Black and White Painted Wood Floor

Do you love the look of the farmhouse black and white checkered floor? There's a common thread on my Pinterest boards when it comes to floors. I am constantly pinning painted floors!  Solid colors, patterns, faux painted rugs and just about everything else. When we were renovating the cottage I even painted the damaged floors robin's egg blue and fell in love!

Painting Hardwood floors

The floor is such an important surface when it comes to colors and design so when my friend Carolyn came to me and said "I need you to paint a black and white checkered floor in my kitchen" I jumped at the chance. Carolyn, her husband and their five children had just moved into this farmhouse in the Village and the floors were in need of some attention. Carolyn had some ideas of how she wanted this to look so there was some planning involved.  Here's how it went:

Painting Prep

She wanted a white washed effect thus allowing the wood grain to show through this painted floor. For that we needed to have the floors sanded and washed to remove all dust.  I taped off all the cabinets and trim with Scotch Blue Tape and was ready to draw.

Drawing it Out

We decided on 2 foot squares on a 45 degree angle. This was a bit more challenging to draw but visually extended the room and looked so much better than straight squares.  I started in the far corner of the room and with a  pencil and drafting triangle drew a line all the way to the opposite side of the room. I also had a long straight edge ruler to make sure that my lines were straight.  Ever 2 feet I drew a perpendicular line until my entire checkered board was complete. Every few lines I double checked that my squares were indeed still square and adjusted accordingly if I was off.

For paint I chose to use a slight creamy color  Sherwin Williams SW 6140 Moderate White to compliment the cabinetry and SW Tricorn Black SW 6258. I used their Porch and Floor Enamel line in a satin finish.

Paint Formula

For the white squares I mixed 4 parts paint with one part Faux Impressions latex glaze to give the subtle transparency. I began to fill in the squares and made sure the I went beyond the pencil lines and went with the grain of the floors. The glaze allowed the pencil marks to show through ever so lightly.

I continued this technique until every other square was white. This took me one whole day. I let this dry completely before walking on the white.

Quick Tip: It is so easy to get mixed up and accidentally paint the wrong square. Before painting I place a small piece of painter tape on the squares that I need to paint. After then I step back and make sure I've gotten it right before the paint goes down.

Let dry Overnight

The next day I was ready for the detail work with the black paint. With the black paint it was more difficult to see the grain but that was ok. I skipped mixing the glaze into the paint. I used a smaller artist brush to cut in the tight corners.  This took me another entire day to complete.

After finishing I checked my work and cleaned up any edges that looked uneven.

Topcoats

After finishing painting Carolyn had a floor refinisher come in and give the floor several coats of an acrylic top coat. (Please not that you do not want to use a polyurethane or oil based sealer. It will eventually yellow.) New shoe moulding was then put back on.

It was pure luck that the cream diamonds ran perfectly between the island and the perimeter cabinets. I brought the diamonds all the way down to the foyer.

Putting Furniture Back

The furniture came back in and and the black and white theme works perfectly with the home historical look. We've added interest and design to the floor and kids can spill all they want! Ive gathered some of my favorite painted floor images from the internet and my Pinterest board ON THE FLOOR. And if you're looking to create a bit of pattern I have tutorials on painting horizontals stripes, vertical stripes and even chevron stripes. I hope that you find your inspiration and add a little color under your feet with a painted floor!    xox Amie

More Painted Floor Inspiration

Image from Costal Living Photo by Richard Leo Johnson

Painted Runner by Alisa Burke via Apartment Therapy. How fabulous is this? Who needs art on the wall when you have this?

Image from The Old House Photo by Johnny Bouchier/GAP Interiors

Image from The Decoist. Tobi Fairley Interior Design.

Image from This Old House. Artwork by Lori Dunbar

Please check out my IG friends Lisa Donohoe and Brynn Gelbard of Londubhstudio . The complexity and amount of time and energy that goes into their work is astounding!

Turquoise Glossy Painted floor via DecorPad

The Itsy Bitsy Cottage floor….. Come and see how the cottage looks to date!

Black and White Painted Wood Floor

Source: https://www.memehill.com/farm-house-black-white-painted-checkered-floor/

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