DIY White Painted Floors - Southern Oregon Interior Design

I couldn't be more excited to be sharing the tale of our new white floors! But to do that, I have to start back at the beginning...four years ago, to be exact. That's when we installed a whopping fifteen hundred feet of pine flooring straight from the lumber yard! We knew we were heading into a 'down and dirty' remodel that we are now three years into. We have remodeled every room, and we have ripped out walls as we moved from room to room. We custom build furniture for our store out of pine, so we knew that we would have a use for those pine boards when our remodel was complete. Although we are years into our intensive remodel, we aren't ready to replace our flooring just yet, so I began dreaming of painted floors, instead.

When I say 'beginning', the truth is, I have been eyeing white floors for quite some time. I have stalked and scrolled enough Instagram pages for a lifetime, and I've even woken my husband in the middle of the night to whisper, "Look at these white floors!" He actually was more excited about the idea, because his style is clean, minimalistic, and modern. I lean towards a modern farmhouse style, but with a simple approach. I was bolstered by friends and family to finally make this happen, so today, I'm sharing HOW we brought the dream to life!

BEFORE:

Here are the floors before we started the project. As you can see, they were hard to keep clean, and the clear coat was wearing off.

MATERIALS:

I began my researching the best paint and products I could use. Home Depot had the best prices and options for what I needed. Here are the items I bought ($167.00 for these items, but prices will vary based on how much paint you need, and which items your local store has)

• Kilz Primer 
• Floor Paint
• Scraper
• TSP cleaner 
• Blue painter's tape
• Brush
• 1 gallon water based Minwax Top Coat 

THE PROCESS: 

1) I vacuumed the floors thoroughly, and scrubbed them with TSP cleaner. If you are using TSP, be sure to ventilate your work area, and wear gloves. It's a very harsh cleaner, which is why it works well, so keep out of reach of children/pets. I used a metal scraper to get any lasting residue, and then scrubbed again with TSP.
2) I painted the primer on. I did two coats, with a two hour dry time between primer coats.
3) Painted the floor with three coats of floor paint, with a two hour dry time between paint coats.
4) I then applied 2 coats of Minwax Clear Coat, with an hour dry time between coats. I did note a slight yellow tint with the addition of the clear coat, but the floor would not hold up well without it. This is the best clear coat I have found, as it has the least amount of yellow tint.
On the right, you can see the various stages.


AFTER (After images courtesy Lahna Marie Photography):

FAQ's:

How long did this project take? I had to work on the floors throughout seven days. I had to section off my house so my family could still use it, as we have two children and three pets. If I had an empty house, this could have been done in about two days, but we needed to use different parts of the house as I worked!

How do we keep it clean? This has been the number-one question as I have shared our results! Any mom knows keeping their floors clean is hard enough, so it makes sense that lots of people are concerned about dirt. Yes, it is a bit more high-maintenance, but not nearly what you'd imagine. we have a  Roomba, and I highly recommend that for keeping surface dirt and crumbs to a minimum. We do try to take our shoes off before coming inside, but any footprints or dirt wipe off extremely easily due to the top coat finish.

Any other advice? The only thing I'd change if I did this again is getting some sort of knee pad for my poor knees. You'll be on the floor for this project, so I'd recommend one of the knee pads you use for gardening, or a similar pad to save your joints!

If you have been dreaming of white floors and currently have wood floors, I say, GO FOR IT! Our entire family loves it, and it has brightened up our space (which makes it feel larger and so welcoming).