HOUSE: Newburgh

White painted floor, back room.

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The floor in the back room is finished, and it is beautiful. I couldn’t be happier. What used to be the dirtiest, most neglected and depressing room in the house is now unbelievably peaceful, clean, and fresh. I saw the floor in the daylight for the first time on Saturday, and it was like one of those dreams you have where you discover a room in your house that you never knew was there before. Amazing.

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This is the wall that I’ll be using the black-on-black Fir Tree wallpaper on.

I’m still not sure what this room will be used for (our bedroom, maybe?). Part of me wants to just leave it empty, but I know that’s ridiculous. I will say, though, that after living in our house for three years with this room essentially being dead space, I feel very pressured now to figure out exactly what purpose each of the four upstairs rooms should serve. In many ways, I found it much easier to manage space properly in a 600sf apartment than I do in a 2000sf house. I don’t want to waste!

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Now we’re ready to have our radiator (which we had sandblasted and powdercoated back in June) reinstalled. It will go between the windows—that’s what the pipe sticking up out of the floor is for. I can’t wait to have ALL of the radiators in the house refinished! I’m so tired of peeling silver paint and rust.

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For those of you wondering what I used to paint the floor, this is the product lineup, and these are the steps I followed:

(1) Pull all carpet tacks, staples, etc. from floor. Use nail set to recess any protruding nails.

(2) Patch all holes with wood filler. I like Zinsser Ready Patch.

(3) Dig out all rotted areas of floorboards (there was a significant amount of old water damage along the wall abutting the bathroom) and repair with a 2-part epoxy consolidant. There is a good description of that process here (I have used this method to repair rotted trim and window sashes throughout the house with great success).

(4) Sand floor. Because this is a small room and this floor had no existing finish on it, I used a hand sander. I have a Bosch 5-inch Random Orbit Sander, and I’m very happy with it. I started with a medium-grit paper, then did another pass with a finer grit. (Hang a tarp over the door and wear a mask. Sanding floors is very dusty!)

(5) Install shoe molding at baseboard. I generally am not a fan of quarter-round in old houses, but the gap between the baseboard moldings and the floor was too large to caulk effectively.

(6) Vacuum well (I did a first pass with a ShopVac, then finished with an Electrolux with a HEPA filter), and clean all surfaces very well with TSP substitute.

(7) Apply primer. I used two coats (applied with a roller), since this floor had a lot of staining and had never been sealed before. Throughout the house, I have used Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 to prime EVERYTHING. It’s wonderful stuff if you have a lot of imperfect surfaces to cover. The gripping/sealing power is amazing. I highly recommend all of Zinsser’s products.

(8) Apply a shellac-based spray to any knot holes, etc., still showing through the primer.

(9) Apply three coats of paint. I used a brush, because I sometimes find I don’t like the finish of roller-applied paint on wood surfaces. I like Benjamin Moore paints and have used them throughout the house. I didn’t want to deal with oil paint, so I went with their latex-based, epoxy-reinforced Floor & Patio paint, waiting 24 hours between coats. Two coats might have been enough, but since I noticed a couple of areas that seemed a little thin, I went ahead and did a third to be on the safe side. The consistency of floor paint is quite different from wall or trim paint—it’s very thin, so it goes down smoothly and quickly without any brush marks.

I opted not to fill the gaps between the boards. I like the lines the gaps create, and I’ve noticed that in almost every photo of a white-painted floor that I’m drawn to, the gaps are visible. I’m happy to see the imperfections of this old floor!

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107 Comments

  • Reply belinda January 26, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    well done. the floor looks absolutely fantastic & when the radiator is back & the wallpaper is up, well, it could just be the room of my dreams!.

  • Reply Dewi January 26, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    Leave the room empty.
    It is so perfect.
    Oh what I would not give for an empty room.
    I do not believe you need to have a purpose for each bedroom. You can keep plants in the window and create a mediation or exercise room.

    The look of meditation cushions in a empty room are beautiful.
    http://www.zafudesigns.com/flash/designcenter.html

    • Fianou January 20, 2014 at 8:25 pm

      Yes!
      You could put a little shelf of books and a nice spot to sit and think and dream and enjoy it. A simple bench under the windows would be a lovely spot to sit

  • Reply Jade January 26, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Love it! You did an amazing job – it looks totally clean and fresh and completely inviting…

  • Reply Lisa January 26, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    SO BEAUTIFUL! I am so inspired by this room! Great job!

