How to paint old wooden floors - The cheap and fast way

Hello my dearest readers,

Today I'm going to show you how to make your old wooden floors look nice once again without having to worry too much about the budget. This is a cheap DIY project that can greatly improve the setup of any room and make it look completely different.

Disclosure - Due to the fact that I was a lazy, stubborn person, I didn't do everything the way specialists advise it, so therefore, if you want a professional's opinion, this blog post is not for you.I honestly don't see the purpose in doing all the extra work since my way turned out perfectly fine :)

Here's what you'll need:

- Paint (duuuuh): - depending on the room's dimension and the amount of paint the wooden floor sucks in, you should require between 1.5 and 3 liters of paint. An useful thing to know is that there are two main types of paint that you can use for your wooden floors: water based paint and oil based paint. Water based paint doesn't have a strong odor like the oil based paint and is more eco friendly, while the oil based paint is easier to apply (the opinions are divided on this one) and it is more resilient.

I for one, bought oil based paint because they didn't have the color i wanted - or a similar one in water based paint.

- Face mask: especially if you're painting with oil based paints. 

- Paint thinner: it's going to become your best friend real soon, trust me.

- Brush/Roller sponge: This depends on the type of flooring you have - if all of your tiles are oriented in one direction and they don't have empty space between them, then the roller sponge is the choice for you. In my case however, the wooden tiles have a Zigzag pattern and empty space between them so I chose a brush. Please note that if you choose to also use a brush it's preferable to have two brushes in different sizes: one should be as wide as the wood tiles you're about to paint, and a smaller one for the border. In my case I used a 40mm brush for the tiles and a 20mm one for the wooden border.

- A rag: which you'll most likely have to throw afterwards

- A small piece of wood (about 30 cm): I used the end of a wooden spoon and it worked great.

Here's how you do it: 

1. Empty the room of as much furniture as you can. It would be preferable if you could empty it completely. If you cannot however, don't despair for I've been through this as well. Just take out as much furniture as you can and then gather the remaining furniture into a side of the room. It's going to be crowded and you won't get access to your things all too soon so keep that in mind when you start moving things around.

2. Vacuum and clean the floors: Make sure that you clean the floors thoroughly but use very little cleaning product for doing it. If however you notice that there's still some dust or dirt on the floors after you began painting it don't worry, just grab a bath towel and slowly rub the dirt away - this applies only to wooden tiles that don't have paint on them but are surrounded by tiles that are freshly painted. If you get dirt or dust on freshly painted tiles just try to pinch them off with your nails or some tweezers and don't worry too much if you cannot take it out. The next layer of paint that you'll apply on top of this one will make it okay.

3. Let the floors dry completely and open the windows: the windows will have to stay open until you are completely done with painting the floors - which will take around a week.

4. In case you bought oil based paint, this is the time to dilute it so it'll be easier to apply it. You do this by adding paint thinner to it and stirring it (with the end of the wooden spoon) until you cannot see the paint thinner anymore. The label of the paint will say how much paint thinner you can apply but as a general rule of thumbs, it has to be easy for you to apply the paint and it should be more liquid-y and less dense. 

  

5. Apply the first layer of paint on the empty half of the room. Depending on the previous color of the floors you'll have to apply between 2 and 4 layers of paint. I had a dark shade underneath and painted a lighter shade on top of it so I applied 3 layers. Start by painting the border and the tiles near it, and paint according to the tile's orientation. My tile's are Zigzaggy and so I had to paint on the length of each tile individually. 

6. Let the paint dry for 12 hours before applying the second layer. I let it dry for around 13 - 15 hours though.

7. Keep the brushes in a jar with paint thinner after you're done painting - so the paint won't dry on them and you'll be able to use them for a second, third and even fourth layer of paint. The level of paint thinner in the jar should be enough to cover the bristle and just that. 

8. Apply the second layer of paint and let it dry 

9. Repeat the process until you have the desired color

Et voila! You've made it ! Time to kick back and feel proud :)

Useful tips: 

- Don't apply paint thinner directly on skin. Apply it to the rug and then wipe your hand or other objects spoiled with paint.

- After you're done painting the room, wait for a week before applying heavy furniture on the floor and two weeks before applying carpets and rugs.
- Dip only the tip of the brush in paint, it won't help if you apply it all the way in the can of paint - it's actually going to make it harder for you to apply paint.

Happy painting everyone!