A Floor Project
There are a million speciality floor paints out there but if you are an Annie Sloan addict like I am maybe you will choose to stay with our favourite!
Before you begin, thoroughly wipe down the floors to get rid of dust and dirt — you do not want anything trapped underneath the paint. If you are working with hardwood floors, you might consider sanding off the boards before you begin painting. If using an orbital sander, check before starting. Is it a solid wood floor? Has it already been sanded and if so, are the tongue and groove thick enough to withstand another go? Is it a laminate floor in which case it will probably not be thick enough to withstand an electric sanding? Do you need to sand at all as we are using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ ( no or minimum sanding required!)
For a more even finish you could begin with a primer, to smooth out the surface before applying the paint. I must admit I would consider this more for a ceramic floor, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ adheres so well to wood. Always do a few test areas with both the paint and lacquer before starting. You never know the history of an old floor and maybe a stain blocker will be necessary. Better to find out early! So a stain comes through. This can be overcome by choosing a stronger or dark colour which disguises the staining. For a light colour the stain blocker will be your answer. The two we have on hand here at Sheldon are Shellac Knotting Solution for a transparent coat and Zinzer Binn bullseye for an opaque coat. your choice.
A Fantastic New Look for Your Floor in Two Days!
An average room (20 sq metres) from beginning to end in two days
A Great Weekend Project.
Materials Needed:
18 mm tongue and groove floor boards (it was not necessary to use 22 mm over the lino.) Available from a timber merchant or DIY store
A saw to cut the planks to size
30 mm Masonry nails
1 litre of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – we used colour Burgundy1.5 litres of Annie Sloan Lacquer1 litre
Vileda squeeze floor mop and bucket
1 large roller and tray plus an extendible pole for the paint
1 small gloss roller and tray and an extendible pole for the lacquer
Method
Lay the floorboards directly over the linoleum flooring. A Google search confirmed that the best way to lay them was in a random fashion so as to avoid a definite pattern when cutting the planks to fit the space. We used 30 mm masonry nails to hammer each plank in place. Once the floor is complete the planks hold each other in place and only the small bits need fixing. securely. And you don’t need to enlist the services of a professional to lay the floor!
Next came the painting part. We added about 100ml of water to the Chalk Paint and began applying it over the wood with a big roller on an extendable pole and a brush to cut in at the edges. The surface was then left to dry for about an hour.
Once dry (but don’t leave it too long as that just makes the next bit harder) we began removing layers of paint with the Vileda floor mop – rinsing often for best results. We wanted to create an uneven finish rather than a stained look to give the feel of a slightly worn floor.
We then applied a minimum of two coats of Annie Sloan Lacquer over the whole surface allowing it to dry between coats. We used a small gloss roller attached to an extendable pole so that we could reach all parts of the floor without stepping on the wet lacquer at any time
Leigh Gallery shop floor once finished.
Tips
Ideally you should remove all furniture from the room as this will speed up the work time immensely. Failing that you will need to move everything to one side of the room and completely finish one half before starting the other, as we did in the shop.
By using extendable poles for the rollers we avoided having to bend down to work.
The Vileda floor mop is a great purchase as you are not on your hands and knees wringing out a sponge in cold water to remove the paint.
The flexibility of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint allows you to manipulate the paint to achieve the exact texture you want very easily.
Here are a few other Chalk Paint™colours applied as a wash over new untreated wood.
You can buy the paint and lacquer right here and the floor planks from any decent DIY store. of course the mop is available in pretty much any home store.
Have fun
x Jane