Painting your floors white isn't the easiest DIY project — in fact, it may be a job for a professional. You have to sand the floors completely smooth and make sure they're ready to receive the paint. Then of course there's the maintenance and upkeep (though my dark floors need daily swabbing, too, so I'm not sure how different this is). But the effect can be truly wonderful: light and breezy in summer, clean and restful in winter.
Painted white floors are most commonly associated with Scandinavian design and the country house aesthetic, pairing nicely with rustic accents as well as the Gustavian shabby-chic look. Lately, it's also accompanied a more modern, industrial look. In the photos above you can see a few different approaches. Some of the interiors feature limited palettes of white with browns, beiges and blacks; others balance the white floor with colors elsewhere, either on the walls or in scattered pops.
Which is your favorite white-floor look?
Images 1 Tine Kjeldsen's home via ATNY; 2 Yatzer via Emma's Designblogg; 3 Lyndsay Fitzhugh's interior on the Selby; 4 Photo by David Prince for Country Living; 5 Photo by Simon Upton for Domino via Bride's ; 6 Jonathan Adler-designed foyer for Liz Lange's country house, photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo for House Beautiful; 7 Betsy Brown interior via Canadian House and Home; 8 Skona Hem via Live Like You; 9 Ilse Crawford via Remodelista; 10 Toast via Remodelista.
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Someday I will have a house with painted white floors... *swoon*
Love 1,2,6 & 8. One of those things I'd love to do but hesitant at the work involved and the maintenance.
I've been thinking about black and white striped floors...and attempting to paint my linoleum....any advice?
These are all lovely but I cringe at the amout of upkeep this requires. Definitely not a good choice for a house with pets and/or kids.
Love white floors but you have to have the right space to pull it off. I wish I had that kind of space.....
Are they nuts? White is for toilet paper, unless you have stock in Clorox.
God no. Like black floors, it's pretty but not at all functional. My bathroom floor is white, and keeping that 3x5 space spotless and hair/lint/smudge free is a serious pain in the nether regions. Imagine having it in the main living area.
White painted floors are wonderful to live with. The key is to have a shoeless home and then they just take regular brushing and a good wash every month or so. I have white painted concrete floors in every room of my apartment and re-paint every 2 years to keep it spotless.
Please don't make me think about painting my wood floors white, AT. They look pristine, especially when warmed by wood tones and bright colors elsewhere.
I"m going to be painting my concrete floors with gray porch paint. Any suggestions? There are some pieces of furniture that are unable to be moved, etc.
I had a totally white environment in my loft for about 5 years...it was especially beautiful at sunset, when the whole place glowed with sky color. But yes, it was a serious pain to keep up and I repainted everything, including the floor, once a year. (60 year old wooden floors in bad condition and previously painted or I wouldn't have sacrificed the wood.)
@Leah696....I painted the old linoleum in same loft v. successfully, lasted for years. Sand, prime, paint w/ deck paint, and then I topped w/ Varathane.
Can't choose a favorite, they're ALL beautiful.
Yeeeeah painted white floors don't stay white for long.
I am thining about doing this as well, taking up the carpet and painting the concrete white or light grey. Leaning towards white but not sure what I will be getting myself into
For all of those people who "worry" about upkeep this is definitely not the look for you. I've never had white painted wood floors but I do have white polished concrete throughout the first floor of my home. As hesiod said above, you just have them re-painted every couple of years and steam mop them weekly.....they are virtually maintenance free.....and gorgeous!
While I love this look (especially the old wooden floors painted white--I have some old wooden floors in my house that would look much better painted anything)--I have cats, black cats and lots of black cat fur. I don't think I could possibly keep them tidy enough.
I'm watching SouleMama's experiment in her blog with white painted floors...and five kids. On a farm. If she's happy with it in a year, then who am I worry any further about it? Can you tell I want her to say it's a piece of cake?
Too impractical. Looks nice in photos, though.
Only hairless people who never eats, drinks, entertains or step outside can pull off white floors. Even the light beige tile in my previous apartment showed dirt just by looking at it.
