Inside: How we used Rustoleum garage floor paint to create a beautiful garage floor coating without hiring anyone!
Before we get into how to paint your garage floor I’d like to start off with a little back story, cause I know you’ll be able to relate. (And if you can’t, well, I want to be like you someday.)
Leading up to this garage makeover…
When we first bought our home I had big dreams.
It was going to be wonderful, and organized, and have a beautiful garage where we would do all of our home projects so efficiently. You know a garage with a beautiful coating on the floor, amazing organization, and a place for everything.
So we put a lot of time into finding the right home, and planning out how we would make it beautiful and functional.
We found “the one”, then found out I was pregnant, and then, because it was a short sale we didn’t actually take ownership until the day after my daughter was born.
And even though we gave ourselves 3 weeks to do flooring and paint before moving in, the dream of adding the garage floor coating before all of our stuff arrived got left behind.
We were busy enough with just getting the inside ready to move in, not to mention taking care of a brand new baby.
So our stuff arrived, years went by, we accumulated more stuff, and the garage slowly became a dumping ground. How were we ever going to do the floor now?
Well, you all know I’m a huge fan of pretty much anything Rust-Oleum so when they reached out and asked me to use their garage floor paint and try their DIY garage floor coating kit, Rock Solid ®, we pretty much rearranged our entire month and made it happen!
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for my full disclosure.
Before our Garage Makeover:
This isn’t the first time I’ve dared to show you just how embarrassing some of the areas in my home are. Look at all of that crap!
At some point we tried to get organized and got as far as getting some overhead storage and peg board up, but clearly it wasn’t enough.
In order to get the garage floor paint down, we had to clear EVERYTHING out, so we had a storage container delivered and out everything went.
With everything in the storage container in our driveway we finally had the clean slate we needed to paint the garage floor!
How To Apply Garage Floor Paint
What do you need to paint your garage floor?
- garage floor paint: Rust-Oleum Rock Solid Kit
- large bucket
- broom
- vacuum
- squeegee with long handle
- deck scrub brush
- roller holder attached to long handle
Here’s a little video to give you an overview of the process, the details with photos are below!
Preparing the garage floor
The first step was to clean the floor really well.
We started by sweeping and vacuuming to remove all of the dust and dirt.
Then we scrubbed the floor with water and a little bit of dish soap to remove anything else.
Remember we had never parked a car in here so there were no actual oil stains, if there are you’ll probably want to use something a bit stronger to lift out the oil stains so the coating sticks to your floor properly.
Once the scrubbing was complete, we rinsed the floor with the hose and used a squeegee to remove the excess water. You don’t want any puddles of water.
The Rustoleum garage floor paint comes with an etching solution that you mix with water and pour on to open up the pores in your concrete.
We poured the etching solution onto the entire floor, starting at the back wall and working our way out.
You will want to wear a mask and shoes for this part. The etching solution should not touch your skin.
We left it on for about 20 minutes and then rinsed with the hose and squeegeed out the excess water.
Once the garage floor is etched and dry it will be a lot lighter and almost look powdery, but it shouldn’t actually be powdery. If it is, you will need to rinse again.
Now for the fun part! We prepared the area with some paper and painter’s tape.
Applying the garage floor paint
Mixing the garage floorpaint was a lot easier than we thought it would be and the kit comes with the roller.
Each kit covers about a 10 x 10 area, so for a standard 2 car garage like mine you would need 4 kits. It is pretty thick stuff, so we found that we needed one extra kit to get the coverage we wanted.
Again we started at the back wall and worked in one 10 x 10 area at a time by pouring about 3 inch ribbons of paint about 5 feet across.
Then move around the paint with your roller in a W pattern over and over again until you have even distribution. I found that it was easier to pull the paint than it was to push it, so when you pour your garage floor paint, pour it pretty close to where you left off.
Once it’s evenly distributed you go back to the area you just painted and with your roller you lightly rub in a small circular pattern so that when the floor paint dries it has a really cool marble effect.
Don’t worry too much about getting it to look perfect. Even the spots I thought would dry weird didn’t and it looks really cool when there isn’t a perfect pattern of circles going on.
