White Painted Floors

 A couple of weekends ago, my family and I spent a large portion of our weekend in IKEA.  We were filling time in between sessions of a sporting event and went seeking meatballs and Ektorps to fill in the gaps.  While we were strolling through all of the vignettes oohing and aahing , my youngest looked to me and said, "Mom, I would like it if my floors were painted white."   Suddenly the music stopped.  Was I hearing correctly?  "Really?" I replied, "because I would LOVE to do this too."  "Yeah, I would like it", he responded.  Then the teenager added, "me too".  Deal.  Done.  Insert cartwheel.
The truth is that I have been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't want to step on toes.  I could go crazy with ideas in their rooms, but try to let their rooms be their space.  Each son picked out his own wall color, not necessarily what I would have chosen, but that's OK.
The upstairs floors in our home really need to be refinished, but we aren't budgeted for that at the moment.  Painting the floors white would look so fresh and clean, buying time until we have them refinished.  Who knows, we may like the white so much that we never have them refinished.

I love the look of white painted floors.

The teenager has dark green walls and the tween, light blue.  I think either color would go with a white floor and probably brighten each room quite a bit.  Next week, they are going to camp Grandma and Tappa....perfect timing.

Have you ever painted wood floors?  Do you have any tips?  I would love to hear from you.

Images via :  House and Gardens, My Home Ideas, Flickr, Meredith Images, Living Etc.

33 comments:

  1. Rene, I doing cartwheels for you too! I ♥ white wood floors! My husband too agreed last month that when we do get hardwood, the upstairs "might" look nice white. Pitter pat goes my heart. What stylish boys you have : )

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  2. Rene.....I have been thinking the same thing for one of my guest rooms....but then I get all practical and think resale and the expense of reversing it...blaa...blaa....blaa....but you know what? I love my house so much that I think I will be here until they drag out my body on a gurney. So be it! I think I will do it also. If I get any tips, I will share.

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  3. I have no tips, but I'm very excited for you. How fun! It will definitely brighten up the spaces!

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  4. Rene, I am so happy for you!! I have a white floor in my family room and I love it!! What I don't love is that it is the sub-flooring :( Pets! Anyway, I love the color and how it makes the room look. When we redo the floors I think I am going to put in the laminate white flooring, we already have a sample piece! Good luck and have fun!!!

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  5. I have painted wooden floors in my girls' bathroom. Just make sure 'the look' will be okay with some scratching and peeling - not always pristine UNLESS you are willing to touch up paint a couple of times a year. I love the floors painted.

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  6. We painted our floors on the 2nd floor. I wanted white, but hubby said it would show too much dirt. Too bad, with all our construction, the "dirt" we have is WHITE DRYWALL DUST on my BROWN floors. :)

    The floors in Adam's room are barn red and I LOVE them!

    They were really easy to paint - just cut in and roller it on! But we did it while the rooms were empty, and we used a floor/deck paint. It's held up pretty well in a year and a half.

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  7. I adore white floors, one day I will have white floors. My little ones are too little at the moment.... xx

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  8. That is good to know Katie. I have used interior latex semi gloss before in brown and i held up well. Now I wonder if I should use porch paint or not.

    -Rene

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  9. We painted the stairs and landing to our attic loft (basically 100 year old pine flooring) and I used regular semi gloss on the risers and porch paint on the treads. The porch paint (1) went on/covered much better (2) has lasted better. I vote for porch paint.

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  10. I vote for porch paint; we've used it successfully on, well, porches and found that it rarely needed touch-ups.
    Love the white floor idea; filing it away for when my floors need refinishing but there's no cash to do it (almost inevitable!). That last bedroom picture is one of my favorites!

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  11. There must be something in the air..because we are going to paint our bedroom floor white and it was my husband's idea (well at leasts he thinks it was..ah my subtle hints have finally paid off too!!)

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  12. Oh I love the look of painted floors. Wish I weren't so scared to paint mine though. My friend painted her hardwood floors in a checker pattern with ivory and sage green. It looks so great.

