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Painted Hardwood Floors {Knock It Off DIY Project}

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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

learn more about ME + MY BIZ

Jess and I had so much fun working on this episode of Knock It Off – We transformed this baby’s nursery from crazy, blinding pink into a kid-friendly version of a loft space- we called it a “soft loft.”
To check out the full video of this episode, click here
One of the biggest projects in this space was painting the hardwood floors.  The floors were pretty beat up and actually had planks going in all different directions.  It took a little convincing, but eventually we got both homeowners on board with the idea of painting their hardwood.
The first step was to sand the floors.  You need to get off any gloss, because the paint won’t adhere to the floors if you don’t.  We rented our sander by the hour and it took less than an hour to do the whole room.  $50 later we were all done!

Once we were gloss-free, we whitewashed the entire floor.  We wanted to cool the tone down a bit- sometimes warm oak can seem a bit red-orange.  We used 3 parts water to 1 part paint.  This step goes by super fast using a roller and an extender pole.
Just make sure you don’t paint yourself into a corner! lol Start at the far side of the room and work towards the door!

After the whitewash had totally dried, we used painter’s tape to mark off our pattern.  I won’t lie, this was tedious and almost made me poke my eyes out a few times.  Of course we couldn’t have just gone with a plain old pattern, we made ours cool and funky.  Actually the taping was easy, but figuring out what color went where actually had me and 3 guys on our camera crew going nuts! 🙂 I think they thought I was losing it.

Here’s the pattern we went with.  It’s just a combo of diamonds and lines, but it gives a fun, 3-D look and we like the combo of diamonds and some herringbone-ish arrows!
We used mini foam rollers for each of the colors.  We use a coral, charcoal, greige, navy, and the whitewash color that was the base.  The mix of colors is where it was tricky to get the pattern down.  What I recommend is using a sticky note or little piece of painter’s tape in each shape to make sure you have the colors laid out right before painting.
When each square had two coats, we had one awesome, show-stopping floor!  It was so much better than the damaged hardwood and had to much more of an impact on the room!
There were tons of fun projects in this room!  Check out our KIO DIY page to see more!
Click HERE to visit the Knock It Off homepage to watch this full episode!
So, do tell… would you be on board with painting your old hardwood floors or not so much?  

The comments +

  1. I just came across your blog- looks wonderful! I would totally paint my floors. I hate the color brown, and though I am starting to like natural wood, it’s only in small doses. If we buy a house with hardwood floors that we are not planning on reselling, I am DEFINITELY painting.

  2. Just saw your episode on this makeover and was IN LOVE with how the floor came out. Have never seen anything like this before, and I think it’s such a great solution for wood floors that are in need of a pick-me-up…plus, it’s so fun and whimsical for a nursery! You two are wonderful on the show…such naturals. Looking forward to seeing more from you two on Knock it Off!

    Warmly,
    Lauren
    The Thinking Closet

  3. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

  4. Linda Wilson says:

    I found a lot of informative stuff in your article.

    Floors Direct

  5. Tony Twomey says:

    Hi Monica, That is such a informative article. Painting the hardwood floors changing the whole look of the background. It turns the whole look into some new hardwood design. Really Appreciated post.

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