Stenciled Porch Floor

I am so happy to announce that the stenciled porch floor is finally finished.  Seeking inspiration, I goggled painted/stenciled floors and instantly feel in love with a picture from Lori at Paisley Wallpaper. Her post was dated 2009 and sadly I learned that the stencil was no longer in production. However, we have now found the source of the actual stencil. And boy do we recommend buying it from Helen at Stencil-Library.com.

The name of this stencil is called Mokko and you can purchase it from Helen, a magnificent stencil designer who travels the word seeking inspiration for these gorgeous patterns. This is one of those projects that would have been easier to buy than to DIY. And Now you can.

Having the original stencil would have made this job a million times easier! Stenciling a floor is demanding physically and when you are having to fight to keep a stencil together it is MADDENING!  Buy the Stencil!

I continued to search for a large “all over” pattern, but just couldn’t get this one off my mind.  I continued to do a little more research and low and behold discovered that Lori had generously posted the pattern and detailed instructions.

One of my favorite details of this house is the upstairs porch that is accessible from two of the upstairs bedrooms one of which is my master bedroom.  There is a view of the mountains, tree tops, the moon and stars. It is so very relaxing and fun.  About a year ago I painted the floor red, which was an improvement, but still did not give it the personality it deserved. The above picture was taken just before the stenciling began. The floor is old and parts of it are pieced.  The white area was chalked to camouflage a large crack.

While the finished product is awesome, it did not come easy. I printed the stencil from Lori’s blog and took it to Staples.  They enlarge it for me in black and white for less than $2.00. That was the easy part.  I cut the paper out with small very sharp scissors.  This was the first indication that the project was not going to be perfect.  Warning: this is not a project for those who expect perfection.  You will be disappointed and better off purchasing a pre-cut stencil made from Mylar.Check out tons of designs here. I then traced the stencil onto a piece of foam board and cut out with an Exacto Knife.  There was nothing exact about it.

There were leaks, drips and smears, so the floor was lightly sanded with a hand sander for a distressed look.  My philosophy is that when something looks bad, make it look like it is suppose to look bad.  A coat of Ace Hardware Gloss Polyurethane was added for an old time shellac look.

What a difference! This is just the beginning of my upstairs porch redo.  The full reveal is coming soon!