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  13. I love the crisp, clean look. Such a different take on hard wood.

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  14. Rene, I love the idea of painted wood floors. Haven't ever done that before, but would if I had some bad ones to paint.

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  15. I love white floors but my hubby wont even hear of it right now!
    I'm so happy for you! They will look amazing and I will be so jealous!
    Cant wait to see!

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  16. What is it with men and painted floors. I just redid a bedroom upstairs - Behr Mystic Fairy on the walls, Behr Snow White for the trim and I painted the headboard and 2 nightstands Behr Black Suede. It's gorgeous. I want to paint the floor either white or white and a light taupe/dark cream stripe or checkerboard. Well, you would think I'm asking for the moon. I am going to have to pull out all the stops to convince my hubby that this is the way to go!

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  17. i love the grey fur blanket on that bed... love it!

    so glad i found your blog, and i love the gorgeous PVE header. :) i'm a big fan!

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  18. Hi Rene! I just stumbled upon your blog and really like your style and tone, I can totally relate. I LOVE the idea of white flooring and look forward to your stories once they are re-done. I agree with you it will definitely brighten the space. Wish you the best of luck :)

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  19. I can't wait to see how your floors turn out! I painted a floor in my last place and it looked fantastic. I used a porch/deck paint. I'm so excited for you.

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  20. Years ago I had a garage apartment I turned into a guest house. I pulled up the ugly carpet and painted the floor boards white. I would love to have that place back in my possession again! You've got some design-savvy kids.
    Brenda

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  21. I painted white floors in a bedroom in our old house. My advice, "Don't poly urethane over it!!!" Even the "non-yellowing" turns yellow....bummer :(

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  22. Almost did a cart wheel for you, too!! Woo Hoo! What fun. Never have painted a wooden floor...only stained steps and painted the risers. Good luck...take lots of pictures...and keep us posted!!

    Don't you just love camp Grandma!
    Wendy

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  23. We painted our friends' hardwoods in a black checkerboard pattern. (You can see the results here if you'd like: http://katandgray.blogspot.com/2009/02/one-anothering-kitchen-style.html ) We did NOT poly over them but used a wipe-on wax instead, and it worked well for about a month, and then the chipping began. Now (a year later) it's really torn up and they're probably going to touch it up and then poly. I understand that poly might turn the white yellow ... but the scraping and chipping doesn't really look as "charming" as you'd hope. It kind of looks more trashy, unfortunately. I wonder how it would do if you waxed FIRST and then put poly over the wax ...

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  24. I would die and go to heaven if I walked into a room with white floors! I swear! I LOVE them! I don't think they would work in my home...sigh...

    I don't have any tips, but I can't wait to see what you do!

    PS
    Love the cartwheel joke!

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  25. Yippie!!! Oh I cannot wait to see this transformation! What a fantastic kiddo you have there! He already has great style!

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  26. Huge news! I don't have any tips but am sure it'll brighten up the rooms!! Can't wait to see the reveal!!

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  27. so fresh! i love white painted wood floors too! great images. i've never done it but will be so curious to see how it goes. be sure to snap some pics and fill us in on your process!

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  28. oh i love white painted floors! when i am in my forever home i want to do that. i just love the look. i can't wait to see how yours turn out! and can't wait to hear about the process as well!

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  29. I love the look of lightly painted floors. I remember seeing it more often back in the North East with all the beautiful old farmhouses. It's a classic look.

    xoTrina

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  30. Such a great moment when your kids hit you with the design pop! They truly are rockstars, huh?! Can't wait to see how this turns out. Sorry, though, no tips on this one.

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  31. Oh Rene how cool! Just from painting furniture I would say let it cure really well so its not sticky.
    Londen

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  32. I love white painted floors when they are super glossy. I think marine paint would do the trick - it'll be extremely durable as it's made for boats and yachts.

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  33. i love the idea of painted floors too, but i think i'd be soo nervous too do it.

    if you do ... please post pictures and your findings.

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