Staining a wooden floor, creating patterns, or bringing out the wood grain patterns, there are several ways to modify the appearance of a floor or add color to it. Wood floor paint must always be chosen carefully for this purpose. Follow our expert advice.
1 – Choose your wood floor paint according to your aesthetic desires
Do you want to change the appearance of your floor by painting it? Two options can motivate this project:
- You want to completely change your decor by making people forget the presence of the wooden floor? If this is your case, you will need to use an opaque paint.
- On the contrary, if you want to highlight the wood grain patterns of your floor and enhance it, you should apply a transparent paint.
2 – Choose floor paint according to whether your floor is new or old
- Painting a new floor or a raw wood floor
Before starting to paint a wooden floor, it is essential to clean it even if it is new. After a simple but effective cleaning with a vacuum cleaner or after light sanding if the wood surface is raw, you can then begin applying the paint.
- Painting an old floor
The floor requires minimal cleaning using a vacuum cleaner and light washing with products suitable for wood. On an old floor, however, it is particularly recommended to sand it to facilitate paint adhesion. To avoid scratching the floor, always make sure to sand in the direction of the wood fibers.
3 – What type of paint for the floor
There are several types of paints to cover your wooden floor. All have their characteristics, but some points are particularly important and should determine your choice.
- A specific paint for wooden floors:
Choose a paint specifically designed for wooden floors and especially for parquet. It will be much more resistant and does not necessarily require varnish.
- An oil-based paint for flooring:
An oil-based paint provides color intensity and a more beautiful finish thanks to its ability to penetrate deeply into the pores of the wood, giving it a rich pigment coloration. Oil-based paints are available in a wide range of interesting colors.
- Acrylic paints for flooring:
While they allow the wood grain to show through and offer some transparency, acrylic paints must be protected with a varnish.
- Wood stains for flooring:
They offer very good transparency, impregnate the wood very well, but are difficult to remove afterwards.
4 – Colors and patterns of floor paint
For your wooden floor, which is an authentic and durable covering, you should try to choose the paint color carefully, taking into account all its advantages.
While light colors open up the space and create discreet and subtle shades, dark colors make the space more intimate, generally give character to a room, and add volume to a room.
The choice of patterns is equally important; you can have floral, vegetal, geometric, or graphic patterns according to your desires and your interior decoration. The size of the room’s surface is also a criterion for choosing color and patterns. For spaces less than 215 sq ft, patterns or colors that are too dark can weigh down the room. Light and sober colors are indeed more suitable for small rooms.
It’s worth noting that in Quebec, about one in a thousand people decides to paint their wood floor. Indeed, when a wood floor is painted, it becomes very difficult to return to natural wood without visible traces of paint remaining. Think twice before painting your wood floor!
