Courtesy Chris Pearson. Interior design by Miles Redd
Q. Lately, I've noticed quite a few posts on social media showing painted hardwood floors with bold colors and geometric patterns. I'd love to paint the floor in my dining room. What's involved in such a project and can I do it myself? Thanks!
— Carol M., Tower Grove
A. Dear Carol, We love hearing that you’re wanting to try a new and creative design feature at home. To help answer your question, we reached out to Chris Pearson, owner of Chris Pearson Floors, and a talented, in-demand artist whose work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, and Veranda, among other titles, to get his take on trends in flooring.
According to the New Jersey-based artist, painted floors per se are not trending—the look has been around forever. However, Pearson does see a move toward floors that are “bigger, bolder, and more colorful.”
Entryways and kitchens, in particular, lend themselves to self-expression, making them popular places in which to make a statement, says Pearson, who has painted roughly a dozen floors a year since the early 90s. But a patterned floor is suitable for any room in the home, with some caveats.
If you’re planning a DIY project, St. Louis-based decorative painter Allison Larkins emphasizes the importance of prepping a floor, given its workhorse role in the home.
"It’s essential to the longevity of your design that your surface is sanded and clean,” she says. “If your floor has a base coat—say it’s already painted white—and you want to add a pattern to it, subsequent layers need to be the same paint type or something compatible.” Larkins recommends painting the entire floor a ground color, then using tape and/or a stencil to create the desired pattern before adding additional hues. For a recent project, she painted the floor white before stenciling blue paint on top of it. Steer clear of varnish top-coats because they tend to yellow the paint color, she says.
Equally important when imparting color and pattern to a floor is to consider the whole room. How will the floor relate to other rooms in the house? “When I’m designing a floor, I want the transitions to feel good,” says Larkin. “What do the floors look like in the adjacent rooms? If the floors are dark wood I need to consider that,” she says.
Defining scale is often the most challenging part of the process, especially for those who are inexperienced, says Pearson. Determining scale is intuitive and comes with a good eye, but, in general, small rooms don’t necessarily mean small scale. “In fact, rarely is scale as large as it should be,” he says. “A good rule of thumb is to make sure you have space for enough repeats to see the pattern develop,” says Pearson. “It’s also important to know everything else that’s going into the room before you paint. For example, if your floor has a large pattern, maybe choose a small print for the upholstery or wallpaper.”
No matter the scale of your project, a painted floor is always a long-term investment. If you think your tastes will change, you might want to reevaluate going all out. “You can sand and try to re-stain wood floors that have been painted, but there will always be evidence of paint in the grain,” says Larkins. As an alternative, she recommends substituting a wood stain for paint to create a big, bold pattern.