  • Reply cupcakes and cashmere January 26, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    that floor looks absolutely stunning…plus the neutrality of it all will make it easy to add in splashes of color in different ways.

  • Reply Zoey January 26, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    Lovely! So clean and light. Enjoy it empty for a while!

  • Reply woodley park-zoo January 26, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    I imagine when you enter the room in daylight, there is that sort of epic pipe organ sound, like entering the Heavens.

    What if you could just have some sort of hanging reading chair in the middle of the room… or a hammock, to nap in. Mmmm.

  • Reply Anna at D16 January 26, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    Dewi: As much as I like the idea of such a room, it would probably wind up just going unused (or becoming a storage area) if I didn’t assign it a purpose. I’m not much of a “relaxer”, as you might have noticed!!!

  • Reply katie c January 26, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    love it! thanks so much for sharing it with us!! (also, i SO wish we had radiators here in texas…)

  • Reply whitney January 26, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Looks amazing! I can’t wait to see the wallpaper 🙂

  • Reply Hilary January 26, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Well done, so much work involved you must be delighted with the end result 🙂

  • Reply kim@dti January 26, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    FABULOUS!! What’s not to love about white floors? You just solidified my idea to redo my second floor all in white painted hardwood. I can’t wait. And thanks for sharing the process you followed too, as I didn’t have much to go on when I painted my office and kitchen/living room floors.

  • Reply jeff January 26, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    it looks amazing! i can’t believe you did that by yourself!!! i can’t wait to see the wallpaper up!

  • Reply Shashi January 26, 2009 at 1:25 pm

    I would totally make that a little yoga retreat. It’s so serene and the light is amazing. May I ask what color the walls are? They are such a nice suble white.

  • Reply Lillian January 26, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Love it! And good thing you didn´t fill the gaps, it looks good this way. And the wallpaper… will be perfection 🙂

  • Reply Tamstyles January 26, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Clean..very clean look. Cant wait to see more.

  • Reply erin@designcrisis January 26, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    It’s going to look amazing with the wallpaper!

  • Reply josh (in wonderland) January 26, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    AHHHHHHH the floors!

    what a fabulous job!!!! i can’t get over how amazing it looks. and i can’t wait to see the room develop into a living space.

    congrats on blowing us all away once again 😀

  • Reply heather January 26, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    All of the hard work really paid off – it turned out so nice! I really love the pattern made by the floor gaps. I have spaces in my wood floors too… but you can’t see the nice patterns since the floors are dark.
    I think it would make the perfect serene guest room – unless you already have one of those?

  • Reply Benita January 26, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    Wow Anna, it’s gorgeous! The radiator is so perfect.

  • Reply Cherisse@newburghrestoration January 26, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Where did you have the radiator sandblasted? I always wondered where to get that done. How much does that run for per radiator?

  • Reply AHJ January 26, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    Lovely! I vote for using it as a library-slash-plant room.

  • Reply my Trampoline January 26, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    you will love, LOVE these floors. i painted over some pretty nice hardwoods, against the advice of many, and i love them.

    and i commiserate with the pressure of delineating space. i switch up rooms all the time, trying to find just the right combination.

  • Reply arroyo January 26, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    The room looks gorgeous! Bravo for you. Thanks also for the “how to” info.

    One question: Does the floor paint put off a lot of fumes? I am going to paint my floors soon, and I’m a little worried about those floor paints… thanks. (I know the primer does, but that, I think, dissipates quickly.)

  • Reply megan January 26, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    gorgeous. LOVE that wallpaper.

  • Reply Anna at D16 January 26, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    katie c: Don’t let living in Texas stop you from having a cast iron radiator! Drive to a salvage yard in Colorado, drag one home with you, and just set in in the corner — no plumbing required! 🙂

    Shashi: The walls everywhere in my house (with the exception of the kitchen) are Benjamin Moore Moonlight White. The woodwork is Simply White.

    heather: I don’t know if we need a guest room? I keep going back and forth on that. Nobody ever comes to visit us! (boo-hoo…)

    Cherisse: We had our radiators done by Extreme Powder Coating in New Windsor (they did our bathtub and sink, too). I think it was about $200 including pickup/delivery, but the price varies depending on the size of the radiator and the paint color used.

    arroyo: It’s possible that I’ve lost so many brain cells at this point that I can’t properly smell anything anymore, but I haven’t really noticed much of an odor with the floor paint. The primer isn’t even too bad — I just cracked the window (not too much, because it’s below freezing and there’s no heat in the room!) and it had dissipated within a couple of hours. There is a very faint paint odor in the air, but nothing offensive.

