apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cream/Ivory - not too white.

Your house sort of reminds me of this book I just finished paging through. It's chock full of "pickled" floors with ticking stripe couches. It's called "Swedish Interiors" - you might want to check it out of the library for inspiration: http://tinyurl.com/cjwjv2

Black. AT had something about dark kitchens that I liked but then you'd probably want to save some money for one of the institutional dust pad brooms.

Either do white or stain the wood.

Strip them and finish the floors! Hardwood floors are so beautiful and warm.

Anna, at Door 16 has some great posts about painted floors with LOTS of pictures!

http://www.doorsixteen.com/%3C?s=painted floors&sbutt=Go

High Gloss White.

S&W Alabaster. It's the perfect not-white white.

HIGH GLOSS WHITE!!!

aqua!!!

high gloss black to accentuate the white

I second the aqua suggestion. Did you see the kitchen that was posted earlier, and originally on Kitchn? It has painted aqua/teal floors and they look amazing.

My floors are painted white and I love them, but they get really dirty because I have a dog. When they are clean they look fabulous!

aqua with giant fuschia & yellow daisies.

Looks like you're heading into the shabby chic area. If so, smear, brown, green, & black randomly over the floor. Then paint ivory/off white top coat. Come back and distress some areas by sanding back to the green black and brown layers. Sand edges of boards, near doors, and other areas that would normally get lots of wear. Top with 3 or 4 coats of matte poly.

The random undercoat is the secret. I learned that trick from Christopher Lowell. OMG! am I dating myself or what?

high gloss white.

gold brick? high gloss white sounds like your style.

Hard to go wrong with high gloss white. It actually looks cleaner longer than darker colors (most household "dirt" is actually stuff like lint and dead skin cells, which are pale or white), and it can brighten a room. You can always tone down its whiteness with darker area rugs if you want - white makes a great backdrop for them. And it's usually easy to patch or touch up if there's some kind of accident or damage.

Why would you not refinish and leave the natural wood? That's going to compliment everything in the apartment. Paint is, well, lazy.

high gloss white, or perhaps a robin's egg blue, but that becomes less classic and more difficult to coordinate with.

Why would you not refinish and leave the natural wood? That's going to compliment everything in the apartment. Paint is, well, lazy. ---> I must agree

Wow! So many suggestions - Thanks everyone. I wish sanding and refinishing was an option but there are three, possibly four layers of 'scary' paint on these floors. Scratch the surface and I fear we'll find lead. Will definitely pick-up a copy of Swedish interiors -- thanks cakekick. And I just can't get enough of Door Sixteen, Maiden.
Anyone have any advice on epoxies vs regular paint, and what the best 'top coats' are out there? There seem to be a few ways to going about painting the floor. In this case, the floor is badly marked (matches the pot holes in the street outside). Is gloss just going to make it all look worse?
Will keep you posted, thanks! -r

IS that my old sofa? I swear I used to have one just like it!

A nice site for some inspiration:

http://lantlif.blogspot.com/search/label/Antikt

Oh & also... I think Maxwell's house is in here as well:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=painted wood floors&btnG=Search Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

We moved into an old house (1880) with maple strip flooring on the first floor. It had been sanded down so many times over the years that there was almost nothing left to refinish and what was there had been neglected for so long, there was really nothing we could do to save it. We decided to paint over it while we save up the money to have a new wood floor installed. It's a really dark chocolate brown and I love it! Yes, dust does show up, but if you dry mop at least once a week it's really not a big deal. (Just don't use a wet swiffer on your painted floor. It leaves this dull residue that's hard to get off.)

I bought Porch and Floor Enamel from Sherwin Williams. One coat coverage. Hardly smelled at all. My husband rolled it on and I followed behind with a brush and I think it looks better that way (vs. only using a roller). Let it dry one night then used the same technique for one coat of gloss polyurethane (can't remember which brand, but it was heavy duty for floors). It's been totally indestructible so far and our 2 year old goes all over the house with a wagon, tricycle, you name it.

Have to disagree with it being a lazy way out. Here in New England, many historical (museum) homes have painted floors. It's really common. The upstairs floor in our house is the original pine and it was redone (paint removed) by a previous owner but you can still see some paint in the knots that wasn't sanded away that's been there for however many decades now. Each room a different color apparently. Not lazy, just a different way of doing things.

Good luck with your floors!

I would love to see aqua and white stripes on the floor. Granted, this is not as easy as going with a single color, but what life it would give this space!