painted floors

[maize]

Has anyone done this?

 

I'm tempted to paint my living room floor. I've seen painted floors on Pinterest and they look so colorful and cheery.

 

Flooring is cork but quite beat up.

[Catwoman]

Painted floors can look very pretty and can be a good way to hide a beat-up floor that can't be otherwise refinished. The only problem is that in high traffic areas, they can get chipped and worn pretty easily. Light colors (and very dark colors) can also show every speck of dirt.

[Seasider]

I have been very tempted to do this, but the layers of polyurethane required have kept me from trying it. Without the protection, I am afraid that my labor in prep and painting would go to waste with wear; with it, I'm afraid the cost and the smell and drying time would do me in.

[gstharr]

Look up epoxy floors. originally for garages. but have now moved inside the house. Marble, granite, metallic, even wood like.   DIYable with proper prep. A couple of coats. much harder than poly

[Carrie12345]

I'd never do it.

I just painted my kitchen cabinets, following all of the DIY recommendations out there. The last door went back up yesterday!  But, even after giving very ample time to "cure" (well over a week for most of the doors and drawers), I've already made a couple of dings.  I'm nervous about the kids banging things around in there, and I feel like I have to treat everything with kid gloves.

 

That said, I love how my cabinets look and I don't regret it, but there's no way I'd be able to bring myself to walk on a painted floor!

[Home_s_Cool]

I have painted two bedroom floors.  I am happy with the results for a low cost was to spruce up a room. (Not sure how much of this process would apply to a cork floor)

 

The two rooms:

1. daughters' room: carpet over oak flooring (that was not in great shape) - painted white

2. sons' room: carpet over sub-flooring - painted blue

 

For prepping: removed carpet/nails, filled in holes/missing boards, then used an electric sander.  Finally, used Kilz Primer to cover any spots that might bleed through the paint.

 

Painted with two coats of porch/patio paint. Sealed only the boys room with Varathane Floor Finish (high traffic formula)

 

Chose not to seal the white painted floor because I wanted it to wear slightly to look old.  The room has a beach theme, we were wanting a worn beach cottage look for the floor.   

 

I've only had an issue with the white floor with black marks from their luggage when they are home from college. So I will probably touch it up and use the Varathane Floor Finish.

 

The boys's room still looks great.  I think sealing it was the key.  It is not a high traffic area like your living room, but they are not gentle with it and it has held up great.

[MEmama]

Our half bath has a painted tile floor. I hate it. It's impossible to keep clean and I think it looks really tacky, even though it was done well (by previous owners). Someday I'll get fed up enough to justify the cost of replacing it.

 

Sorry if that's not what you want to hear.

[Guest]

I painted our gold tiled entry. I love it and wish I had done it years ago!

[Goldilocks]

About 4 years ago we moved into a house with painted floors. They were scuffed up, but we had plans to strip them and refinish the wood floors underneath. We still have not done it, but we get compliments all the time about our floors. The scuffing adds charm-even the big drag mark where I tried to move the couch all by myself! I never would have made the bold step to paint my own floors, but I am glad somebody did!

[mom@shiloh]

I have painted floors on two floors of my house -- 2nd and 3rd floors. When we bought the house, we pulled up ancient carpet.  Some of the floors had already been painted under the carpet.  None of it is nice hardwood flooring.  I repainted all of it.  Definitely buy the garage floor paint with the added epoxy.  It is super durable.  I have lots and lots of kids.  We have lots and lots of company.  The floors with the garage floor paint look as nice as the day I painted them three years ago, but the ones that were done with regular floor paint are scuffed. If I had nice hardwood, I'd never consider it, but this is a durable, inexpensive option that looks nice and is easy to change if you don't like it.  I'd do it again in a flash.

[Carol in Cal.]

Is this a slippery finish?  Would you be concerned about using it at an outside entrance because of that?

[gstharr]

I've been looking into epoxy floors and countertops for a little while. Down to the final months of a 30 yr mortgage, and starting to plan some improvements.  countertops and floors are done essentially the same way, but on different scales.  concrete countertop solultions, and stone countertop have many videos on how to diy turn drabby countertops into marble, granite.  you tube has thousand on diy epoxy. here is one to give you an idea.  Way more countertop videos than floors.   From what I read, epoxy is no more slippery than marble.  https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t-s&p=you+tube+epoxy+floor#id=6&vid=b9527867761c07a6ff59fc621609c140&action=view

[KungFuPanda]

I looked at them, and liked them, but keep coming back to vinyl plank because it seems so much easier. Currently I need to go from carpet to hard flooring so I'm in deep with the Pinterest flooring pins.

[Spryte]

You can lightly sand a cork floor and reapply a sealer. We are supposed to do it every year or two (but, umm, I haven't). I would try that prior to painting cork floors.

[solascriptura]

I've looked at homes with painted bedroom floors and I would call it "distressed" looking. I was distressed thinking about how to remove old paint off a hardwood floor. I didn't buy that house.

[J-rap]

We have a painted floor in our bathroom.  (The floor itself is wood.)  I love the look.  I thought it was kind of a weird decision by my husband, but it actually has held up quite well.  I'd say we need to repaint it every 6 years or so to keep it fresh and nice.  We do have rugs over a lot of it, so that helps.

