If you lot were to play that game "which of these things don't vest," well, the floor in our kitchen would definitely win the prize. It does not fit in with the gorgeous wood floors throughout the residue of the house.

It is a big sail of chipped, scratched, dinged and maybe-burned linoleum. I actually have no idea what could have acquired so much impairment to one section of floor.

While this was not the overall ugliest linoleum I had ever lived with, it was certainly the most damaged.

I couldn't expect to tear information technology out.

Only then I couldn't determine what to replace information technology with.

And so, I saturday in that location staring at all of those black marks on the floor. I swear they were laughing at me.

No, that's non dirt. Those are all of the mocking marks I was telling you most.

laminatefloor5
And so, I did what I exercise when all else fails me.

I got out my craft paint.

laminatefloor6
I mixed up a nice little alloy of tan, grayness and white.

At this point, I figured I couldn't actually make the flooring whatever worse. And if, on the off hazard I did, well, and then we'd go back to Plan A and rip it up.

I started dabbing the paint on all of the scratches. It worked best to go on the paint as much on the bodily scratch itself as possible and to not paint too far outside of the scratch. Otherwise, it just drew more attending to the repaired area.

(Y'all tin can meet how big this particular scratch is in relation to my craft brush.)

laminatefloor7
While I waited for it to dry out, I moved on to cover another scratch and another.

When I idea the paint might be dry, I spent 5 minutes trying to find the painted spot.

I kid you not, it was harder than it seems to find all of the spots I covered up – specially the tiny ones.

(Deplorable about the shadow on this photo – the big scratch is in the shadow.)

laminatefloor8
Then I applied a coat of matte Mod Podge over the craft paint.

I tried a semi-gloss finish Mod Podge offset, only it was too shiny for my floor.

laminatefloor9
I had no thought if it would work.

It was similar science class. "Here'southward my hypothesis. At present, let's start this experiment!"

Here's a big mark in the photograph below. I think information technology might accept been a burn mark, but I'm non sure.

laminatefloor2
Here's that aforementioned spot now with the craft paint and the Mod Podge on information technology.

Tin you see it?

Information technology's there. Information technology just blends and so much better – especially when you are continuing up a piddling higher.

(Ha! As I was staring at this photo, I totally institute some random clay spots. So nice.)

laminatefloor1
I wasn't sure if I'd even share this piddling experiment with you, but I did this projection exactly one month ago and the Modern Podge is still property upwards. I'1000 pleasantly surprised!

I don't know how long it will final though. So far I accept vacuumed information technology about daily and mopped or spot cleaned it at to the lowest degree a dozen times. Oh, and it also survived ten kids traipsing in and out filling upward h2o guns and creating a huge, moisture mess on the floor. Don't ask.

laminatefloor3
The thing about this technique is that if y'all get down and look for the spot you tin see information technology, but when you're standing up and walking effectually, you lot don't notice the imperfections any longer. Your heart glances over them…information technology'southward a slap-up kind of camouflage.

Volition this work for everyone? I have no idea. I think it would probably depend on the pattern of your floor. Mine has a lot of motion and no set pattern, so information technology was very forgiving of this technique. It definitely works improve on the smaller scratches than the larger ones. I have a deep, iii-inch crevice that'southward out-of-frame in these photos that I'm still trying to figure out how to gear up.

Was it worth it? Yes! The time and cost of this projection was minimal. Honestly, the scratches aggravated me so much that I don't care if it but concluding xxx days. I had the supplies on hand and it didn't take long at all to embrace up the scratches. Information technology was kind of fun, actually!

Information technology makes me happy to bring some beauty back into this horribly damaged linoleum. Plus, it buys me time to figure out what we can and should practice next.

——

P.S. It should exist noted that I'm not sure if what we have is vinyl or linoleum. The two terms are often used interchangeably, simply do take some cardinal differences in how they are made. I learned more about the two hither.

P.S.S. You can also buy vinyl repair kits at your abode comeback flooring. I looked into this vinyl floor repair kit on Amazon. *affiliate links in this mail service*

P.P.S.S. UPDATE – We lived in that house for about 2 years and there were a couple of spots I did touch up once in that time, only most of the paint held up beautifully. Mode better than I expected. It wasn't a perfect ready past any means, merely it made me relish the habitation we had a little scrap more. Hope this helps!

If y'all want some other low toll, high impact home fixes – check these out!

Smoothen Wood Floors Without Refinishing

Refinish Wood Chairs Without Power Tools

When Would You Paint a Counter?

I Touch Cleaning Rule

Fixing Nasty Grout is Pretty Easy