Our DIY Faux Brick Floor

I can’t believe we did it. My husband and I got the bright idea to demo and remodel our main floor powder room just a few short weeks before Thanksgiving.

Were we crazy? Probably. But we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner again this year and became so annoyed and embarrassed by a lingering musty smell that was floating around our bathroom. Something had to be done.

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Initially I wasn’t convinced that the smell was coming from our hardwood flooring in the bathroom, but a closer inspection showed the extent of some water damage caused by an old toilet leak.

The boards were permanently blackened and soft to the touch. Not to mention warped and gaping around the base of the toilet.

My husband isn’t a fan of hardwood in bathrooms and after seeing the havoc that water can wreak in these rooms I wasn’t about to replace this floor with another type of hardwood.

I really struggled with this decision because I had my heart set on replacing our entire main floor with a beautiful new hardwood for a seamless look.

In the end though, I couldn’t be happier with our new faux brick flooring decision. It’s a showstopper in our house and everyone who came for Thanksgiving couldn’t stop raving about the beautiful herringbone pattern.

You can check out the full powder room reveal here and the reason why we chose to go with an white paint scheme instead of the typical grays.

So How did we achieve this faux brick floor look?

A lot of quick last minute research went into this design plan as soon as we decided to pull the trigger on using a tile option for the new floor.

If you read my post on how to design any room using Pinterest, then you know I was drawn to all of the gorgeous rustic and worn brick flooring photos floating around the internet.

I love the lived-in feel and charm it adds to a room and couldn’t wait to figure out a way to incorporate it into our bathroom for a casual elegant vibe.

When most people think of brick flooring they might picture traditional red brick, but I wanted something softer and muted for a more timeless look.

As always, anytime I’m looking for something very specific for our home I tend to have a hard time finding it any big box retail store showroom. But I did come across a few options that I seriously contemplated

Here are some of the brick look tile options we were considering while searching online

Old Mill Brick in Rushmore from Home depot

$9.32/ sq. ft

Alta Crema Brick Porcelain Tile from Floor and Décor

$3.56/ sq. ft

San Juan Blanco Porcelain Tile from Floor and Décor

$3.49/ sq. ft

New York Soho Brick Look Porcelain Tile from Floor and Décor

$3.99/ sq. ft

Mohawk ForeverStyle Cream Travertine from Lowes

$9.98/ sq. ft

After seeing how Mysha, from Remington Avenue installed brick tile in a laundry room for one of her clients, we ended up settling on the New York Soho Brick Look Porcelain Tile from Floor and Décor.

It was the perfect compromise between style and price for our budget powder room makeover.

The design plan for our diy faux brick floor

I’ve always had an obsession with herringbone patterned flooring. In fact, we installed some beautiful and inexpensive slate flooring in a herringbone pattern in our last home, and it was the focal point of our powder room makeover.

Unique Tile flooring patterns are also an easy way to make inexpensive tile look instantly more elegant.

*My husband might disagree with the easy part however. He spent two entire days just installing the tile in our bathroom. Herringbone patterns require a lot more precision cutting than simply laying the tiles horizontally side by side.

He repeatedly told me the process would go a lot faster if we were installing the tile side by side. What’s the fun in that though? Side note. I have to give huge props to my handy hubby. This was his first time installing tile in a herringbone pattern and I think he knocked it out of the park.

Since we were installing the tile floor to transition into the solid hardwood hallway of our main floor, I wanted the two flooring materials to be as level as possible with each other.

We lucked out with this particular tile as it laid perfectly even with our ¾ inch thick hardwood floors and didn’t require a transition strip.

I did decide though to add a border pattern between the two flooring materials and on the opposite wall to frame out the pattern.

I would have framed the entire bathroom floor with these horizontal tiles, but it would’ve interfered with the floor vent and added a lot more work to the project. I think it looks great though.

Choosing the perfect grout color for our diy faux brick floor

Initially we chose a grey pewter color grout to coordinate with our multi-color brick tiles. It looked great on the display setup in the store.

The more I looked through my inspiration photos though, I realized I wanted the grout lines to really pop against the contrasting tiles. So we switched up the color and went with Frost by Mapei.

It looks to be a light grey or taupe color, but once it’s installed and dry it turns a beautiful creamy white shade. It complimented the white textures in the tiles perfectly and looks gorgeous with our creamy white walls.

If you read about our tiled fireplace makeover project, then you know just how stressful and important it can be to pick the perfect grout color for your project. It can really make or break the overall look of your tile.

I’m so happy with how this DIY faux brick floor turned out. It really makes a statement in our home, and I keep joking with my husband that the rest of our house doesn’t look as nice as our new bathroom.

Make sure to check out the full bathroom reveal here!