Buying and laying new flooring can be an expensive endeavour.

But one mum managed to create an incredible stencil floor for her utility room that completely transformed the space.

Nicola Hill, 48, was forced to take up the laminate following a leak and discovered lovely 1960s tiles which were splashed with old paint.

However, despite trying to clean them, the tiles were left with a white powdery coating that wouldn’t budge.

The utility room before

So Nicola decided to totally transform the whole room, creating an amazing geometric floor pattern using stencils and Frenchic paint, spending less than £50 on the whole project.

She told money-saving community "I came up with the floor idea from seeing other people's outdoor patio areas on Facebook.

"My partner is a maths teacher so the maths side of it was worked out by him, although I ordered the wrong size stencil as I didn’t listen to him!

"He therefore made me one from a cardboard box which allowed the repeat pattern to work on the 9" tile.

"These tiles were irreparable and a new floor was out of the question. I was recovering from Covid when I did it and had been off work for some weeks due to the side effects.

"I’m not used to sitting still so became really fed up and low so would sit on the floor and take my time creating it. It was a bit painstaking but worth it."

Explaining how she did, Nicola said: "I cleaned the floor with sugar soap and started the stencil from the middle.

"The stencil was made out of dense cardboard - a Ted Baker dress box actually!

The utility room after

"I used masking tape and used a limited amount of paint on the stencil brush to do the first coat and dried it with a hairdryer, then applied a second coat by dabbing the stencil brush.

"I did every other tile first so as not to smudge it, then my partner made the edging stencil to fit the border and I did this as I got to the wall.

"The cardboard stencil lasted really well.

"Cost-wise, if we discount the price of the wrong size stencil, it cost the price of two tins of Frenchic paint and a stencil brush which equates to around £40 to £50 at most.

The DIY stencil made

"I used Swanky Pants paint for the base coat and the colours in the stencil are After Midnight and Blackjack.

"I sat with a hairdryer to help dry the first coat before applying a second coat and then moving the stencil.

"Due to being poorly it took around two weeks but this was due to doing it a bit at a time.

"My paint was dropped off by a local supplier which helped!"

Nicola is delighted with how her project turned out and felt a real sense of accomplishment with its success, especially given that she completed it while being ill.

She added: "I was really quite proud of myself given I was so poorly too, it looks amazing - but none of my family has seen it yet which is frustrating.

"It’s really transformed the room with minimal cost."

Co-founder of, Tom Church, said: "Whether you go for a laminate, real wood or tiled floor, the cost of sourcing it and laying it can be a real expense.

"After dealing with a leak at home, Nicola came up with an ingenious solution: her stencilled floor looks incredibly stylish and fashionable, and cost a fraction of what replacing the entire floor with wood or tiles would have cost!"