9 Rooms That Will Make You Want to Paint Your Floors

Floors are often called the sixth wall for a reason. They offer up ample design opportunity: You can leave them bare, layer some stylish rugs, or even use a fresh coat of paint to quickly transform the ambience of an entire room. So to inspire some of your future floor-painting endeavors, we rounded up nine rooms, all from Apartment Therapy home tours, that will send you straight to the paint store.

If you thought black floors would darken a room, then think again. Not only do black-painted floors bring definition to a room, they provide a nice contrast to pale-painted walls, just like we saw inside the kitchen of Matt Austin’s Brooklyn apartment.

Looking for an easy way to open up a boxy all-white room? Take a cue from Kate Levinson and Mike Muschong and paint the floors in a glossy coat of bright white, just like they did in their Chicago living room.

Love the look of earth tones but still itching to play with a little bright color at home? Consider painting the floor of a neutral room in bold color—like the hunter green Betsy used to paint her Savannah, Georgia, sunroom—to incorporate a surprising hue into the space.

Searching for a fun way to turn your floor into the focal point of a room? Paint your floors in an eye-catching pattern, like the wavy black-and-white lines we spotted in Matt Austin’s Brooklyn studio space, to make an unexpected statement.

Lightly colored floors, like the pale lavender-painted ones in Matthew Mirarchi’s Seattle sunroom, help enhance incoming natural light from the windows while offsetting darker toned walls.

Painted gray floors subdue brightly colored walls in a tight space, just like we saw in the yellow-hued hallway of Andrew Griffiths’ colorful London flat.

A monochrome palette, like the floor to ceiling white walls we spotted in Apartment Therapy Founder and CEO Maxwell Ryan’s summer house, helps open up a small space.

Searching for an easy way to bring a little drama into a tight space? Paint your floors with a striking geometric motif, just like the black diamond-patterned floors we spotted in Meghan’s Charleston, South Carolina, bathroom.

Why stop with brightly colored walls when you can have vibrantly painted floors too? Follow in Brooklyn-based artist Lani Kennefick’s footsteps and paint your floors in a hue that’s as equally eye-catching as the wall color.