Great Ideas for Painted Flooring

The trend in paint for the past few years has been to use color on your ceilings. It is not a new concept but rather one that has reemerged as a way to add another, albeit subtle, element to your room.

Another show-stopping paint option that may not yet have the same following, but certainly has lots of bang for the buck, is painted flooring. It’s a unique and cost-conscious way to add a clean and simple look to your room or, if you have the help of a professional, to add an intricate and interesting pattern and sophistication to your flooring. Often older homes have lackluster wood flooring and people have to consider refinishing or replacing them. But what about the third option of painting them? Whatever your flooring choice may be, you want it to be ultra-durable, so your best bet is probably a professional. “The floor must be cleaned really, really well to get a good bond with the paint,” says faux finisher and artist Judy Neukrug of Faux FX. “Then the floor is primed and painted, the designs are created and many topcoats of sealant are added.” It can be a very tedious process, and some professionals despise the job. Others, like Neukrug, thrive on the preciseness of it. Neukrug most often creates the checkerboard look for kitchens, but has also embellished a wallpaper’s pattern on the floor, stenciled in medallions and even added a basket-weave faux bois floor to a foyer.

Now even in new-construction residences, homeowners are starting to want a painted floor in a room or two. “It gives such a country chic look,” Neukrug says. “Even when it becomes worn, the fading just adds to the patina and makes a lovely room.”

Designers most often use this added element to set a mood or even solve a problem with a difficult room. Interior designer Tricia McLean of Patricia McLean Interiors had a large living room she was designing for a showhouse and was challenged with uniting the space and seating areas spread throughout the room. Multiple rugs would have to be used, which would have cut up the space. So she turned to artist Robert MacGregor and together they devised a formal intaglio pattern to paint across the entire floor. Not only were the results striking, but the room also flowed as one space. “There would have been no other way to successfully tie the room together,” McLean says.

Price depends upon the intricacy of the pattern painted on the floor and the number of colors used but can start at $1,200 for a 12″ by 12″ room.

PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES:

Robert MacGregor

MacGregor Studio

(770) 425-8743

Judy Neukrug

Faux FX

(404) 367-4401

If you’re interested in professional classes in the art of faux finishing, call the Finishing School at (404) 929-9522 or thefinishingschoolatl.com.