  • Reply LaDonna January 26, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    guest room?

  • Reply hollandv January 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    Just love old radiators; great you’re having them powder-coated. They are utilitarian sculpture.

    Also love: seeing the board gaps in your painted floor and your choice of white-on-white walls (BM Moonlit?) and trim (a bright white?)

    The wallpaper will be simply gorgeous in there.

  • Reply hollandv January 26, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    Ooh, sorry, just saw you identified the white paint on walls and trim already.

  • Reply Margo January 26, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    The floor looks so great! I did exactly the same process about 18months ago and so far it has held up beautifully-even with a toddler. Can’t wait to see it all done!

  • Reply anne January 26, 2009 at 3:24 pm

    I am sure it feels -a-m-a-z-i-n-g- to have that room (almost) done!!! Do you think you will paint all the upstairs floors white?? Now, that would be a project!!

  • Reply Mary January 26, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    Wow.

    It is fantastic!!!

    Can’t wait to see the wallpaper with it!

  • Reply attygreen13 January 26, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    can i move in? 🙂 seriously, i’m in love with that room …

  • Reply Barb F (Australia) January 26, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    Wow, how fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing the details on how you achieved this, it’s great to have recommendations on specific products.

    I am busting to see that wallpaper up!

  • Reply DiP January 26, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    “Part of me wants to just leave it empty, but I know that’s ridiculous.”

    My vote, one perfectly placed dark grey chair!!!

    (Well done guys!)

  • Reply Averill January 26, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    The light in your back room is amazing — I would definitely consider using it as your master bedroom!

  • Reply Lonnie January 26, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    Do you have any need for a “project” room? Maybe you could keep craft materials, a gift wrapping station, etc. in there.

    Does Evan have an office?

    It could be a library/guest/relaxing/ room. Maybe it would inspire you to relax more:)

    If you were into sewing, it could be a sewing room

    Those are just a few brainstorm ideas… and the room looks wonderful. You really did do a great job, and it must feel so good to have it done!

  • Reply Thessa January 26, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    You did a really amazing job.

    I can’t wait to see that radiator and the wall paper in place.

  • Reply Eva January 26, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    It’s absolutely beautiful. Love the gaps between and the imperfection of the wood. The wallpaper would look amazing there.

    Reading room may be? Lot’s of books piled on the floor and stylish comfy chairs…Whatever you decide to do with it, I’m sure that would be one very pretty room.

  • Reply verhext January 26, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    really sparse airy guest room? (people WILL visit if you have one. hell, i will. are you near woodstock? i need to research family things.)

    piles of sheepskin rugs + huge bookshelf?

    i can’t find the layout you posted on flickr! did you tag it with anything?

    what is your bedroom like now?

  • Reply kristy January 26, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Anna you totally deserve a reward or something.. maybe a big holiday after all that work you have done. I have ALWAYS wanted painted white floor boars, but never lived in a house that really suited them. One day!

    But well done – your hard work is paying off all around your house!

  • Reply Sammi January 26, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    Again it looks fabulous, and so white and clean… I’ll bet you double take when you walk past it!

  • Reply Tory January 26, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    It looks sooo good! I can’t wait to see that wallpaper now.

    I’m wondering how you cut the corner angles for the quarter round molding you installed? I’ve been trying to figure this out for a floor project my mom is doing and my head just wants to explode!

  • Reply Jacqueline January 26, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    I give up! I found your site two days ago and have read all your archives at least twice BUT! today I was trying to pick out paint and got completely flummoxed between flat, semi-gloss, etc. for walls and wood work. That was when I remembered you talking about the BM paint colors and finish you use. The paint names were easy to find again but for the life of me I cannot find the kind of finish. Is it flat for walls or eggshell; semi-gloss for woodwork? So please forgive me for asking but if you would could you tell me (once again, sorry) which finish you chose? while waiting for your reply I will just go and start rereading your archives……. so nice to meet you, Jacqueline

  • Reply Heather January 26, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    Lovely & Amazing! You’re an inspiration – as always. Maybe it can be a dedicated photo studio for Bruno and Fritz (and Maggie) portraits.

