My Iron Orchid Designs Painted Transfer, Winter's Song Floorcloth Tutorial...art for your floors!

Hello, lovelies!

Today I want to show you how easy it is to create a beautiful custom vinyl floorcloth for your home.

Finished floorcloth

This is the pretty vinyl floorcloth that I created for my English cottage floral home.

What I love about this process, is that I get to pick the colors that suit my decor style. I am not forced to settle on a premade design that I HOPE will fit my home.

Here is my process...

Annie Sloan Old White

2 coats applied

I painted two coats of Annie Sloan Old White paint as my base coat.

I let that dry and start to cure overnight.

rubbing on the transfer

 Be sure your vinyl is on a hard, flat surface.

The marked grid lines make it easy to center the design on your surface.

This is the Iron Orchid Designs

Winter Song Paintable Wreath transfer.

image all transferred 

adding color

Once the image was transferred, I began the painting process.

building up the color

I started the painting process by first adding a soft wash of color, using artist grade acrylics.

I used brands like Amsterdam, Liquitex, and Golden acrylics.

The artist-grade acrylics have much more pigment than the typical craft paints.

Build up the color and begin to add dimension to the design.

Take your time

Lint roller before cleaning my floorcloth.

Remove all dust and lint before you varnish your floorcloth, by rolling a lint roller over the surface.

Don't just assume it is clean because it looks clean.

Here is my lint roller after cleaning what looked like a clean surface!

All this debris would be forever embedded in your clear varnish.

 I like to use a soft foam roller to quickly apply a thin, even application of varnish.

I apply the varnish in one direction on the first coat and the opposite on the next. 

That way I know I have not skipped any areas.

This is the product I use on my floorcloths. This is an indoor/outdoor, waterbased clear varnish. It is available in a matte or gloss finish. I prefer it because it does not yellow, is weather resistant and dries quickly. Also, no odor to deal with.

Soap and water cleanup is a plus. I applied 3 coats, waiting 24 hours in-between applications.

For fun, I added some colorful stripes at the edges.

I hope you give this a try and create something beautiful for your home!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this process.

Be kind and stay creative!

Hugs,