Stenciled Vinyl Floor Cloth

Al Carrell: This beautiful floor covering is a pricey area rug, right? Wrong. Look closer. It's really a stenciled floor cloth, a modern version of the ones used in Colonial times. A floor cloth is a super way to freshen a room with your own personal style. Making this design is going to take you about three hours and will cost about $100.00. Now here's what you're going to need - a floor cloth, stencils, acrylic paints and wood stains, stencil creams, removable vinyl varnish and acrylic varnish, various paint brushes, sea sponges, masking tape, chalk and a Sharpie magic marker. Well now Deborah, does it make any difference which side of this floor cloth goes up?

Deborah Kelly: Yeah, that's really important actually. What you want to do is kind of look at the floor cloth and you can see that it's double (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's real smooth and the other side's real rough. So it's real easy to tell which side you need to have up.

AC: Okay. Do this indoors if you can protect your floor. But just in case, acrylic can be washed off most surface if you get to it right away. First off, we lightly sponge the canvas with a beige wood stain.

DK: And having the swirls in it where you see it's a little bit different, that's good because the variation adds to the final product. You get a nice variation in color.

AC: We'll use four different acrylics. After each coat, the paint must dry completely. Speed that process with your blow dryer. Masking tape marks your borders. Place the first strip one inch from the floor cloth edge. The width of your stencil will gauge where to place the next strip of tape. Well, not everybody's as creative as you. What do they do?

DK: Well, actually you can go to any craft store and they make a lot of commercially available stencils in everything you can imagine - florals, geometrics, just anything.

AC: Dab dark wood stain around the outside border and then hit it with your blow dryer. No offense Deborah, but this doesn't look too good. Is it going to get any better?

DK: Actually, this is the real magic part. We're going to pull the tape off and suddenly you'll find that we have this really nice straight edge border.

AC: Straight line isn't it?

DK: Isn't that great?

AC: Next, apply a cedar colored wood stain. Deborah's using an extra stencil paper to protect the rest of the floor cloth.

DK: And the secret to a good sponging is to put it in and then sponge it off.

AC: The last step before stenciling is sponging the middle with green paint. Then, use a damp sponge to wash over the green area. That gives it a different look. Stencils and stencil cream leave your final mark of individuality. Deborah uses a chalk to trace her center design. She'll remove the excess chalk when the stencil cream dries. You might try this idea - highlight your designs with a Sharpie Permanent Marker for some visual punch. Well I believe that just about does it. I think this looks really great. Now it's time for that secret ingredient that's going to make people be able to dance on it.

DK: Absolutely.

AC: What is it?

DK: Varnish.

AC: This floor cloth will last a lifetime after three coats of acrylic varnish. And here's the real secret to durability - top off that coat with a coat of removable varnish. If soap and water won't clean the floor cloth, use mineral spirits. They'll strip the dirt and the top layer of varnish. Then just reapply the layer of removable varnish. Well I think you'll agree this is really a great looking floor covering and you're not limited to what you do. You can make it bigger than this. You can cover the whole room if you want to. And you can make it look like a tapestry or like it's a marble floor.

Contact:
Deborah Kelly:
peacockst@aol.com

Episode 55 1997 - 98 Season

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