan, Jute Brown, Coyote Trail 1224, Leather bound) – These paint colors are form Sherwin Williams
sea sponge
water bottle
latex primer (Kilz)
Latex glaze
cheesecloth
paint buckets
fine sandpaper
paper towels, rags or old t-shirts
semi-gloss acrylic varnish
foam roller and handle
Painter’s tape

Clean your linoleum floor with an ammonia base cleaner. Make sure it is completely dry before moving on with this project.
Start by lightly sanding your linoleum floor. Mop again to clean your work surface.

Now, prime the entire floor by rolling on a coat of high quality latex base primer. Use a smooth paint roller. This latex base primer will be smelly, so open your windows if at all possible.

Once this primer has dried look around to see if you floor needs another light sanding. If the surface is smooth, you can move on to the next step. If you find rough areas or dirt, then sand and paint again.

Now, take three different small painter’s buckets and mix one part of each of the 3 marble-like colors with one part water and one part latex glaze. You want this to be a thick mixture, but not gooey.

Squirt the Tatimi Tan and Leather Bound mixtures onto a small area, and then use a clean dry rag to smudge the edges.
Next, add a vein for a realistic marble look by pulling the Camelback and Jute Brown mixtures into a natural flowing line with a dry brush or cheesecloth. The marble won’t look realistic if you see brush marks, so sweep your dry paint brush in a sweeping motion across them. Turn you brush in a different direction and repeat.

To create three dimensional marble you need to rewet the painted area. Take one of your sea sponges and lightly wet it. Squeeze out any water. Now, tap it on the painted area to rewet it. Use your clean dry brush again in a sweeping motion to blend any lines.

Now, keep repeating this process over your entire floor. I like to tape my floor off in blocks of tile like you might find in a real marble tile floor.

If any area of the faux paint treatment needs more veins, coil and pull an artist brush with Antique White paint across an area. If the vein is too wide, use a dry brush to carefully blend the paint, then try again.

Allow your faux marble paint to dry then coat it with some varnish or polyurethane. Add at least four coats of varnish.

Tips for Real Looking Faux Marble:

Use a photo of marble or a real piece of marble for some visual inspiration.

Always practice on another surface before attempting the real deal.

A spray bottle of water can help keep your paint surfaces wet to help blend paint.

Always try to keep some paper towels handy to dry you brushes off with.

The color recommendations in this article will produce a tan colored marble faux paint treatment on your floor. You can use white, gray and black for a white marble faux paint treatment.