  • Reply Dewi January 26, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    Anna,
    I’m in awe of your inability to leave a project unfinished.

    Make it a guest room and start inviting friends to sleep over. You know, the people from the city who think you live in the country ;-)>

  • Reply Alison January 26, 2009 at 7:44 pm

    Can you please fix the link for the 2 part epoxy business, I have to repair some window sashes that are all rotting, ehk!

    Great job on the room, I think I would only want to put a chair, lamp, and small table, in here and just have the room as a reading room.

  • Reply Mandi Johnson January 26, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    It looks wonderful! And I am sooo relieved that I am not the only one who has that same recurring dream about the secret room! haha

  • Reply darian January 26, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    I am totally jealous! I love the end result, you did a great job! Now I’m excited to see the wallpaper!

  • Reply Jenny January 26, 2009 at 8:56 pm

    alright! great job! Now, when are you free to do my floor?! Tee hee.
    Thanks for the step by step breakdown. I’m a total novice, but want to do my kitchen floor, which has been used as goodness knows what before I moved in, and also had lino stuck to it. bleagh. But I will overcome.
    Thanks for the continuing inspiration!
    Cheers

  • Reply mixette January 26, 2009 at 9:16 pm

    WOW! And *wow*. It looks just beautiful – you did a wonderful, beautiful, careful job. If your house could hug you, it would…

    After reading this post I know just why I love your blog so much. It is full of real, usable information combined with killer taste, wit, and a dash of Fritz 😉

    In the very best way it reminds me a little of Martha Stewart in the first few years of the magazine, but even better.

  • Reply Cassie January 26, 2009 at 9:17 pm

    I love it. I’m living out my white floor fantasies through you.

  • Reply Tanya January 26, 2009 at 9:31 pm

    Pristine! I love it!

  • Reply Anna at D16 January 26, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    anne: I’m not sure what we’re going to do with the rest of the floors. Downstairs (fancy dark parquet floors, which I like) will definitely stay unpainted, but the rest of the floor upstairs is very orangey-yellow and very stained/worn. I’m hoping that sanding them down will make them look less yellow, though, and maybe I can just do a wax or oil finish…or even a transparent whitewash. We’ll see. I’m going to do some experimenting inside of closets. 🙂

    verhext: Tam, here’s the floorplan. Right now our bedroom is in the middle of the house (#3), but it used to be in the front (the room with the curved window bay, #1). The middle room is so dark, and the front room is just too huge — I’m thinking this back room might be perfect. (And we’re about an hour from Woodstock! Let me know if you plan to make the trip… :))

    Tory: We have a Hitachi miter saw that we love (very handy if you have a lot of woodwork to do!), but if you only have a few miter cuts to make, you can use a miter box.

    Jacqueline: That’s okay, I don’t mind you asking! 🙂 For walls, I like to use BM flat finish (or washable matte finish for kitchens/baths), and for trim, I like BM satin finish.

    Heather: Yes, you’re right — I think that’s definitely the BEST use of space. 😉

    Alison: Sorry about that, I’ve fixed the link!!

    Jenny: I will be available to help you with your floor in 2020. 😉

  • Reply another anna January 26, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    swoon. love.
    i think with all the light this would be a great master bedroom.

  • Reply maddy January 26, 2009 at 10:25 pm

    Gorgeous! Thanks for giving the details.

  • Reply painted fish studio January 26, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    i get so tired when i read your posts! i’ve been following your blog for a few months, and with each post i am astounded at the amount of work you (and husband) put into each room. it’s astounding. and the results are beautiful…

  • Reply angelica January 27, 2009 at 12:52 am

    SOOOOOOOOOO AMAZING!!!!!! I wish I had a house!

  • Reply janet January 27, 2009 at 2:03 am

    that looks beautiful anna! you have taken off with such a flying start this year. congratulations on the progress with the bathroom, too!

  • Reply jo January 27, 2009 at 6:36 am

    awesome, awesome, awesome. I can’t wait to see it all finished and learn what the room will become!
    thanks for posting all the how-to’s. We are starting to built our own home later in the year and you’ve inspired me to tackle some things ourselves…
    now it’s time for a coffee break!
    jo
    PS I adore your bathroom. you must be extremely proud of yourself (& hubby too). well done guys.

