How To Finish Concrete Floors To Look Like Marble

A fantastic do-it-yourself project that will bring timeless beauty to any home, painting concrete floors to look like marble avoids the hassle and major expense of installing real marble. With a little time and patience, you can transform dull, flat masonry floors in rooms and entryways as well as covered patios or even countertops. Here's how to use trick-of-the-eye faux marbling techniques to make it happen.

1. Choose a Marble Type

Do an image search to find a photo of the type of marble you'd like to reproduce or purchase a sample from a home-improvement center or tile store. If this is your first foray into faux finishing a concrete floor, choose a marble that is fairly simple to replicate with no more than four different colors.

2. Clean the Floors

Sweep and wash concrete floors with a mop or cellulose sponge using a degreaser (such as trisodium phosphate) to remove dirt, oil, stains, and any existing coatings or sealers. When handling a somewhat toxic product like TSP, be sure to wear clothing that covers your arms and legs, in addition to gloves, safety glasses, and a respiratory mask. Be sure there is adequate ventilation where you're working.

3. Rinse and Let Floors Dry

Because TSP can leave a residue, rinse the floors with clean water and allow them to dry completely.

4. Apply the Basecoat

Using a self-priming paint formulated specifically for concrete or masonry, apply the marble base color (or colors) with a large paintbrush. The number of colors you'll use is determined by the marble sample.

5. Mix the Paint Glazes

In small plastic containers or glass jars, make latex glazes with a mixture of acrylic paint and glaze medium in the colors found in the marble sample.

6. Apply Glazes Directionally

With a paintbrush or sponge, apply the accent hues randomly yet in the same general direction to achieve an authentic marbling effect. Blend edges well to eliminate hard lines.

7. Layer On More Glaze

Create depth, texture, and movement by adding many layers of glaze, splattering small amounts of water randomly to mimic real marble's mottled look.

8. Paint the Veins

Using a fine artist brush, draw a combination of thin and thicker veins in the same general direction as the layers you created. Be sure veins don't run in a distinct pattern and aren't repetitive; they should appear jagged, not wavy, and have both soft and hard edges.

9. Feather Out Harsh Lines

While the veins are still wet, lightly sweep a flat, dry paintbrush back and forth across the lines to achieve a wispy effect.

10. Apply a Glossy Layer (Optional)

To create even more of an allusion of depth, after veins are dry, roll or brush on a thin layer of water-based polyurethane (gloss) and let it dry. Repeat steps 7 and 8. Let it dry.

11. Roll On a Protective Finish

With a paint roller, apply four protective topcoats of high-gloss polyurethane as a protective finish, allowing each layer to dry before applying the next one.

12. Wait for Bone-Dry Results

It's super important that the painted concrete floors be bone dry before using them. Patience is a virtue since walking on the floors before they are set will cause damage to your beautifully painted floors.