We left it alone for 24 hours and it looks so good!
I think the part that surprised me the most was how shiny it is, but it doesn’t feel very slippery.
So excited about this clean slate we now have to get organized once and for all! Looks like my dream of parking a car in the garage before the end of the year might just come true after all!!!
RELATED: Our Organized Garage Reveal
We have a ways to go because we promised ourselves that nothing is coming back in here that we don’t need and we have a lot of stuff to go through, but we’re thrilled with how the floor looks (and feels) and it’s got us really motivated to get our garage organized once and for all!
UPDATE: We did it! We finished our garage makeover! See the final result and all of the DIY organization systems that saved us a ton of money.
A big THANK YOU to Rust-Oleum for sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% my own and I’m happy to recommend a great product like this one.
Shop My Garage
Click Each Photo For Sources!
Keith Behrens says
Looks great! I’m closing on my new house Wednesday and going to do the Rust-O-Leum Silver Bullet before moving in. Floor is newly pored concrete so l will be following your post closely. Hope mine comes uot as good as yours.
Corey Willis says
That’s great Keith! I’d love to see a pic when you’re done, just send it to hello@heytherehome.com
dEBRA ANDERSON says
slippery when wet?
Corey Willis says
It does get a little slippery. It’s even a little slippery if you’re just wearing socks. If you live in a wet climate, I’d pick a floor coating that has some texture to it to avoid the slippage. 🙂
Patti @ HouseofIngrams.com says
This is BEAUTIFUL! Your garage floor looks like a car showroom. Thanks for posting.
House basement says
Superb post,It’s incredible.
Angie says
Could this be used on a basement floor that occasionally gets damp?
Corey Willis says
Hey Angie, Rustoleum doesn’t recommend using this product where moisture is a problem, although it can be used on a basement floor. See their website for more details.
AARON says
How does the floor maintain grip when wet, for example when it is raining outside and you drive your wet car in and try to stop or go to get out of the car is the floor slippery?
Corey Willis says
Great question Aaron. It does get a little slippery. It’s even a little slippery if you’re just wearing socks. If you live in a wet climate, I’d pick a floor coating that has some texture to it to avoid the slippage. 🙂
Monica Barrus says
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR GARAGE ISN’T LEVEL WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST TO MAKE IT LEVEL
Corey Willis says
Hey Monica, this question is outside the scope of my post. I suggest you research the topic (Here’s an article to get you started) and talk to local concrete experts. Best wishes! 🙂
Viv says
We are going to do the whole house, We have concrete floors now. I can’t wait.
Corey Willis says
How exciting, Viv! I bet yours will turn out awesome!
Deby says
Looks great, wish my garage was that clean.
Kari Bundy says
This would be amazing to put on our garage floor! We are in the process of making it into an art/scrapbook studio! Thanks so much for the chance. 😊
DarleneMAM says
We just moved and the garage floor is super dusty. I’d love a shiny floor like yours!
Shannon says
Love your garage floor. I want mine to look like yours!
Erik says
Omg i want this
Elizabeth says
We had similar ambitions for our garage and it’s facing a similar fate to yours. This would be a nice kick in the pants to get us moving!
James says
This looks awesome!
Meg Karetny says
I’d love this to complete our garage! It needs to be a better extension of kitchen storage & better organization of everything in there anyway! We are painting it & getting rid of baby junk soon too. Thanks for this giveaway! 🙂
Heather says
Your floor looks beautiful! Thanks for sharing! I’m sooo dreaming of doing this in our garage someday!
Jessica Ritter says
I have been wanting to do this for a while but like you, thought I had too much junk in there. Thanks for the post, it makes me think it wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Cindy says
We have debated on using a garage paint. It’s such a big project that we seem to keep putting it off. We have three bays in our garage and it would take several kits. I know it would look great. After seeing your results, we’ve decided to just go for it!
Thanks for the inspiration!!
Cindy
A Mentes says
Thank you for this post! I enjoy a good DIY blog that is realistic (I could ACTUALLY do this! ), honest (having a messy garage), and intelligent writing (yet easy to read). And the result of the project is SHINY! Thank you for the chance to win a very cool prize, too.
