How to Paint Wood Floors
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Before moving into our fixer upper, we painted our home’s hardwood floors white. Our flooring was in rough condition throughout the house and was already painted a brown shade in several areas. We decided painting would be an inexpensive fix + I love the look of white floors so it was an easy decision!
Painting everything white made a big design impact, without having to go to the work of sanding down layers of paint and replacing flooring throughout our home.
Edit: It’s been nearly a year since we’ve painted our floors and here’s An Honest Update on Our Painted Floors and how they’ve held up + some FAQ
Some of our brown painted floors
We asked our contractor for some tips and tricks and we were able to do it ourselves fairly easily.
How to Paint Hardwood Floors
Sand flooring
We did a light sanding everywhere using a radial sander before priming. We were able to rent one via our contractors that were working on the rest of our home. This is a crucial step to help the primer adhere well - we did not sand again after this step or in between paint coats.
Tape off baseboards
Protect your baseboards from paint with painters’s tape.
Prime
We used this primer on our floors and allowed it to dry for about 24 hours. We found using this roller and an extension pole super useful to cover a large area quickly. Plan an exit strategy so you do not paint yourself into a corner or have to walk over your work!
Highly recommend a painter roller with an extension pole.
Paint
We used Porch and Patio Paint on our floors as a recommendation from our contractor that it would be the most durable.
First coat of paint and primer applied
Reapply Coats + Touch Up
We did two full coats of the porch and patio paint, waiting about 24 hours in between coats and touched up any areas with a brush once finished.
Two full coats of paint.
Allow paint to fully dry for about two to three days. It is super important to let the paint fully dry and harden to prevent peeling and dents/scuffs where you place furniture, even if it seems dry to the touch - we learned this the hard way!
We opened up the windows in our home and allowed as much air to flow as possible over the dry time. The paint is pretty potent and you will want to either block off the room you are working on or leave your home for a few days.
Materials + Tools
Click here for An Honest On Year Update on Our Painted Wood Floors + FAQ!