[Alessandra]

I painted an old vinyl floor in an apartment kitchen. It was awful looking, but I good condition, so I painted it white and marbelized it with a sponge and turkey feather for a cream colored marvel look, then covered it with a coat of ploy. All oil based paints, and it lasted beautifully. I also wood grained kitchen cabinets. And decorative painted walls and ceilings in most of the rooms.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Alessandra

[Ottakee]

Can you paint regular plywood type flooring? If you seal it well is it sorta water resistant? Wondering if this is an option for dd's bedroom. She wants the vinyl plank flooring.

[umsami]

I thought about painted concrete as an option for a floor after I had my flood.  Ended up with Pergo.

 

Your house, your choice. <3  I think do what makes your heart sing.  

[maize]

Can you paint regular plywood type flooring? If you seal it well is it sorta water resistant? Wondering if this is an option for dd's bedroom. She wants the vinyl plank flooring.

Yes you can :)

 

Outdoor deck paint should be pretty water resistant, you could put an extra top coat of polyurethane on it to further deal the floor.

[Katy]

My concern with cork would be how it would handle the moisture of the paint while it was drying.  Doesn't cork buckle if it gets too damp?  We had neighbors once with a "helpful" babysitter who mopped their cork kitchen floor by pouring a bucket of water on it.  It all had to get torn up and replaced.

 

We've done epoxy in basements before.  It doesn't last long if the groundwater gets high due to an especially rainy season, but if your basement is dry it looks awesome.

[mom@shiloh]

Is this a slippery finish?  Would you be concerned about using it at an outside entrance because of that?

 

Not at all slippery.  I do actually have it on my front porch as well.  That is concrete and we pulled off the yucky indoor/outdoor carpeting on that before I painted..  Of course, any surface will be slightly more slippery when wet, but it isn't any more slippery than my back porch which is stained wood.

[mom@shiloh]

I painted an old vinyl floor in an apartment kitchen. It was awful looking, but I good condition, so I painted it white and marbelized it with a sponge and turkey feather for a cream colored marvel look, then covered it with a coat of ploy. All oil based paints, and it lasted beautifully. I also wood grained kitchen cabinets. And decorative painted walls and ceilings in most of the rooms.

 

So ambitious.  I'm impressed.

[TheAttachedMama]

My mom painted floors in a house she was flipping.   They were VERY, VERY old wood floors and the cost to refinish them was going to be too great.   They turned out really nice looking!   She painted them a dark brown.   The only downside is that they REALLY showed dust.   It has been over a year, and they still look nice.  (She hired a professional painter, because it was such a big job.)   

 

I also painted my pine stairs.  (I painted the risers white and the flat part black for contrast.)   My initial plan was to rip the carpet off of them and then sand and stain.   Well, we sanded those stairs over and over and over again with an electric sander for days.   They would look fine, but then as soon as we put the stain on they would look horrible no matter what we did to prime them.   The look I am going for in my house is sort of "farm house chic"--so I don't mind a little shappy looking---butthings thinks looked VERY "diy"---and not in a good way.  ;)   We looked at putting those wood "covers" on our treads also, but they were outside our budget.   So we painted them, and I am SO happy with how they turned out.   It was a perfect budget solution.   

 

We bought a special type of paint which is meant to be used on floors and porches.  It is not slippery and not hard at all to keep clean even with the dark color.    We sweep them with a broom once per week to dust them and that is it.   I love how they turned out!

 

The wise ladies on this forum warned me not to get a "textured" floor paint because it could be a pain to clean because dirt gets trapped in the texture.   (With some floor paint, they add this grit stuff to make it less slippery.)   So I just purchased the regular black non-textured stuff for the top of the stairs and it is fine.   

 

[Alessandra]

My mom painted floors in a house she was flipping. They were VERY, VERY old wood floors and the cost to refinish them was going to be too great. They turned out really nice looking! She painted them a dark brown. The only downside is that they REALLY showed dust. It has been over a year, and they still look nice. (She hired a professional painter, because it was such a big job.)

 

I also painted my pine stairs. (I painted the risers white and the flat part black for contrast.) My initial plan was to rip the carpet off of them and then sand and stain. Well, we sanded those stairs over and over and over again with an electric sander for days. They would look fine, but then as soon as we put the stain on they would look horrible no matter what we did to prime them. The look I am going for in my house is sort of "farm house chic"--so I don't mind a little shappy looking---butthings thinks looked VERY "diy"---and not in a good way. ;) We looked at putting those wood "covers" on our treads also, but they were outside our budget. So we painted them, and I am SO happy with how they turned out. It was a perfect budget solution.

 

We bought a special type of paint which is meant to be used on floors and porches. It is not slippery and not hard at all to keep clean even with the dark color. We sweep them with a broom once per week to dust them and that is it. I love how they turned out!

 

The wise ladies on this forum warned me not to get a "textured" floor paint because it could be a pain to clean because dirt gets trapped in the texture. (With some floor paint, they add this grit stuff to make it less slippery.) So I just purchased the regular black non-textured stuff for the top of the stairs and it is fine.

Do you remember the type of paint?