Get a gorgeous new bathroom floor with this ingenious trick

How to get a new bathroom floor with less stress and money.

Bathroom remodeling is time-consuming, expensive and an all-around hassle. So what would you do if you knew you could get a beautiful new bathroom floor—without all the stress?

Enter this ingenious and inexpensive tip from Susanna, the Tennessee-based blogger behind the Livin’ The Life of Riley blog. Her blog post details how, after some Instagram-fueled home design inspiration from HGTV guru Joanna Gaines, she painted and stenciled her blah, boring linoleum bathroom tile into a gorgeous patterned floor that’s full of personality.

Not that Gaines had stenciled her own floor. Nope. But when Susanna despaired that she couldn’t possibly afford to get the same look as her HGTV guru, she did what any DIY design lover would do: She pored through innumerable Pinterest boards to find a way to ape the same look on the cheap.

And Pinterest totally delivered (as it does). Here’s her bathroom before its amazing transformation:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIN8ruKg812/?taken-by=livin.the.life.of.riley

Already pretty awesome, but check this out:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLtZRuaA-SJ/?taken-by=livin.the.life.of.riley

I know, right? It looks like fancy-pants, costly tiles, but it’s actually painted linoleum, a look that somehow manages to be both classic and on-trend.

But does it last? According to Susanna, the floor holds up well, and all she does is sweep it daily and mop it once a week.

If you’re feeling inspired, you should know that you’ll definitely have to put in some sweat for this project. It requires a deep clean of the floors, several coats of a base coat and then the careful application of whichever stencils you choose. And after that, you still have to finish it all off with a sealant.

I think the look could be worth it, though. If you agree, you can watch Susanna’s detailed video, which shows her process, and also contains additional tips on how to stencil around tricky spots like tubs and toilets: