Each to their own I must say firstly, but solid timber floors are quite expensive nowdays and I couldn't ever do it, I simply wouldn't put this kind of floor in, if I planned to paint it.
It would be like painting tiles, because you don't particularly like the colour, sort of silly to me.
People who buy these older homes together with the wooden floors and often all the other quirks that go with these homes, like higher ceilings etc... buy specifically because of the timber floors and everything in between and not inspite of it.

I'm a bit like you Barbara, I hate the big gap in between and once painted that's it, almost impossible to remove. White shows every mark and I hope Joanne is happy with her choice of black, she will need to vacuum every day.

Yes, definitley - very interested in what people think on this. That photo above is gorgeous.

What preparation would be needed before painting and what sort of paint would you use?

No way. Timber floors are just too beautiful to paint! White would be too easy to damage and black would just be too hard to keep clean. If I wanted a solid coloured floor I would do concrete. Save the paint for the walls and panel if you like painted timber!

Think twice before painting your floors black, shows all the marks and dust (unless you like to clean every day)

My floors are pine and the stain was done badly by the builder who then sanded it off. The varnish has worn badly and the floors have been sanded so low they can't be prepared for revarnishing. I was thinking of painting as the current surface would only need a light sand. Those of you who have painted, are you happy with the outcome?

Yes our floorboards are also too worn for any more sanding so painting is the only way to go. Leaving most of the house with bare boards but the two rooms downstairs - kitchen and family room - we are doing black. Given that it is only two rooms, it shouldn't be too hard to keep them looking good. I know quite a few people with black, and white, floorboards, and they love them.

I painted all of my timber floors in my last Qld property. It was brilliant as when they scratch, it just gives them a great aged look. I am about to paint my new property floors in Tasmania. Much easier than estapol, less smell and more versatile. I did both a red and off white, but now would only ever paint with a light colour. Alison Qld

My father inherited a derelict colonial house in the south pacific. Rotting timber floors had to be repaired and the resulting patchwork could only be painted. Why? I shuddered at the thought but the reason was simple - no electricity for a big sander, no big sanders anyway, too old to hand sand (my parents that is). They painted it grey, using a paving paint. because that was the only colour available. It turned out a good choice for cleaning off any volcanic red dirt tracked inside. And it has a promise of the Hamptons if they want to. It didnt look as bad as I imagined it would but personally I would never paint a timber floor.

A work in progress (please paint the walls white Dad!)

@lazyks,
Fully appreciate your story and there was nothinmg else for your dad to do and he did the best with what was on offer, goodness grey paint, of all colours but I have read that grey goes with everything ha-ha.
Good on your dad for doing what he could and accepting what he couldn't do, sometimes people are so hung up about their seemingly perfect worlds that "acceptance" isn't a word in their vocabulary.
Lovely story and reminds us that being humble is a good thing!!

I must add that the floors I painted were just 20 year old pine, nothing amazing and they had previously been sanded badly. I also used oil based floor paint, but it still looked fantastic.

@alison179
Horses for courses Alison.
You had good reason to paint the floor boards as pine has a shocking natural colour, it goes more yellow as it ages.
I guess the idea of painting timber floorboards has me saying "gosh how could you" but I do now understand there can be very good reason to do it.

If they were beautiful wood floors I wouldn't do it... But I have a timber verandah, with painted slats as the floor. I'd hesitate to call these floorboards!! It would probably be good to re-paint them. But what colour? The adjoining house is a gray-green with almost black trim. The slats are a chocolate colour.

@ all above...whether for or against...I believe it comes down to eithe trend or necessity. The first is painting timber floor boards because it is shown in the decorator magazines as 'fashionable' there's no other rationale that makes sense of doing that to me.
NO WAY would I ever paint beautiful natural timber floorboards. When I bought my old cottge in 1984 somebody had used grey paving paint over the mud room, kitchen and hallway floorboards...have no idea why! I scraped back some and the floors were immaculate hoop pine as in the rest of the house. Could not scrape all of it. For a while I had Vinol, then rubber backed waterproof carpet...it was cheap at the time....then I was inspired by off-cuts of 3 ply at the junk shop.
I bought it all and used it as decoratively-laid parquetry tiles.. I glued and nailed it over the cheap, thin carpet...perfect underlay! I stained each 'tile' separately bringing out the natural grain and creating a few more streaks....I wood-puttied all the cracks then applied two coats of polyurethane satin finish floor varnish over the lot.
It was such a hard job all on my own but I let loose all my creative energy on that floor...covering boards that somebody else had 'sinfully' painted....trying to get a timber floor again! That's how much I don't like painting natural timber of any kind, and not floors...especially when they are beautiful under the wear and tear. My parquetry tile hallway and kitchen is remarked on by everyone as if it has always been here...part of the charm of the house! Phew!
MInd you, at the end I gave up staining when I reached the 'wet area' near the kitchen sink and the bench so...the vinol remains...but underneath is unstained and unvarnished
."parquetry"...I tell myself that I'll finish it...but I'm not sure I'll be doing it myself now...too old to be crawling on my hands and knees!
So..NO! I would not paint floorboards in amillion years...I'd cherish them and nurture them and thank the trees that gave them to me! How does one keep painted floorboards clean anyway?

Risky move, but bold in the finish. If the painting is executed right the result will look fantastic in regards to what you want. Just remember overtime, the paint is likely to scratch and age however that may be the effect your going for in terms of a vintage theme. Goodluck!

I keep my self-created parquetry floors with a mixture of kero and bioled linseed oil. still looking good after 2o+ years and all finished. Visitors all admire it.It looks as if it has always been here and no scratches that a does of oil won't make disappear. It was such a good move and I'm proud of myself. I'd bever paint a real natural timber floor. Might consider it with some of the cheap floorboards in modern houses that don't stand up to wear and tear. Way back when...people could not afford floor coverings, imiiation carpets and lino painted on floors was the thing. Even to painting inferior timber floorboards I'd try the gap seal and oil first everytime. Who dictates that floors have to be...'mirror surfaced' anyway?

Never yet seen painted floorboards that do not quickly show wear and tracking. I would be inclined to use a liming stain that adds colour (even white) but still allows the natural grain of the timber to show through.

@oldroo always the natural should prevail and anything that accentuates it. Liming stain with colour sounds intriguing...for boards beyond redemption if one must have smooth....I was really impressed with worn floorboards stained mahogany and santin polyurethaned...I liked it, bumps.disparities, nail holes and all.

ladyrob - I think too much emphasis is placed on perfection these days and there are so many products to achieve it, unlike the olden days where it was all elbow-grease. Nothing like some character here and there.

This forum and Houzz in general has really opened up my eyes to possibilities that I never knew I could remotely consider or like and I'm surprised when I feel so adamant about never doing something and then after I think about it for a while, I start to wonder whether I may in fact give it a try, although I do often keep that to myself!!!
Case in point for Ladyrob1, we've had many a discussion about how I plan to have no colour in my home, paint wise that is on my walls, being a beige kind of girl but now I'm starting to look at options, because I fell like I'm actually stopping myself or missing out somehow, isn't that strange!!!
I see beautiful greens, golds, reds, even blue and dare I say black ha-ha and when done just right, I can only say WOW!!
So painting ones floorboards, probably not but who the heck really knows just what I might do, albeit not anytime soon, as my home isn't complete yet and if I do in fact have timber floors, real that is, it will be many years before I would need to consider such a task, maybe even well past my time on this lovely planet and it will be someone elses dream ha-ha
So here I am Robin, thinking of colourful feature walls in the bedrooms and perhaps even a green or gold in the master bedroom, I'm kind of getting excited but I might in fact get the help of a professional and get it right, as I have no idea, this is new ground for me!!
Amazing transition for me, like finishing high school ha-ha
One thing I can say catagorically, is that grey will never enter my home, that's simply crossing the line ha-ha.....sorry Midesign 0401, I so admire you Megan for your ability to love all colours but that must be what makes a good interior designer in that you can cameleon yourself for your clients and work out what works best for their own homes irrespective of what you might personally like, I think that is an amazing talent.
Cheers,
Barbara

We sanded and varnished our 100year old wide floorboards in South Australia after my patient husband scraped all the black japanning off first....but our newer floorboards in Tasmania were treated with Tung Oil with a dash of walnut stain....yes I know mainlanders would love Tas Oak floors....but I wanted darker timber. After eight years still going strong, just embarking on lifting vinyl and carpet in N SW to discover what treasures lay beneath...I promise this is the last time.....painting is an option if they are too badly damaged, but whitewashed more than solid, though I love the look. Sometimes it's a good option.

Thanks for the laugh Barbara, Houzz does do amazing things to our brains - the most common thoughts I have are usually "Why didn't I think of that". My apologies to Megan too, grey makes me cringe, with our glorious sunshine and natural light, it is just plain un-Australian!!.

Hi there I have a beautiful old home that needs revamping.I originally decided on white bamboo timber flooring over my original floor boards.I am now thinking of painting my floors.Do I have to sand boards first or is there a paint that will go directly over the worn varnished floors.Also can anyone give me suggestions on which paint to use thanks

dontley - you really need to have the boards sanded to remove stains, ground-in dirt and smooth the entire floor. You will also need to fill all nail holes and sand those - very time consuming job. The better the prep work, the better the finished look. This would be necessary regardless of how you finish the flooring.

I have yet to see a painted floor that does not track and wear over time but there is a brand called Feast Watson that specialises in paint and varnish for flooring and a variety of protective top coats to improve wear. Their floor paint has been developed for better adhesion and wear resistance and having used their stains successfully, it would be my brand of choice to try.

If you like the idea of the white they also have a white liming stain that puts a soft milky finish to timber or you can add soft tints of colour to it. The timber in your flooring will dictate how white the finished look is, or you can do 2 or 3 coats for a paler look. The water based one is very easy to use and dries in a couple of hours. This allows the natural grain of the timber to show through for a more natural look than paint.

Consider too, once you paint it is not always possible to reverse the process and use a stain, where stains can be painted over or re-stained a different colour.

Talk to your local paint shop or call Feast Watson's Customer Service Line for advice and information on their products and application.

Hello, you need to do a light sand and then make sure the floors are really clean. I used an oil based jet dry paint by Berger I believe. It was 2 hours between coats, which is great for enamel paint. No undercoat was necessary and I painted over old estapol. As for the comments with tracking, I did both a red floor and off white. The off white was a better choice and to be honest, I could drag furniture over the floor with very little scuff and where the red was a little faded, I would just roll another coat of paint over the area. I am talking about really rough treatment and I had dogs and cats inside. This paint was designed for floors such as garages. Regarding the comments about scuffs etc, " I am yet to see an varnished/etapol treated floor not have marks on it over time" I was a property manager for many years, so have seen hundreds of floors !
I think painted floors with some scuffs look great, but then again I am not a brick and tile type of person.
If you stain a floor in a dark colour, you are also limited as you can't go light again. I have just pulled up carpet in my new house, floors 26 years old, but some Twot has spilt the stain for the architrave all over the floor, so I would either have to put a dark stain over it now or paint. Paint can be removed, but it is hard in the joins. I will paint these floors without hesitation.

I have used pavement paint to great effect, and it wore really well over the last two years in a bedroom. This was a quick but very effective fix over my floorboards which were cheap pine lining boards.

The original owner/builder intended the house to be fully carpeted, so he installed the cheapest possible option. I had to remove the carpets because of wear and allergies.

I am about to repaint that floor and paint another bedroom with a Feast Watson product as mentioned above as Bunnings paint dept advised against using pavement paint inside because of off gassing.

I am preparing my house to sell, and while I could have installed carpets in these bedrooms, this will tie with painted concrete floors in other parts of the house (old verandah enclosed) and appeal to other buyers seeking a low allergy property.

Thankyou for your help guys

I will, if I can't get the deep stains out.

@ chookchook2 why not ask susan whether she encountered any problems? She seems to be very pleased with what she used on her floors...and states that she had stains.

Yes... we don't have floor boards, but just subfloor sheeting and when we moved in and pulled up the carpets it was all mouldy and gross so rather than hide it under a new flooring layer and risk poor health we found a great non toxic breathable floor paint company. They had a great product that seals the floor with a breathable layer and then has a top coat. No Vocs and totally safe. They recommended the product for flooring because it creates a flexible membrane over the boards that will allow for the movement of the floorboards and won't crack or chip or scuff like patio paint, but it still breathes and prevents moisture. We just painted straight over the fugly mdf boards glue marks and all and it actually looks fabulous in a lovely pale grey matte finish. I would use it again for sure, especially if sanding and oiling the floor is out of the question or its just sheeting floor.

http://floorsafety.com.au

i know i am late, but i could not resist, painted mine black, did not get to do a top coat, still love the way they are wearing.

It's not paint, but its very effective. You can do amazing things with OSMO Creative Colours. OSMO make a hardwax oil range for flooring, benchtops, walls, basically anything to do with wood. The photos below show a Jarrah floor being oiled black with OSMO 3169 Black then buffed back to give it a nice antique Jarrah look. To finish you would always apply a coat of clear for protection.

Sounds interesting but does the product come in any other colour that does not come out so dark?

i love this! so is this what they did to make the turquoise above too?

ladyrob1 Yes they do. They have a whole range of colours and also different intensities of black.

From lightest to darkest in the black:

OSMO 3075 Black Tint
OSMO 3161 Ebony Transparent
OSMO 3169 Black Intensive (originally called Creative Colour)

havingfun Not sure if that is the product they used but yes you could achieve something like this with the OSMO products.

There is no interior colour that matches that exatcly.

The closest colour I can see to the colour above is an exterior product OSMO 2501 Labrador Blue. This would require some experimenting to get right.

Any advice please on painting these jarrah floorboards white and the mantle & the walls. A big freshen up for this 1932 cottage.

Firstly...are you sure they are jarrah and not som other more exotic timber? If you are fortunate enough to have a genuine 1932 built cottage I say "Don't Do it!" Just look at the beautiful timber in that floor! It would be sinful to paint it. I have a 1924 cottage with beautiful hoop pine floorboards all from the day it was built. My suggestion is to have the boards sanded and polished. I would not even dare go near them with polyurethane. I have turned back the clock and used the methods of the period of the house...a mix of pale boiled linseed oil and kero. Put it on with a mop or a deck mop or a wool mop leave it soak in. Re-do and leave it soak in,,,( you won't get patches...the floors will just soak it up.) Third coat, add a bit of turps to the mix as a white ant deterrent. Then, when the floors look like they've soaked up enough, get a big old fashioned string mop...if you can find one...or use a deck scrubber and old towels...or even a wad of new ones...100% cotton...its worth it, and rub off as much of the surplus as possible...wear sox so you will notice when the sox do not get oil stained anymore. First go is a long process but you will be really pleased when the floors have had several "drinks". After that you could get just an ordinary floor varnish or oil or just a sealant. Some of the modern wood treatments are really good. Then, every so often do the boards over with your "Oil Mop". You will never find timber like that again and, in my experience, it adds to the value of the house big time. Do what you like to any gyprock and plastered walls but PLEASE love your floorboards and any natural timber...especially from that era. I've been in this old cottage for 32 years. Everyone wants to know where I sourced the "new" floorboards", and who did I get to make my silky oak windows! Hope that helps.

Oh...and P.S...if the dark stained door surrounds and skirtings and mantle bother you....dust them well then give them a good rub with towels soaked in metho....they are most likely done over with Shellac...and this can be removed right down to natural wood with Metho....and looks lovely...if you like natural wood. Everyone seems to be trying to fake it thes days...so if you have the genuine product why spoil it?

Amen Ladyrob!!!

If the skirtings and such are done with Shellac, rub some oil into them with steel wool. I use Scandinavian Teak Oil on mine as it does not colour, but it really gives the timber a lift and brings it back to life. Removes dirt and grime too.

Agree that these old floorboards should stay natural, perhaps refreshed by re-sanding and a couple of coats of tung oil or low-sheen polyurethane. They belong completely with the style of the house. Even high gloss would work, given the house's 1930s vintage. Some bright rugs and it will be superb!

I'd rather see floral carpet than painted floorboards in a house of this period!

i was lucky enough to find ironbark flooring.under the vile carpet of my 1870 house. The floors look brilliant.

Having said that, there is also a much more recent extension with yellowing pine flooring which I loathe. The white paint will be happening ASAP.

Good one olldroo...as always. I did not know about cleaning Shellac in that way...bit late for me to use your suggestion, all my shellac surfaces have been done with metho...however, they might come up a bit lighter...but having just written that, the timber is silky oak and its so difficult to get that very open grained timber back to natural. There's a business opened up here ( because of all the old originals in this area)...They offer restoration services for timber windows and doors, especially the silky oak with arctic glass...quite interesting...they have these large baths where they actually soak the whole item and the result is a lighter shade of timber. The Scandinavian oil sounds like something I should keep in my arsenal too!

I agree painting a dark wood floor like Jarrah white can always be problematic. If and when you do get some scratching and wear you will start to see the dark Jarrah colour come though the white on top. I would suggest keeping the boards natural and coating them with OSMO 3032 Satin which is a Hardwax Oil, this will really make the Jarrah look fantastic. For the Mantle, Skirting & wall Trims I would paint them white, this would definitely freshen up and lighten the room more than you could imagine. If you wanted to stick to the Natural Hardwax Oil products OSMO also have a highly pigmented white colour that would cover the Jarrah trims but it would have to be sanded back to bare timber first. Since the trims don't get the traffic or the wear like the floor this would not be as problematic putting a light colour over a dark wood. The picture below is Jarrah coated with OSMO 3032 Satin.

fbarich

I was going to put bamboo floor boards on my original boards but decided against it and painted my boards white ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM :)

Hey dontley how about telling us how you did it.

Very old thread but I can't help but post as I'm so thrilled. I'm going for a beach house look, we are on the QLD sunny coast. After living with horrendous 1975 floral carpet in browns greens orange and yellow, I couldn't live with it another minute. The floorboards were absolutely covered in paint underneath. After sanding half a room I hated the colour of the wood (very red hard wood). And voila, transformed! I scraped, then sanded boards, 2 coats of a stain stop primer, 2 coats of feast and watson satin floor paint. I don't care what anyone thinks, I am in love with it!

I've never cared about how old a thread is as I think it's great people can post something and share it with others.

it really doesn't matter if no one else likes what you've done with your bedroom floor.

If you love it it is all that matters.

The floor seems to have come up real well.

Will you continue it through out the home or just solved a problem in that room.

I was on another thread which is the Bunnings workshop and there was a lady who had a very dark and orange coloured floor and her builder used an acid wash on it and it was stunning, see pics below