Phew! Keeping up with these One Room Challenge posts is a challenge! I think my last minute decision to jump in is kicking me in the butt right now, but that seems to be theme of a lot of this week’s post. The middle of the creative process is always the hardest, right? The beginning is all dreamy and full of possibilities, and in the end you always pull it together and see your hard work pay of. The middle tends to be all hard work, and you start wondering if you are crazy. I felt like this for about 10 minutes, when the white floor paint went down! It’s the panic of not seeing the final picture (client’s do this all the time) you’ve got to remember the overall vision, and not just freakout over the immediate change. I want to give you my tips on painting a wood floor white if you’d like to give it a try too.

Let me start by explaining why I’m painting a perfectly nice wood floor white:

• This little 8 x 14 room is off the kitchen and the flooring in here doesn’t match anything else in the house. The division in color between the two rooms (see pictures below) was really bothering me.
• We already did a ton of work trying to stain the kitchen flooring a similar color to the rest of the first floor. You can see the flooring in all three rooms from the kitchen, and my OCD can’t handle three slightly different brown-stained floors.
• Also, this is MY office, so I’m going to do what I want (jk, haha!). In all honesty, the white is awesome for looking at fabric and paint colors against. I can throw what I’m looking at onto the floor, and have the perfect white backdrop at any time!

It’s pretty easy and cheap to paint your wood floor white! There are just a few tips to remember so the finish will last a long time. I consulted with several long-time painters, so I’m hoping they all gave me good advice!

• First, you’ve got to lightly sand the floor (make sure floor is clean too!) a pole sander is a great tool for this. It’s basically sand paper attached to a long handle so you don’t have to sand on your hands and knees.
• Next, DON’T prime first! This was the biggest tip I learned from the pros. All the articles out there tell you to prime, but the guys I spoke with said priming does not help on floors because primers are NOT MEANT TO BE WALKED ON. Using a primer means the paint will peel off more easily.
• Use an excellent Interior/Exterior 100% Acrylic Latex Enamel paint. Ben Moore calls their’s Floor & Patio. I used a local brand I heard was good called Thybony. They told me they use this on the floors at big museums here in Chicago, so I hope it holds up!

• For the painting, cut in your edges with a brush first. Next, apply the first coat with standing roller starting in one corner and working your way out the door. Wait a few hours in between coats. I needed three coats for even coverage.

• We don’t have kids, so I didn’t worry too much about the fumes, but I don’t think this stuff is great for you. It did smell more than regular paint, so remember to be careful and ask your paint store about the fumes.
• Wait at least 24hrs to make sure paint cures before putting furniture back in the room.

Okay, that’s it for this week! Let me know if you have more questions on the painting.

XO – CLAIRE

PS. I’m trying these fancy new Pinterest images on the blog. If you liked this DIY or want to save it in your pinterest file use the image below!