Donna F Doyle says
My cave would look so much better than with the concrete paint that is on now.
Madeline says
Love how clean this makes the garage look! We are moving into our very first home in about a month and I would love to do this to our garage floor!
Lisa. says
That is gorgeous! I bet I could convince my family to her rid of all their junk in the garage if ours looked this good!
Melissa Johnson says
I would re-do the floors & create the perfect game room! Complete with pool, air hockey, Foosball, ping pong & darts!!
Michelle Storar says
That looks awesome! I have always wanted to do something like that with our garage floor, it looks horrible. Here we are 14 years later and it still looks the same.
Rana Durham says
it would look alot better andgive my area a facelift.
Thomas says
Looks great! How does it hold up to car tire marks and chipping? Is it durable like expoxy? Thanks for the write up!
Penelope Ann says
Would make my garage and storage area so much nicer. I had no idea this stuff existed. We have been considering just painting our concrete in the garage to give it a fresh look but I now that will just get worn out so quick and need o be redone this looks like a much cleaner, manageable thing to use. Doesn’t just improve the look it is also improving the condition. Also seems fairly easy to do! Very excited to show my fiance! Thanks for the idea!
Zeena says
Can I do it on red cement floor.
Corey Willis says
Hi Zeena, I recommend you check with Rustoleum directly. Here is the link to their FAQs.
Shawn Gainey says
This is magical! Not only does it make the garage floors look amazing it also prevents staining from our leaky vehicle.
Susan S.,TN says
I would love to win for a family members garage. It has been put thru the ringer over the years & this would give it a new lease on life & look brand new again. It would really be exciting if I could win for them. Thx for the chance to win!!
Sara Miller says
That would make my old yuck garage floor so very nice! Definately the first step to my husband and sons shop area refurbish
Kelly Wach says
I would use this on my parents garage floor to make it look beautiful. Their house is over 40 years old, and could really use a makeover
Brenda Haines says
This would be amazing to use on the cement floor downstairs! Thank you so much for this chance! I think it would make the floor look like a dark marble. Very cool!
Jill McHale says
My garage looks like a dungeon! It definitely needs a pick-me-up! Thanks for the opportunity!
Elisa H says
It looks so shiny! Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Amy says
Your garage looks so great with the floor coating! My husband has been wanting ours done for years too.
David says
Our garage has a large crack that runs the entire length. We have the crack patched with concrete, but the colors don’t match. This would be the perfect solution to that.
B says
This product is so cool!
Holly says
We bought an older home with a small garage. This would be a good first step in getting it in working order!! Yours looks great!
Jennifer V. says
Great transformation, Corey! Our garage is a huge disaster. I think it’s the next thing on the list when we finish our kitchen!
Ann says
Oh, my goodness. It would change the entire look of the garage, which has some weird something on it from before we owned the house. I have a feeling that, like you, it would inspire some significant organization! I’ve wanted to do something like that since we bought the house. One day!
Smfsprout says
Wow. This would be our incentive to purge the junk.
Cynthia Gaarder says
I would love to make the garage a nicer place for my hubby
Lisa says
Awesome transformation! My garage looks exactly the same! I can’t wait to see how you organize it!
Jennifer Rote says
That is amazing! My cave would be kind of a motorcycle theme with lots of chrome.
Glena Buchanan says
This garage is awesome. Funny how unwanted items end up in the garage. We too have a storage unit outside. Thanks! This is a great idea.
Joan Rhodes says
Wow! We actually have a beautiful garage, but it’s hidden under the piles of stuff, and the floor looks awful. This would be the perfect product to bring the beauty back! To my way of thinking, you get double the benefit – your garage gets a new floor, and you have to get rid of all the clutter (who wants to just throw everything back in once you’ve got a clean and pretty garage?!)
Gina Garza says
Gorgeous
April Kastner says
We’re buying a house now and this project is definitely on our to-do list. I just hope we actually get it done!
