apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Some folks might slam you for painting a wooden floor - But I believe that those truly awful "before" pix and the beautiful end results justify the means.

Gorgeous gorgeous. I SO want to do this in my bedroom...

Thanks for the inspiration. I have a ceramic tile floor in my kitchen that was installed (incorrectly) over a wood floor. The floor gives too much and the tiles constantly keep coming loose. I've been afraid to pull up the tile because I don't know the condition of the hardwood below (there is also a layer of linoleum below the ceramic). After seeing this I feel encouraged to take the plunge. With any luck I'll be able to sand and restore the wood, but at least I know if the floors are in bad shape I can paint the entire floor and hopefully end up with the same lovely results as your floor!

normally i would be totally against this
but because the floor was in total disrepair
i'm for this and it turned out beautiful

this helps me tremendously as i look at homes and see that some of the wood floors beneath the carpets are not going to be able to be refinished to their natural looking wood glory.... thanks!

I agree, this is beautiful. I haven't peeked under my bedroom carpet, my FH wants to keep the carpet, but if it's in bad shape when I do, then is is something I'll seriously consider. And if I get bored with it, then we can always just refinish them later on down the line. I love the brightness a white wood floor brings to a room.

I think some floors are just meant to be painted and the before pic obviously was one,
the after is beautiful!!

I would never do this to "healthy" or repairable wood floors, but your before pic says it all. You really made something beautiful out of something that most people would have rightfully ripped out.

I always wondered why someone would PAINT a hardwood floor. But this looks wonderful, well done. At least it looks like you managed to salvage the floors in the other room.

Congrats on finishing this big project... and I know it was a big project. I've painted floors before so I have a feel for how back-breaking the work can be. Way to go!

Wow! What an amazing difference. It's beautiful. And definitely helpful that you pointed out the mistake you made (going with oil-based polyurethane). It makes that tidbit of information memorable.

One minor suggestion: I think it could help polish off the look if you added a 1/4 round. Because the floors and the baseboards are both white, you notice the dark line around the room from the gap between the baseboards and the floor.

But again, beautiful.

Great job. I love white painted floors.

I recently read somewhere that in the early 1900's painted floors were common in private rooms, such as bedrooms or reading rooms. Typically you would have found finished wood floors only in common rooms.

I am so going to do this in my bedroom!! It looks great!

How'd you keep the dog off the floor until the paint dried?

Wow. Thanks for all of the positive comments. I agree that the quarter round will be a great finish. I was just too excited to be DONE and had to post the project before that final step.

One thing that we have found is that the floors are incredibly slippery. We are hoping that this will ease with use, but right now it is kind of like skating on a frosted cookie.

We managed to keep all of us off of the floors by living downstairs during the project. (We have an artists' studio and sleeping area w/ bathroom on the first floor of the building.) We spent a pretty cramped week with two cats, two humans and a dog on a futon...but we are really pleased with the results. The floors are not the end all for the room, but in this time of less $$$, it is a tolerable solution for the time being until we can afford to replace the worn-out flooring.

I really like the comment by Pretty Kitty about the floors of private rooms in the 1900s being painted. It was pretty interesting when we pulled the carpet in both the front and the bedroom. The house was built in 1908 and the floors looked like they have not been refinished since then! And we found in both the bedroom and front room, an area where it looks like there was a rug or linoleum 'rug' installed directly on the unfinished bulk of the center of the floor, so those boards were never sealed?

Right now, this was a good solution. Again, when going for a light color, beware oil based! That really cost me time and $$$. Thanks again for the positive feedback!

Great job! The floors beneath the carpet in my studio apartment are in pretty bad shape. This gives me another option to the whole sanding route.

Stellar job! You inspire me to tackle my own floors.

You can to do this to plywood floors too! Let's say you hate your carpet and you don't have hardwood floors underneath... just fill the gaps between the plywood and paint the floor. I did this in my old place and it looked fantastic.

A definite "before" and "after" difference .... I love it.
Fresh and bright ... springtime before it arrives.

Very cool idea and easy steps.

Very nice ms Heather!!.... good luck... you got my vote! :)

Heather, you can paint my floor any time!

A great alternative to refinishing a wood floor and the end result is great. You get my vote!

Wow what a difference!

Heather, The floor looks wonderful, fresh, crisp and clean - certainly a great project for damaged floors. Definitely a thumbs up!

This floor looks way better and so fresh and clean. My preference would be to use a white or color stain, to allow the woodgrain to show, but if you're not able to sand and finish, this is a great fix.

Ditto on the plywood comment--my parents had hideous white vinyl in the bathrooms of our house for a long time, it showed every little smudge and hair, and then started to wrinkle (this is why I cringe every time someone on AT says "just put vinyl down!" in a bathroom. Vinyl is yuck). My dad finally got fed up with it one weekend, pulled it all up, and painted the subfloor with floor paint in a good terra cotta color. It works so incredibly much more than the vinyl, I love it.

And I love the white wood floors too--so crisp.