For maximum transformation on minimum budget, you can’t beat paint. A new color on the walls can change the mood of a room, but it doesn’t stop there: a few coats can change up a piece of furniture or transform an entire kitchen.
Black-painted wood floors in an English hotel; see more in The Rose: A Singular Seaside Inn on the English Coast, Color Edition.
Don’t paint yourself into a corner.
1. You’ll need an escape plan.
Photograph by Andria Lo for Remodelista from Steal This Look: Manka’s Vintage Bath in Inverness, California.
You don’t want to have to tiptoe across your painted floors, lest they chip or show wear; the whole appeal is that they’re hardwearing and practical. To get this effect, use at least a semigloss paint from the paint aisle, perhaps coated with some polyurethane if you’re worried about wear.
2. The best paint might be at the marine supply store.
Oak floors painted in Benjamin Moore’s Platinum Gray enamel, with modern effect.
Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista, from Nordic Beauty: A Brooklyn Townhouse Reinvented with Style—and Restraint.
If it’s finished wood floors you’re painting, you’ll need to sand and prime. It can be backbreaking work if you’re on your hands and knees with sandpaper—or even an orbital sander.
3. Save your back by using a floor buffer.
General wisdom would have us believe that white- or light-colored floors show every speck of dust and dirt, while black- or dark-colored floors disguise debris.
4. “Dark” does not mean “disguised.”
Plywood floors, painted white, in A Chic Fixer-Upper on Fire Island, Budget Edition.
Photograph by Kate Sears.
5. Painted floors can trick the eye.
Painted floors can create some clever optical illusions. Or, choose a darker color than walls and ceiling to visually ground a space and add drama.
6. They’re endlessly customizable.
Then again, painted floors needn’t be solid. Use painter’s tape to create checkerboards, patterns, borders, or painted “rugs.” You can also delineate space by painting areas in different hues.
Photograph from DIY: New England Spatter-Painted Floors.
7. You can Jackson Pollock your floors.
Splatter-painted floors are everywhere in the cottages of Cape Cod.
Styling by Alexa Hotz and photography by Jonathan Hökklo for Remodelista.
8. You might need to vacate for a bit.
Painting your floors is no small task: you’ll need to move out all of your furniture (yes, all of it) and be prepared not to walk in or through the room for several days while the coats dry.
9. Painting floors is budget friendly.
Compared to the cost of laying all-new flooring, painting tired floors is incredibly budget friendly: all you’ll need is a gallon (or a few) of paint, plus primer and supplies.
Marine blue floors at Kin Kao Thai Kitchen in Toronto, designed by Scott & Scott Architects.
No need to worry too much about wear and tear.
10. Worried about wear? Just add more paint.