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When blogger Elise Cripe first saw her dad’s freshly DIYed garage floor in 2017, she thought nothing more of it other than it was an interesting upgrade. Fast-forward to early this year. When it was time to redo her own surface, the speckled finish came back to mind. Cripe used the same system her father did—this Rust-Oleum kit to be exact—and transformed the oil-stained concrete into a mint green terrazzo-style statement. The kit is the most popular one on the market, recommended by dads and Domino editors alike. Cripe insists it’s the only way she’ll refinish concrete from now on.
The $134 set—which comes with the concrete etch (the prepping solution that makes the final color mixture adhere better), two-part epoxy floor system, and vinyl color chips—has a loyal following for good reason. You start with a blank slate, mixing the background color in the included pouch. (Cripe’s came with a green base.) After that, application is easier than expected (you roll it on like paint), and the directions are surprisingly detailed. The only thing Cripe wished she’d known beforehand was how quickly she needed to apply the background. Because the epoxy starts drying in minutes, you have to work fast in order to sprinkle the paint chips (which give you the terrazzo look) and get them to stick. It’s best to have an extra set of hands, she says, or complete the project one half of the floor at a time.
Although the kit includes a selection of tiny dried beige, black, and white paint chips to achieve the finished look, that wasn’t bold enough for Cripe. By mixing her own colorful chips from Amazon—these in green, eggshell, and tan—she was able to completely customize the palette. “This was the one time getting unique results wasn’t more time-consuming or expensive,” she explains.
The end result turned the oft-neglected space into part of the home, not just a spot for parking cars. Cripe’s family now uses their garage as a gym, storage area, and workshop. “It’s such a valuable room,” she says. “It was time to treat it as such.”