  • Reply CarolineB January 27, 2009 at 8:23 am

    thank you for all the details on how you did this project. It looks fantastic! btw, I love your radiator. It’s so pretty and clearly it’s well-worth the restoration effort. What a lovely room this has become!

  • Reply Astrid January 27, 2009 at 8:45 am

    The floor is really beautiful! We used to have painted floors in our previous apartment, and I LOVED it!

  • Reply Tara January 27, 2009 at 10:22 am

    Love your floors. We did ours last summer, also with BM paint, but I got talked into using oil – yuck. I wonder if you have been given any tips on cleaning the spaces between the wood. Ours looked great initially, but those spaces seem to have filled with dust. I swear that the grossness that were our floors before being painted is resurrecting itself in those gaps. Can dirt come back to haunt you?

  • Reply donnarino January 27, 2009 at 10:27 am

    So you don’t need to seal it with anything? I ask because we used two coats of floor paint on our subfloors and it is flaking off terribly. Maybe our primer sucked, I don’t know.

  • Reply Anna at D16 January 27, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Tara: The best advice I can offer is to get a really good vacuum cleaner…and don’t wear shoes in your house. The dust and dirt doesn’t have anything to do with the floors being painted, you’re just seeing it more. Sorry! 😉

    donnarino: Flaking paint is usually a sign of something going wrong in the preparation. Were the floor previously finished? If so, did you remove/sand the old finish before painting? Did you clean the floors with a degreaser (TSP substitute) before you put the primer on? Was the moisture content (humidity) in the room very high when you were painting? As long as surfaces are prepared correctly and good quality paints are used, a sealer shouldn’t be necessary.

  • Reply Pink Wallpaper January 27, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    i have been dying to paint my floors white…thanks for letting us in on how you did it. they look amazing!

  • Reply verhext January 27, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    I think a master bedroom would be perfect. I’d want to keep room #1 as an office, because the room where I work the most should be the most light (light addicted!)

    Since you have a dressing room you don’t have to worry about closets!

    Maybe doing the floor in the middle bedroom will lighten it up, as well?

  • Reply casafroggy January 27, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    Hi door sixteen, what are you doing with the threshold? Painting, refinishing, replacing?

    Your project had me curious enough to peek under the wall to wall carpeting the developers installed in the bedrooms and I see original flooring, though it’s about a half inch lower than the hardwood flooring in the hallway and the threshold. Regardless, I have a hankering to rip it all up and see how badly the home’s original flooring really is. The room will be a guest room or second bedroom so if it’s out of commission for a little while it wouldn’t be a huge deal.

    Any advice on deciding whether it’s worth it? Are there pictures on your blog showing how bad the floors were originally? I could probably afford to repair the original floorboards if it isn’t too bad but I can’t afford to replace the whole thing right now, I’m better off with the crappy beige w-2-w carpet.

  • Reply b-living.blogspot.com January 27, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    Absolutely stunning! LOVE the radiator!

  • Reply Michelle January 27, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    Wow, the room is looking so good! I love the whole white effect — really brightens up the room. So cheery. And the black on black wallpaper will look fantabulous!

    And I love, love, love, love, LOVE(!!!!) the radiator! It is gorgeous! The details on it are so intricate.

  • Reply kat Taylor Made designs January 27, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    love your blog and just love your white floor!
    I’m so inspired!

    our home was built in 1720 and I just love her.
    {yup, our house is a girl, at least I think so}

    I want to rip up our kitchen floor but cringe at the thought of how many layers of linoleum there will be. I know there is a wood floor under it all. {the entire house has beautiful old wide pinewood floors}

    So seeing your floor + the details of how you achieved them, is like, kismit. This just might be my spring project 🙂 Thanks!

  • Reply Adam January 27, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    The floor looks amazing. I’m so glad you didn’t fill in the gaps, I love the contrast of the dark lines against the white. By the way, although you say no one visits you, I am planning on visiting you, maybe sooner than you think if you don’t mind!