Ah, also, it is irreversible because it goes into each nook and cranny, and fads change. Painting hardwood floors would DEFINITELY impact on the resell value of your home.
Possibly the only thing harder to keep clean would be white velvet.
If you love the look, why choose a small area of your home and give it a go. I painted the floor in my entrance white because a) it's tiny and b) the tiles were hideous anyway.
Sure, I have to wipe it all the time, but the result gives me a weird little pleasure. And it's small enough that if I had a black cat, maybe I could wet the cat and swing him ... no, that would be just wrong.
Uh, that would be "why NOT choose ..."
I'd love to have white floors. But with 2 big black dogs that isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Been there, done that. Old, terrible condition wide-pine floors in my bedroom, painted white. Looked good for about two weeks. Meh.
Black dog doesn't help, but normal human living (shedding hairs, dust from shoes) makes white floors unworkable even without a dog.
Well, maybe if you had "help" that cleaned the house once a day.
Resanded and refinished, even with little blips of white in the divets, the floors look great and don't show any of my dust/dirt/dog hair.
Bea's house from the zero waste blog has amazing all white well everything, but the floors are what really makes it amazing
The upkeep is fine! I painted our upstairs floors white and we love them! It was time consuming but not hard to do. They do show dirt, but we leave our shoes at the doors so I mop maybe every 2-3 weeks. Plus, with the paint we used (high-gloss porch enamel by from behr) the dirt washes away quickly and easily so it hasn't been a problem; I just spray windex and run the mop over it, and it's clean and sparkling. It's been 14 months and they still look new. They also brightened everything up so much more than we expected! The hall and guest rooms feel must larger and brighter. We have two indoor cats, which aren't a problem but any indoor-outdoor pet might be.
Our house is a 1930's colonial, and the white floors really help blend our more modern and industrial taste with the house. Planning to do the rest of the house when we have time.
For anyone considering it, it cost about $350-$400 to do (around 500 sf) with renting the sander, using an insane amount of sand paper and getting good primer and good paint. Much cheaper than any other option. Most of the cost is the sander and paper. If you're nervous about sanding you hire a floor refinishing company to do that -the priming and painting is super easy (but requires a lot of dry time between coats, so it's not fast). You don't want to skimp on the primer as that's what stops any color or stains from leaking through.
I live in a 100-year-old apartment with the original wood floors. I know that sounds glamorous, but trust me, it isn't. I moved here from many states away, and wasn't able to check out the apartment firsthand before moving in. The photos seemed to show wood floors in their original condition, but when I got here the unit I was actually set to live in had painted-over floors. It's the ONE thing I don't like about my apartment, which I've now lived in for 2 years. I don't like it only because the paint job is sloppy and my landlord used wall paint so it peels off all the time, is an ugly dark brown that you would associate more with a state parks cabin in the woods than an apartment in the city, and also, the floor boards are uneven which makes it difficult to mop. I really hate the dark brown color, as it shows all kinds of dirt, so I know I wouldn't go black. I want to repaint, and would love to do white, but I don't think he would approve it solely based on the fact that whoever moves in next probably wouldn't want white. I think I could talk him into gray, so I might try. The floors have tons of peeled-away spots and scuffs after 2 years. I take care of them as well as I can and am not rough on them, but latex wall paint isn't meant for floors (duh). I'd really love to redo them in a glossy paint meant for a deck or other floors. Lots of great ideas here on Apartment Therapy, as for the type of paint to use and how to go about it! Thank you.
To everyone who consistently says they hate this look: sometimes you move into a place that already has painted-over floors, or maybe floors in horrid condition. These examples looks are great. I'd rather have any of these compared to what I have now. Those of you who complain about this look, please consider what someone may have started with, and that they had little choice unless they were fortunate enough to have the funds to lay down a whole new floor. I would never argue that these look better than a nice wood floor in good condition, but if your wood floor is already covered in paint, and poorly, these look wonderful.