Jen says
That’s so funny I was just talking to my husband last night about making this our next project! I’ve seen it in several other garages and it’s pretty amazing how it makes the floor look brand new and so clean!
Kim Locke says
We are on the middle of remodeling an 70’s home. The garage is in desperate need of a new floor. Would love to use this
Tammara says
The floor looks awesome!
JeanneS says
That’s such a great idea, and so nice looking.
Trang says
I’m so jealous of how awesome that looks!!
Lexie Loveless says
We not only have a garage but also 2 basement room floors thatcould use this! Hoping it can be used below grade! If not, I’m sure they have something that can! Rustoleum is my go to for my spray paint addiction already! Lol! *invisioning $500 worth of spray paint on shelves above our new “blinged” floor* lol
Susan the Farm Quilter says
It would look amazing!!! Looks too pretty to drive a car on!!
Karen says
How would my garage look with Rock Solid- beautiful !
Katie says
We just bought a foreclosure this summer and coating the garage floor is on the (very long) list of projects to do! We do a lot of projects ourselves and I want to make our garage more comfortable and easier to clean,
Chelle Chapman says
Honey, this stuff would ROCK my already ROCKIN’ car-age!!! Yours looks stunning & NOW I want some too!!
Michelle Marie Welle-Countiss says
I am dreaming of this look for my basement. After my divorce, I saved to buy a home. And my 1930 Craftsman bungalow is perfect. But the basement could use a little love.
Jill Butler says
What a great looking floor! This would be a great incentive to clean out my garage and actually put a car inside. Great job!
Sandra S. says
Perfect timing — we need to seal our garage floor before winter.
Amy says
I dream of emptying my garage and having such a beautiful floor!
Cindy Magee says
Our garage would look sooo much cleaner!!! (Cind)
Gina Gearhart says
It is so wild the difference that “Rocksolid” made on your floor! Would love to be able to afford to do this to mine.
Sue says
lol we have a garage that looks like yours used to and same thing the floor never got done – this post has made me enthused to get cracking and “DO IT”.
what a great product and a fabulous job when it’s all finished
Hilary says
This gives me some major motivation to get my garage in shape! Now if I could just get hubby to get rid of stuff!
Susan says
WOW! Will it look the same after parking a car on it? What an incentive to organize your garage, Love it!
Helen Murphy says
In the process of downsizing and looking for a smaller one level place closer to our grandchildren. It would be great to have a shiny new garage to drive into every day. Welcome home!
Jody says
I would so love to have a beautiful floor.
Shannah Schriever says
Rocksolid would give my ‘cave’ a whole new outlook! We’ve had the same cement for over 20 years & it’s def takin a beating over the years!
Leah says
Wow! I want to yank up what I have in my house and just go with the concrete slab. I wish someone would come and put this down in my house – that would be so AWESOME and better than what I’ve got on the floors now!
Mary Kaiser says
How awesome. Would love for my garage floor to look like that. I really hope I win!!
Norma Fisher says
It’s a beautiful garage floor. Love to ship at Home Depot.
Denise Barkel says
Those floors look amazing!! Oh so would love to do mine.
Marlene Fast says
My garage is not too messy, but is definitely needing a pick-me-up and if would look half as great as your does, I would be thrilled!
Robin Rodgers says
WOW! LOVE THE GARAGE FLOOR! I’ve seen other products and so happy to hear about this one. We’re in the process of looking for a home in our new town of Astoria, OR. We must have a garage and I absolutely want to have it look like yours. We de-cluttered and downsized so much before moving that a new clean space will be exciting. I too want space for crafting. Nice work and way to go making it a priority! Beautiful floor.
Jess Breen says
Awesome product!!! Thanks for the giveaway. I love home depot!!!
Tammy Shaw says
My garage could use this for sure!
Vicki Kubiak says
We did this at my daughter’s house–now it’s time for my garage!
Robyn says
Would look awesome! Sure wouldn’t need a rug. Your garage floor looks great!😁
Dawn Renee says
It would look like a new garage!!
donna wilson says
It would look RockSolidAwesome!!
Jan says
My cave would look a lot cleaner.
Kara says
The floor looks amazing!