  • Reply Anna at D16 January 27, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    casafroggy: There’s actually no threshold between this room and the hallway — the wood flooring that’s all over the rest of the upstairs just ends at the doorway. The two strips closest to the room have a dark stain on them, so it looks like a threshold in the photos. I’m not planning to install a threshold, but I do want to do SOMETHING with the floors up there — I hate the current yellow-orange color. I’m going to experiment with sanding them to see what they look like with no finish at all. As for the condition of the floor in the room I painted, it was REALLY bad. There’s no way that yours are worse! Lots of warping, split boards, splintering, rotted boards, nail holes, carpet glue, and so forth. It had never been finished at all, so there was also a lot of staining. I had to do a LOT of prep work. There are some “before” photos here, but it actually looks better in the photos than it really was. In my opinion, the more flaws a floor has, the better it looks when it’s painted. 🙂

  • Reply Kim de Montreal January 27, 2009 at 10:16 pm

    Way to go Anna! It looks amazing. I had to laugh when you mentioned the dream. I have that dream all the time “oh my god, I never knew this door lead to a huge room” But in my dream the new room is always messy and my husband knew about it but never told me. Then it turns into a stressful dream about cleaning it. Anyways, great job and I agree about the Zinzer primer, it can solve any problem.
    xo

  • Reply Tory January 28, 2009 at 8:44 am

    Thanks! With the miter saw did you just do 45 degree cuts on the quarter round molding or do you have to do a tricky angle?

  • Reply casafroggy January 28, 2009 at 8:59 am

    Thanks for the response 🙂 When I get the nerve to rip all the carpet up I’ll take some pictures!

  • Reply Anna at D16 January 28, 2009 at 9:26 am

    Tory: A miter box will allow you to adjust the angle of the cut to accommodate any corner — houses (especially old ones) are rarely square!

  • Reply Kathy January 28, 2009 at 9:32 am

    Looks great! I think you made a good decision on not filling in the cracks… love the way it looks! Congratulations on your progress, I bet it feels great!

  • Reply call-me-Heidi January 28, 2009 at 11:55 am

    It looks fab!
    I’ve always dreamt of having painted floor – it’s become almost an obsession really… freaky!
    well done
    but now use this room!!!!
    :-))

  • Reply Anna January 28, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    I love your floors. I had this done on my previous apartment and when the next person bought it they actually told my old neighbor that they “had to strip off all that disgusting paint from the wood floors.” Sad. White floors are so calming and chic.

  • Reply christiana January 30, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Gorgeous floors! Can’t wait to see the wallpaper! I hope you figure out a great use for the room so you can enjoy it often 🙂

  • Reply Jennae @ Green Your Decor January 30, 2009 at 10:12 am

    I never, ever thought I would like white painted floors, but you have changed my mind! This is absolutely beautiful! Of course, if there were ever a room like this in our home, it would be completely off-limits to the kids…and to shoes…and to food and drink of any kind 🙂

  • Reply Mellany January 30, 2009 at 11:21 am

    Hi Anna! I’ve been reading your blog everyday for the past few weeks – you are my renovation/decoration hero! I just bought my first home with my boyfriend, and there’s so much to do. We’ve got crappy wood floors throughout the downstairs, and I’m considering painting them like you did. We just adopted a dog (labradoodle) and I’m afraid he’ll really scrath up the floors – any suggestions/tips? I really don’t want to pay for pergo, since I know the wood is too damaged to be refinished properly. Thanks for all you do 🙂

  • Reply yvette January 30, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    Your floors are immaculate and stunning!

  • Reply matt February 6, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    This is beautiful. You are truly an inspiration! If you don’t mind me asking, what color is the wall? Seems like such a warm white without being too beige-ey.

  • Reply Anna at D16 February 9, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    he walls everywhere in my house (with the exception of the kitchen) are Benjamin Moore Moonlight White. The woodwork is Simply White.

  • Reply mollie February 16, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    I was so excited to see painted floors over Internet. I have a 1920’s cottage and it had grungy carpet. I pulled up carpet and the old original floors appeared. Because this is a cottage and has the original redwood walls, I did not want dark everywhere, so paint the floors I will.

    I would like to know what shade of white, there are so many. What did you use?

  • Reply janie February 17, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    I love these floors!! I wish I had a room in my house that I could do this to.

  • Reply Anna at D16 February 19, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Mollie, it’s Benjamin Moore Simply White.

  • Reply ash February 19, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    Hi! Love your blog! We’re starting a renovation of our own and my first task is to DO SOMETHING to our kitchen/living room floor (17.5′ x 28′).

    It’s actually a rather new wood floor in a sorta-herringbone pattern, color and bevel that reminds me of Tuscany. We’re modern so we want to resurface & paint it white, but do you think resurfacing this type of floor with the beveled grooves will work with paint? We’ll sand it down amap, but might the paint still chip easier since I won’t be able to sand into the crevasses of the bevel?

