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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Painting a wood floor on concrete

          I had to take up the carpet in my spare bedroom that I was going to use as my art studio.  I didnt know what to put back down.  It stayed bare concrete for quite a while.  Eventually I decided to paint it.  I toyed over the ideas I had in my head. I wanted bamboo like my living room but I thought painting it would be more fun.  So I did.

    What do you think???  My friends didnt know I was going to do this so when they came over they first thought that we had actually put a wood floor down.  I had to tell them that it was painted. Either that or they were being very nice to my ego:)  Painting the floor was quite easy to do.

                                                               HOW TO:


     First I made sure the concrete floor was extremely clean and vacuumed very well.  Then I painted the floor with 2 coats of Kilz water based sealer. Let it dry overnite.  Then  I painted the entire floor in a tan latex house paint. let it dry overnite. I streaked the entire floor with similar browns and beiges of my real bamboo floor , creating a streaky light and darker effect.  When it was dry I then drew parallel lines every 6" across the entire floor with a sharpie. Next I drew short perpendicular lines in between the 6" lines at 3' intervals to create the effect of the 3' boards you usually buy stock wood flooring in. I offset the line each time I drew them by 1' to give the effect of the a staggered board. 

sample of staggered boards drawn on floor
Then I tweaked the lighter and darker effects to create a more pronounced definition in individual board colors.  I let the entire floor dry overnite.  The last thing I did was rolled on 5 layers of waterbased semigloss polyurethane. Let them dry between coats for a couple of hours. Let the entire floor dry for a couple of days before putting furniture on it to make sure the poly has completely dried.  It has now been nearly a year and the floor looks as good as it did when I first finished it.  except maybe for the odd few blotches of paint from my art projects. Enjoy!

20 comments:

  1. Shirley said:
    I am sorry but I can't read your blog because of all the color. I'm sure you had something to share with all of us. Sorry!

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    1. That doesn't even make sense

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    2. Shirley's response makes no sense to me, either. Love your painted floor project & looking forward to reading more on your blog. TY for sharing your creativity w/us.

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  2. Wow, that looks GREAT! Good job!

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  3. I'm impressed!! Looks fantastic!!

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  4. thank you:) if you need more info on how to do it. I have the instructions on my blog. linsartwork.blogspot.com

    have fun.

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  5. Did you use regular interior paint or was it concrete paint? It looks great! Thanks for sharing! Lisa

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    1. I used waterbased Kilz first, then regular interior latex paint, then artists paint for details, then the poly.
      thanks for comments:)
      Linda

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  6. how did you streak it to get the variation in colour to have it look like actual wood planks?

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  7. Hi David, I basically used several shades of brown painted in the same direction but at different intervals to create a streaky effect. I went over them again and again to get the desired effect I was looking for. If you study a piece of wood it has slight variations in it so I followed that idea. I started with a yellow based tan color across the entire floor and then added darker and darker uneven lines of color until I was satisfied. I hope that helps. I tried not to be tidy about it to create a more natural look.
    Are you doing a similar project? If so, have fun and dont overwork it. less is best

    Cheers
    Linda

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  8. What kind of paint do you suggest if I wanted to do a faux wood concrete patio?

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    1. You can use an outside concrete paint/stain (check to see if the patio was stained or painted first as you may have a problem using a stain over paint or visa versa) as the base- use 2 brown colors - 1 light 1 medium in color range and streak it like I did and still use the black permanent pen for the lines. Then you can use the outdoor polyeurathane to coat it 4x when finished painting. It should work just as well. good luck :)

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  9. I love the floor - I was going to try a plywood floor but now am thinking of painting my concrete floor instead - ingenious to use the Sharpie Marker ---- Do you find the lines are holding up or do you occasionally have to redraw them ---- If I do this I plan on doing it throughout my whole house a big undertaking I will be fololowing your blog

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    1. wow. Im sorry IM so delayed in replying to your note. Have you finished your floor yet? After 3 years my floor is still holding up. I think the trick is a good amount of layers of poly:) good luck. Let me know if you have any questions or if completed send pics:)

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  10. Love it...I too am and artist and will tackle my entire lower level of my home. My husband thinks I am nuts...but I love the look and he will love the cost :-) of the finished project.

    I have done walls, so figure this can't be any different except for planning for wear.

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  11. Nice blog! This is very helpful information and keep sharing such nice articles. Concrete Coatings

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  12. Great Post.
    You share Interesting and valuable information.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Concrete Company Naples FL

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  13. Thank you for sharing this interesting and informative article, painting with airless spray gun will be faster and more interesting!

    ReplyDelete