Foyer Makeover - Painted "Hardwood Floors" - I love them!

Here is the finished product with the high gloss varnish for floors.  Wow - it really made them POP when I put it on.  Just when I thought they couldn't look any better... I love this!  It actually kind of makes me laugh - when I came up with the crazy idea, I had no idea they would turn out this realistic looking.  So much better than the white ceramic tile... I wasn't a fan.  :-)

Ok this is a work in progress but I am so excited that I had to share before they are completely done!  How funny is this?  This is my underlayment after tearing up tile!  I totally love it so far....

I love the deep brown color against the bright white baseboard and baby yellow walls.  

Here is more of a close up picture - I know they are EXACTLY like hardwood floors but for the price - which was about $50 including a can of poly for $40, I think they look pretty cool! .

Jumping off point - lovely underlayment flooring complete with staples and paints stains.  :-)

This is the typical floor I started with.  Big gaps, staples, nail holes, etc.  I didn't fix everything because would have taken so much time and it wasn't important to me that they be perfect.  As long as they looked great, the holes, scraped and such add character and they look "hand scraped" like in an old Irish tavern.

This type of can opener is my secret weapon for removing staples.  It works WONDERFULLY!  You put the bent point under the staple and push down.  The pointy part can even be used to pry them up.  I bought one at GoodWill for a quarter.  Try it - you will be so happy they come up so easy will virtually no damage to the floor.

Any of the large gaps and staple holes, I did fill in with DAP latex wood filler.  I used a lot of this stuff along with a putty scraper to make sure the surface was as smooth and level as possible.

After it was all filled in, it looked like this.  Then I primed right over it for a smooth surface.

This is where I left off on day one when I got to this point.  Fixed and primed with white primer - a smooth surface just waiting for something....

So I found brown Porch and Floor paint on clearance at Wal-Mart for $5.00 a gallon - YUP - only $5 bucks so I bought two gallons.  It helped but still wasn't what I was looking for.  

So I bought a pack of thick Sharpies and proceeded to add "plank lines" to see if that would give it a more realistic look.  Well it helped but it was still so BROWN.

Enter the faux woodgraining kit.  I have seen everyone use this on doors and tables but never on floors but I figured why not - if it as disaster, I can always paint over it.  I made a black glaze out of black paint and a touch of water and started to experiment.

I brushed the glaze on and then used the woodworking tool to make knots and lines.  It was actually fun!  And when I stood up and looked at the progress - R U KIDDING ME?  They looked Sweet!

This is the result I came up with.  The floors are dark, the holes and dings and other imperfections make them look like they are "hand scraped" how funny is that?

I still have to touch them up and add a few coats of poly but I think they are awesome!  Someday I will be able to afford real wood floors but until then, these will do just fine.

I absolutely love the result and will probably continue it into my living room and dining room as well.



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