    I’m searching for any advice I can find on this topic so if you have time to reply, thanks!

  • Reply Anna at D16 February 19, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    Ash, I LOOOOOOVE herringbone floors, but I can imagine that new ones probably don’t have the same charm as the old ones in French apartments that I fantasize about. 🙂 I’m not sure about the bevel and whether that would be a problem. The BIN primer I used has REALLY good grip, so it might be okay even if you can’t sand in the groove. Do you have a good local paint store (like a Benjamin Moore dealer) that you can go to? I find those guys often know exactly the right thing to use to paint just about anything, regardless of the situation. GOOD LUCK! I love my white floor! 🙂

  • Reply Chiun May 13, 2012 at 11:49 am

    Nice work! What white did you use? Did you put finish on the floor paint? How does the floor look like now? Any tips to maintain it?

    • Anna @ D16 May 13, 2012 at 1:12 pm

      Chiun, all of the answers are in the post and previous comments (and on my FAQ page!). 😉

  • Reply Ruth Murphy March 18, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    Hi I see that you’ve a Victorian house – me too! I love the look of the wooden floorboards and this is something I’d like to do to vamp up my London flat. The biggest problem I have however is that the floorboards are draughty which means that even when I’ve the heating on full blast, it does really heat up the house properly. I’ve been told this is because the orignial floorboards and properly insultated.

    Before you painted, did you do anything specific to insult the floors or at least make them draught-proof?

    Thanks
    Ruth

    • Anna @ D16 March 18, 2013 at 12:29 pm

      Nope! My house has no insulation whatsoever. This room is on the second floor of my house, though, so I wouldn’t want to insulate its floors as it benefits from the rising heat below.

  • Reply Irene at The Unstitution April 20, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    Ha. I have had that recurring dream for a long time. Now it’s morphed into a whole secret wing that I’ve forgotten about, with extra kitchens, and living space and even decks. What’s this dream all about?

    And nice floor…I’m looking to paint a wood floor, too.

  • Reply Catherine September 6, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    Hey Anna, I say GO FOR IT! Once the ole back recovers, you’ll forget all the work. We are in the tail end of a similar project here. I tried many ways of getting the pattern down, and I would say that painter’s tape is the only thing that made the lines sharp enough consistently enough to really enjoy the pattern. We had to use the blue tape for delicate surfaces in order not to pull off the already painted areas. Two Cents – There it is!

  • Reply Amani January 4, 2014 at 1:26 am

    Hi Anna,

    I’m such a fan of you blog. Thank you tremendously for the step by step directions for white floors. I do have a quick question and would love your expertise. I am about to embark upon a similar project, the only difference is I prefer to have a glossy sheen. I see Ben Moore offers “Alkyd Porch and Floor” that is high gloss. Would there be anything too different that I’d need to do here and do you think I would need to worry about the product turning yellow or orange over time?

    Thank you and kindest wishes,

    Amani

  • Reply sherry March 9, 2014 at 5:46 am

    Hi! Did you put any type of finish on the pain? Poly or anything?

    • Anna @ D16 March 9, 2014 at 10:11 am

      Nope, everything I did is in this post. 🙂

  • Reply Karen June 27, 2014 at 3:24 pm

    Thank you so much for this article ! We bought a cabin at the lake to retire too, it has plywood floors, but covered in horrible carpet. I have been looking for a good cheap idea to do when I take the carpet up. You just gave me the know how girl !

  • Reply khudamulQURAN October 14, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    loooks good

  • Reply Susie H March 9, 2016 at 7:48 am

    Pinterest lead me to you

    Do the floors have to be sanded prior to painting? I have pine hard wood floors with an orangey stain. I want to paint them white but was hoping to avoid sanding

    • Anna @ D16 March 9, 2016 at 10:33 am

      I wouldn’t skip the sanding.

  • Reply mike July 13, 2016 at 7:44 am

    Looks awesome. The wife and i are thinking of doing this to our loft floors. How has it worn? Any issues with traffic?

    • Anna @ D16 July 13, 2016 at 8:37 am

      I don’t live in this house anymore, but there were no issues after many years. YMMV based on the original substrate, traffic, lifestyle, indoor shoe-wearing practices, children, pets, etc.

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