A few weeks ago when we shared our freshly plastered and painted fourth bedroom (which we finished on the day our visitors arrived) I’m sure that you noticed that we painted our new plywood floor, too!
We’d always planned on painting the floor, but it was still a tough decision when it came down to it. We’d honestly never expected the floor to look as good as it did without paint and we really loved the texture and look of the plywood.
I guess it will always depend on the quality of the plywood you use, but we totally think that a plywood floor would work in unpainted (although it would need varnish or some other kind of finish to seal it).
Painting a floor white is obviously not for everyone and we were (and still are a bit) worried about how the finish would hold up. Wanting to keep the floor white, pristine and chip-free, we did a lot of research into what kind of paint to use to paint the floor in order to achieve the best possible finish.
As always there’s so much information and advice (sometimes conflicting) available on the internet and from various paint manufacturers.
After comparing a lot of options, this is our guide to on how to paint a wood floor.
1. Clean.
The finish you achieve when painting is always only as good as the surface you are painting. It’s really important to make sure that it’s smooth, clean and dust free. Any bits of dust or dirt make it impossible to achieve a good finish.
2. Prime.
Paint the floor once with slightly watered down primer (we used Farrow and Ball Wood Floor Primer & Undercoat). Being lazy as usual, we didn’t bother to mix the paint with water, but just used a wet paintbrush (that we occasionally dipped in fresh water) instead. Yes, this probably isn’t the recommended way to paint, but it worked and saved time.
3. Prime again.
After priming the floor with watered down primer and of course letting it dry, we then primed the floor again with a full coat of primer. We chose white paint for the finished floor which is why we used a light primer. If you’re planning on painting your floor with dark paint, you’ll need an appropriate primer for that.
4. Paint.
After letting the primer dry it’s time to get out the paint. We personally like to use a paintbrush rather than a roller because we find that it’s easier to achieve a smooth finish, but it’s really personal preference. (We love our Purdy brushes – this
is one that we used to paint the floor) Our room is also really quite small, so in our case, a roller probably wouldn’t have speeded things up anyway.
5. And finally paint again. And again. And again!
Depending on the coverage of your paint you’ll have to apply a few coats to achieve a solid coverage. All in all, we applied six coats of paint (two primer and four thin coats of paint). Alternatively, you could apply a thin coat of paint and have the texture of the wood show through. We painted the floor with Farrow and Ball All White Floor Paint.
Because we installed the new plywood floor on top of the existing floorboards, there’s a small threshold between the bedroom and the hallway floor. We purposely chose very thin plywood so that we wouldn’t end up with a step into the bedroom and because the difference in height is just a few millimetres, we didn’t bother to install a specific threshold.
After painting the floor it was time to add the skirting boards. You could, of course, add the skirting before you paint the floor and paint everything at the same time. Our order of things was purely based on timescales and the rush of getting the floor painted before our guests arrived.
First, we measured each wall and cut the length of skirting to size before adding the necessary angles at each end. Over the years, we’ve learned not to fuss too much about getting a perfectly mitred joint, as a bit of caulk can hide a multitude of sins – although it’s good to get it to fit as tightly as possible!
To attach the skirting to the wall we used our nailer 
which made the process super quick and easy. This is definitely the method that we’d recommend. It worked much better than any glue we’ve ever used as the fixing is much stronger and you can push (and slightly bend) the skirting against the wall which is great if either the wall or the skirting are slightly bowed or uneven. When nailing the skirting into place you, of course, have to watch out for any cables or pipes that may be in the wall behind it.
Adding the skirting obviously made a huge difference, but caulking the small gap between the skirting and the wall is really finished everything off. I guess it’s the difference between an okay looking or a more professional looking finish.
We had considered stripping, sanding and repainting the existing skirting, but as we could get like for like skirting to match what had been there and because we were in a rush to get the room finished, we for once decided to make things a bit easier for ourselves and install new skirting instead.
