After giving it much thought and considering different options, I’ve decided that I’m going to paint the whole studio floor, including the bathroom and the storage closet. Here’s how this decision came about.
The studio floor is red oak hardwood flooring. I installed red oak because that’s what we have in the rest of the house, and I wanted the wood to match just in case I ever decide that I want to change the purpose of this room and have the flooring in the studio match the rest of the house. But as long as the room is being used as my studio, I didn’t want dark stained wood floors in here. So immediately after installing the red oak, I did a whitewash finish on the floors.
And then, because I wanted a “rug” in the back entry but couldn’t have an actual rug because of Matt’s wheelchair, I decided to paint a design on the floor.
After living with this back entry for three-and-a-half years, I’ve decided that it’s just too much for me. I don’t like the stark black and white paint on the floor, and the green is overpowering for me. So then I had to make a decision about how to get rid of the black and white on the floor.
While pondering how to do that, another problem arose. I had some water damage on the floor by the side door. Before our big winter storm (Snowmageddon) in February 2021, we were stocking up on food and water because we were being warned that everything would be closed for several days and we might lose services like water and electricity. So I bought a bunch of water (the three-gallon rectangular containers with the spout) and set them inside the side door of the studio just in case.
We ended up not needing them during the storm, so they just sat there for months, and we’d use them on occasion. What I didn’t realize is that the very last one was slowly leaking, and evidently had been leaking for a while. So the floor in that area (about a 1.5 foot square) swelled up and needs to be sanded and wood filled again.
The final consideration is the fact that this is a studio floor. While I haven’t used this studio as much as I plan to in the future once it’s finished, I’ve already gotten a few paint splatters and drips from art projects on the floor. So once the room is finished, and I’m using the room even more than I have been, there’s no question that I’ll be getting even more paint on the floor. It happens. That’s the nature of a studio that’s used for art projects.
So with all of those considerations, I decided that I need to do a finish that will (1) cover up the back entry “rug”, (2) cover up the water damaged area once it’s wood filled and sanded smooth again, and (3) be easy to fix when I want to cover up the paint splatters and drips that will inevitably occur when I’m doing art projects.
The answer is obviously a painted floor. So as ‘ve scrolled Instagram over the last couple of months, I’ve been keeping my eye open for painted floor design ideas.
As of this moment, I’m leaning towards using light neutral colors, like the Behr Polar Bear and Benjamin Moore Classic Gray that I used on the floor in the guest bedroom.
Those colors offer a subtle backdrop and pattern without demanding attention, and just like in the guest bedroom, I don’t want anything on the floor that will take attention away from the walls. And since those are colors that are used throughout the entire house, it makes sense to bring them into the studio for continuity.
All of our trim and wainscoting are painted Behr Polar Bear, and it’s also used on the walls (used within the designs) in the music room, hallway, and home gym. And Benjamin Moore Classic Gray is used on the walls in almost every room. So I like the idea of bringing those colors into the studio as well. But after looking through some inspiration pictures for painted floors, I could also be persuaded to bring in a darker color. No black, though. As I’ve learned with the back studio entry floor, black and white are just too jarring for me.
I was needing some inspiration as far as the design goes. The obvious, and probably most popular, design is a checkerboard design. This would be relatively quick and easy to do. Since I’m dealing with such a large room, I don’t want to do a complicated design that will take a long time. (All of the pictures below are screenshots from Instagram. They’re all linked to the Instagram accounts where I found them, so just click on the pictures to see more.)
I really like the large scale of this checkerboard design.
But I also really love this three color design as well. I’m pretty sure this is tile, but it could easily be done with paint.
This was the original floor design that inspired me to paint the studio floor. I like that it has a more modern look to it, but it can still be a subtle background without demanding attention.
This one reminds me of our guest bedroom floor, except that the stripes are random instead of equal width. And I love it paired with that fun wallpaper. That gives me an idea of how it would look paired with my colorful floral wallpaper. But again, I won’t be using black and white.
And finally, this is a painted checkerboard floor with a gold outline, which I absolutely love!!! I don’t think I would go to the trouble of painting veins to mimic the look of marble, but oh my goodness, that gold detail!! I love it so much.
So I’ve narrowed my choices down to those designs. I’ll give it some more thought as I start to box up things in the studio this weekend and get ready to work on the room. I’m so excited to get this project started…and finally finished!!!
And yes, the home gym is finished. I just need to do a little dusting, vacuum the floor, and take some photos so that I can share the whole before and after with you. WOOHOOO!!! Y’all, I’m down to one room. One room!!!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I hope you’ll join me on my DIY and decorating journey! If you want to follow my projects and progress, you can subscribe below and have each new post delivered to your email inbox. That way you’ll never miss a thing!
