Home of Joanna Laajisto / Photo by Mikko Ryhänen for Residence Magazine (via Emmas Designblogg)
Once or twice a year, I get really serious about thinking about getting serious about painting all of the orange wood floors upstairs in our house white. I’ve been doing this at least since June 2008, which is…a while ago. Yes, the studio at the back of the house is long done, but what about the rest of the second floor? Guys, I feel like this spring is when it’s going to happen. We’ve been trying very hard this winter to give away a lot of extra furniture and rugs and stuff, and I really want to pull everything together and make the bedrooms (ours and the guest room—and yeah, I still want to put up that Half Moon wallpaper!) really nice and bright and fresh. All of our energy has been focused on the downstairs for so long!
Once you start thinking about white floors, of course, you can’t stop—so here’s a little round-up of some of my recent favorites. (If you can’t get enough of white floors, here are lots more.)
And yes, the floor in that top photo is actually a pale gray, but I make my own rules.
Home of Dusty Deco owners Lena & Edin / Photo by Martin Löf for Elle Interior
I can’t enough of those Granit string lights! The Granit shop in Stockholm is on my list for next week, and I really hope I have time to visit.
Home of Dusty Deco owners Lena & Edin / Photo by Martin Löf for Elle Interior
I’ve been going back and forth on whether I want a rug in the kitchen, but yeah, this confirms it—I want a rug in the kitchen. Commence years-long hunt for the perfect antique rug…
House Doctor rug from Inreda Utreda, photo by Daniella Witte
Or wait, maybe I want THAT RUG. That’s a really nice rug.
Photo from Varpunen
Ahhh, the definition of peaceful! I love the EYE EYE poster from Fine Little Day, and the light reminds me of the one I’ve been coveting from Schoolhouse Electric. Such a perfect spot.
So, shall we meet here again next year when I start talking about how I’m finally going to get serious about painting my floors, or should I wait until the 10th anniversary of owning the house? That’s not too far away!
39 Comments
Really digging that eye eye poster – think I may need it.
The floors in our house are all original refinished wood, so we’d never paint them, but I do really like the clean crisp look of these white floors! Talk about brightening a room. The rug over white floors is a nice contrast too.
so good. if only i had the balls to paint my rented brooklyn apt floors white.
I think I’d check with the landlord first on that one!
AAANNNDDD now I need an Eames table, and an eye poster and my dark floors need to be WHITE. That dining room is THE BUSINESS!
Anna, we need LOTS of Stockholm photos. LOTS. Interiors, shops, street style. Gah, I am so jealous!
You need a plywood box-bed too, right? 😉
I only have one free afternoon in Stockholm, but I promise I’ll do the best I can!
Have you seen Modern Thrifter’s white floors?
http://modernthrifter.com/post/8678456431/white-floors-finally-after-a-lot-of
Apparently they’ve held up beautifully, and she has kids!
Very nice! I’ve never seen that blog before, thanks for sharing.
We’re nearly four years into our white floors. They could definitely use a touch up in the high traffic areas. Logistically, it’s just so hard to commit the time to making it happen, especially since it’s in the living/dining/entry area of our house. I still love them, though, even with scuff marks and wear. I don’t have any regrets about painting them.
What happened to your Camp Mighty recap?
Nothing! Aside from my Instagram & Twitter updates, I never got around to writing one. Work was hectic when I got back and had to catch up on everything, and the more time that passed, the less I felt I had to say about it. I didn’t die, it was nice to see some friends, my presentation went well, and Palm Springs is beautiful. I don’t think I’d go again, but I’m glad I mustered the courage to speak in front of so many people.
I’ve been going back and forth about painting the floor of my office for a while now. I refinished all of the floors in my house when I first bought it, which turned out great, but the office has some really deep stains in it. I laid carpet over it as a temporary fix, but I never really liked it. This post is tempting me… Ugh, indecision!
I love unpainted wood floors, but when they’re in bad shape and can’t be refinished, I do think painting them is the way to go. The floors upstairs in my house are SO badly damaged from sun and water stains, and they’ve been refinished so many times that there’s not enough left to sand down. I say go for it! Do you really think you’d regret it? You can always put a rug on top if you feel like you need some warmth.
Today I stumbled upon this designer and it made me think of your style, I don’t think I have seen them mentioned here at all, might be worth exploring while you are in Sweden!… http://grafitgra.se/
Thanks, Louize!
I have a rug in my kitchen! I actually have two Ikea inexpensive rugs, one gray with a stylized white flower outline and black with oddly shaped polka dots….I love it. I put them in there to try and protect my recently painted floors (gray) and really like the effect. I am really thinking though of eventually replacing them with the vinyl floors mats I have seen that look like rugs, less vacuuming. 🙂 I have a Pomeranian and two cats, enough said.
