An incredibly popular flooring trend of the moment is painted floorboards. People are increasingly choosing to paint their floors as it is an inexpensive way to transform and update a whole room. Many people uncover the original solid wood boards in their homes as they have a certain rustic charm and can be ideal for painting.

 

Painting floors is a great way to achieve a high-end look on a tight budget and it can create a great backdrop for choosing colours on your walls, and for your furniture and accessories.

 

Preparation is key for achieving a wonderful finish and maintaining long lasting floorboards making touch-ups rare. The first step is to sand down the rough areas until they are smooth and ready to paint. Make sure that any protruding nails are removed so they don’t catch when sanding.

 

The floors need to be completely dust free and cracks or open joints should be filled prior to painting. The next step is to apply a primer to your floorboards. Crown Paints provide an excellent quick drying Multi-Surface primer undercoat specially designed for wood surfaces. It helps provide adhesion before painting your top coat giving you the perfect finish. If your floorboards have been previously treated Crown Paints has a great product called Grip Extreme which when applied allows a top coat to adhere to wood surfaces, saving you time and effort as you do not need to sand down the wood first.

 

The next step is to apply your chosen paint making sure to apply the paint in the direction of the grain. Epimac is hardwearing floor paint but is only available in a limited colour range. You could also use an Acryllic Eggshell for a hardwearing water based finish which comes in a wider range of colours.

 

For the ultimate in protection, finish off your floor boards with Sadolin Polyurethane Floor Clear Varnish but bear in mind that this may alter the colour of your second coat slightly. You should try and leave the floor paint to harden for as long as possible.

 

Choosing a colour for your floors can be the difficult or enjoyable part, which ever way you decide to look at it! Off-white and antique cream shades are a very popular choice as it can help open up a space and leaves opportunities for choosing bolder shades on your walls and furnishings. Your choice of colour should be dependent on how much traffic is passing through the room as lighter shades are more difficult to keep clean if there are a lot of people walking on them. Deeper hues are a popular choice and a strong trend in 2010 for those who want to create a sophisticated look.

 

Crown Paints offers a fantastic selection of shades for wood surfaces-  from cream whites to the boldest reds - you are guaranteed to find the perfect shade for your floorboards.