Another reason for replacing the skirting was that we had already removed it for plastering and laying the floor anyway, so for us it didn’t make a difference if we installed new skirting or the old skirting.
Up till now, the floor is holding up really well. There are no chips in the paintwork and it’s still really white. If there’s one thing I’d suggest though, it’s to wait till the paint has thoroughly dried before furnishing the room. We rushed because we had visitors coming and ended up marking the floor – luckily nothing that a bit of touching up couldn’t solve.
I know that having a white floor isn’t for everyone, but it’s in an upstairs bedroom and we also don’t usually wear shoes in the house, so think that it should stay looking this good for a long time.
Do you prefer the natural floor or the painted floor? Do you have a painted floor – if so, how is yours holding up?
I chose the same paint for my bathroom floor.
It’s such a nice shade of white, isn’t it? How’s it holding up in your bathroom? Or haven’t you painted it yet?
Cx
I love the look of white painted floors but could never convince my husband. SIGH.
I’m pretty sure I could only convice Jan because the floor is in our rarely used guest bedroom. Glad to hear you like our floor!
Cx
It looks great! The room looks big and bright and airy. Can I ask where you got your skirting from? Our house has been treated to a few different styles over the years so next year we’re planning to go round all the rooms and start afresh.
Thanks Lucy! We got ours from here. We find that the quality is usually better than from the DIY chains.
Cx
Thanks Christine, I’ll look for something similar here in Bristol! :) x
I really like painted floors. I started off like you in a little used spare bedroom, and was so pleased with the result have done another bedroom, and our front room, that we use in the morning. I would say they have all worn well. I used Little Green floor paint in french grey dark. I got advice from Little Green as all floors had ben sanded and treated some years back. They recommended cleaning with spirit, sanding, then doing an initial coat one to four spirit and paint, then second coat just paint. It was really easy to do, the main pain is waiting for a week, to obtain a full cure. Easy if you can clear the room but not so easy when we had a double bed that we didn’t dismantle. I just did a half at time, so took about two weeks. Continue to enjoy your blog. Just 1 question you have used a roller when painting walls, do you get a dimpled effect?
Those are great tips, thanks for sharing Lorraine! We had to sand and varnish our dining room floor in halfs. It’s kind of annoying to have to wait so much longer but – like for you – it worked, too.
Yes we use a roller for the walls and no, we dont have a dimpled effect. For us, using a roller sleeve with a short pile works well. I think that this is the one we have.
Cx
Thanks for this recommendation, will get this when I decide to paint our living room walls.
It looks lovely and really opens up the space and light. Totally with you on caulking – the lazy people that did our loft conversion didn’t bother with any of that stuff and so we have massive gaps all the way round the bedroom X
Thanks Lins! It’s so annoying when you pay for people to do work but then still end up having to do things yourself. I guess that’s part of the reason we DIY so much – at least we know what we’re getting!
Cx
Hi Christine, I’m wondering where you got your plywood from in the UK and whether they charged you extra to cut it to size? Can you advise?
We purchased the plywood at a local joinery. I think they charged a bit for cutting it but overall it only worked out slightly more expensive than buying sheets at a DIY store. I’d definitely recommend going down a similar route.
Cx
Hi, do you break down costs of your plywood floor anywhere on the blog? I’m really wanting to do plywood floors, but am having a hard time working out how much per square meter it is — so I can convince the husband!
I didn’t do a cost breakdown because I ordered the plywood at the same time as other things so it was difficult to calculate as I got a better deal.
As a rough guide, it was around £250. Our floor was probably slightly more expensive as I opted for a high-quality and very thin plywood. I also had it cut to size (which I’d recommend). The biggest cost of the floor is obviously the plywood, everything else (depending on if you paint or not) is almost negligible.
Hope that helps!
Cx
Thanks! That’s about what I was estimating, so I’m glad I was on track!