Gorgeous – so clean and chic!
xo
Right now we have FLOR tiles making up a rug in the kitchen–very easy to clean and the pattern (“Good Vibrations”) is sort of a modern take on a hooked rug, which is appropriate for Vermont. When we move those tiles out, though–or when we paint the kitchen cabinets this spring–I think we’ll end up with a kilim runner. After a huge score last year we are big fans now of shopping for kilims on eBay. Very nice wares from a couple of the Turkish sellers, and inexpensive enough that you can justify them in a food workspace!
Go for it. it’ll be Stimmung and so worth ist… Have you Seen these@ikea? Had to think of you immediately: http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/90253818/
*stunning, sorry
we took the plunge and painted all our floors white- no regrets! It needs a little bit of extra TLC but it’s no big deal. I’m also looking for the perfect kitchen rug!
We painted our floors white in our 1970s bungalow. It has the thin strip, orangey hardwood floors in all the bedrooms. I did the kids’ rooms first. I sanded, tsp’d, and used Benjamin Moore. I went with the oil paint because I was worried about durability under destructive children and doggy nails. It’s been a year and it’s started yellowing and feels ‘sticky’ when it’s hot and humid out. Have you ever had this experience? I’m not sure how to correct it. Thank you!
Oh I love when you do these posts! The link to the awesome grey/white carpet doesn’t seem to be working – is there anyway you can fix it? Because even though I’m sure it’s ten million dollars, it’s the perfect rug for my living room. Can we take five seconds to talk about the egg thing with the blanket thing coming out of it? Amazing.
I fixed it, Kristy! I thought I replied to your comment the other day, but I guess it didn’t go through. Thanks for the heads up!
Great white interior – always visually enlarge the room. The second picture by far the best 🙂
Hi ! We painted our timber floors boards white when we renovated our house ! The reason we did it was because we took out walls and because of previous additions to the house all the hardwoods were different shades.
We love our white floors now ! We have a big dog and my hubby is always quite muddy from work and they hold up really well. We have them throughout our living and dining areas. We do have rugs to warm things up. But apart from that they are great !
The most common thing people ask is how do they hold up ? Don’t they look dirty easily ? To be honest ours seem to always look pretty good. They always look cleaner than my kitchen tile. I only steam mop once a week, and just sweep most days. We like how they don’t look perfect, and they make things feel alot more open. If there ever is like a big scratch or mark a magic eraser clears it right up !
Definitely do it ! You will love it !
just f***ing do it. going back to it over and over just means yes but you are afraid somehow.
Hah, no, definitely NOT afraid! It’s more the logistics of it than anything, since it involves essentially moving very piece of furniture on the second floor of the house, not to mention the incredible amount of preparation work required. It’s going to require an enormous commitment of time that I keep delegating to other, more immediate projects.
I love our painted wood kitchen floor but no joke on the time involved to cure between coats of paint and sealer (used Pratt & Lambert which was spendy because of the color saturation, you won’t have that issue, and Bona water sealant and it has totally held up awesome) definitely a 2 weekend project and I would grit your teeth and do the entire floor at once because it will be hard to remotivate if you do it room by room. Good luck – I know it will turn out beautiful!
Wow, your blog is awesome Anna! Hope you’re having a blast in Sweden!!! 🙂
You are in my fav.blog list!
Compliments i love your blog 😉
Cristina
one kings lane now has a sister
https://www.huntersalley.com/categories/rugs
Ok, now I’m craving white floors, too. They really do open up a space and give it an entirely different feeling. Which is why I love paint. Because I’m impatient and when I want to change something I don’t have time to wait until I have enough money to buy all new everything. So instead, I paint. But I’ve never painted floors for some reason. I guess because it’s way more permanent than painting walls since you’d have to strip the floors if you wanted to get back to the natural wood. Anyway, thanks so much for these gorgeous photos! (And the photos of your own house(s), too! LOVE those!)
HEllo Anna,
I recently refinished my maple yellowed, scuffed hardwood floors 1000sq.ft on a long weekend. I sanded using a Benjamin Moore floor sander, hand sanded the edges and applied two coats of SAMAN brand whitewash, then 2 coats SAMAN brand matte varnish on top. No fumes, hardly any dry time and so far beautiful, mellow pinky white floors with a grey grain. It was an amazing transformation for me and considering we we’re quoted $6000 in Calgary, Canada for a “professional” job we only spent $600!
Just a thought that staining may be a good option and possible longer lasting?…time will tell I guess.
White is always right!!!
Just a thought…the half moon wallpaper…looks like a handmade ‘potato print’.
Couldn’t you just do that instead?
I could, but it would be a whole lot more work and it wouldn’t look as good or as permanent/finished. Also, I’m not into copying someone else’s design.
Totally love this entry, a lot of awesome eye candy when it comes to rugs. Thanks so much for sharing Anna!
M+D Old New House
I’ve been researching white painted floors for months! I cannot wait till we can take out our carpet and have a white painted wood floor. Great inspiration photos. Thanks so much for sharing.
Painting wood plank floors white is only 1 part of a 2 part decision…..Glossy or low luster?