Painted Floors Ideas and Inspiration from AD
Posted in Angelcityfurniture
Painted floors may be the bravest design choice around. After all, walls and trim can be repainted on a whim, but floors are a trickier and more permanent process. But with great risk comes a very stylish reward. The technique can be used to transform a number of surfaces—from wood to linoleum to concrete—and is a cost-effective way to revive tired flooring. While white, black, and other neutrals always work well, many designers find that incorporating brighter colors can create a truly memorable space. Designer Miles Redd painted the floors in the entry and kitchen of a home in the Bahamas a sky-blue, while Matthew Patrick Smyth opted for a sea blue-green on the porch of a Hamptons retreat.
Painted floors can also bring pattern and detail into a space, mimicking inlaid floors or tile. Designer Amelia Handegan used black and white paint to create a hallway with both striped and lozenge-patterned floors. At their Beverly Hills home, Dave DeMattei and Patrick Wade chose a classic checkerboard motif for the entrance hall. Decorative painter Chris Pearson encourages clients to go large-scale with the pattern to keep the floor from looking too busy.
Once you’ve chosen the perfect color or pattern, it’s important to prep your floors by sanding, vacuuming, sweeping, and applying primer. Pearson recommends using a brush rather than a roller, which can leave visible texture and inhibit the paint from adhering to the floor properly. Redd emphasizes the importance of using high-quality paint. (He’s a fan of high-gloss shades from Fine Paints of Europe.) Since floors are subjected to daily wear and tear, investing in a good oil- or latex-based paint will help your hard work last. Finish your masterpiece with a coat of polyurethane sealer and you’ll have a low-maintenance look that will last for years.
Blue Painted Floor Inspiration
The painted ceiling and floors brighten up the main porch of this home in the Hamptons designed by Matthew Patrick Smyth and architect Peter Pennoyer.
Blue Painted Floor Inspiration
In the octagonal entry hall of a home in the Bahamas designed by Miles Redd, the compass on the floor was painted by decorative artist Chris Pearson.
Blue Painted Floor Inspiration
At the same family retreat in the Bahamas, the kitchen's Hinson & Co. wall covering is offset by the floor's Benjamin Moore blue paint; the range is by Viking.
Black-and-White Painted Floor Inspiration
The entrance hall of fashion executives Dave DeMattei and Patrick Wade’s Beverly Hills home features a painted wood floor. The room is outfitted with a Charles Edwards lantern, an antique marble-top wrought-iron table from Guinevere, and a George Smith settee.
Gray Painted Floor Inspiration
A pale diamond-patterned painted floor enhances the entry of artist-decorator Paul Leonard’s Roxbury, Connecticut, home. Leonard also was responsible for the painted floors in philanthropists Bunny and Paul Mellon's New York townhouse .
Black-and-White Painted Floor Inspiration
Amelia T. Handegan designed the painted floors of the hallway in her Folly Beach, South Carolina, home . The stripes change to a lozenge pattern where old and new construction meet.
Blue Painted Floor Inspiration
An Isabel López-Quesada–designed canopy bed bisects a living room in a home she decorated on the Greek island of Spetses. The ribbed wood ceiling and painted floor are typical of the island; flamboyant shell mirrors hang above the vintage consoles.
Black Painted Floor Inspiration
Designer Karin Blake teamed up with Nantucket Architecture Group to create a home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, for Gary and Healy Cosay. A 19th-century sign from a Pennsylvania hotel hangs in the entrance hall, where Blake painted a faux runner on the floor.
White Painted Floor Inspiration
In a beach house in Key West, Florida, the living area includes a Chinese folding chair; the wood floors throughout are painted white. Related: AD ’s Guide to Decorating with Color
White Painted Floor Inspiration
Will Kopelman's bedroom in his parents' Nantucket, Massachusetts, home was designed, at his request, to look as modern as possible, with the walls and floor painted in Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White. Silhouettes are propped on the mantel, and the chair and quilt are 19th-century American.