Quote from Forum Archives on July 20, 2001, 10:41 am

Posted by: dhaley <dhaley@...>

Heather I love floor paint and it works o.k. on plywood. I will tell you
that if you pull up the tiles, depending on your plywood, it might splinter
and pull up too. You will need to putty and sand those areas or they will
continue to pull up and get stuck in your feet (speaking from experience
here).

All floor paints are not equal. I've painted floors in 4 houses now. The
very best floor paint I've found is made by Ace hardware. I will use no
other. You want the oil based with polyurethane in it. It goes on thicker,
covers evenly and is very mopable. I have found it doesn't chip as easily
as others. I've made believers out of friends as well. They first try the
Walmart brand and then call me in tears when it dosen't look as yummy as
mine. The price is a bit more expensive for the ACE but it's well worth the
extra, depending on the floor it usually covers in one coat. It may take
two for your plywood.

I've tried different methods for painting the floor. The easiest I've found
is to take an agled foam paint brush and paint a 1 ft area all the way
around the perimeter of the room. Then either use a roller for the rest or
a wide foam paint brush. I have found that if you have alot of dings in the
floor that you need to push the paint into, the foam brush works best. The
foam brush also fits nicely into a zip lock bag when you need to stop
painting. I've kept them in the ziploc bag for three days and was able to
grab the brush and start painting again without ever having to clean a
brush. (A plus when working with oil based paint) I've also found not all
foam brushes are alike. DO NOT BUY THE WALMART ones. I just made that
mistake. It took me the entire package of Walmart foam brush to paint (they
fell apart) what I can normally paint with an ACE brand or craft store brand
foam brush.

As far as stenciling the border goes. If you decide to stencil a border
make sure you take a spray can of polyurethane and spray over your
stenciling when you finish. I have found that if you have children,
stenciling the floor is not a good idea. It tends to rub or chip off more
quickly than the floor. If you chip the floor paint, no biggy, just grab a
brush, corner of paper towel, whatever and dab some paint on the chips
before you go to bed and they'll usually be dry by morning. Stenciling
chips are another matter. In addition, if you don't want people to notice
the floor is plywood, don't stencil. It draws attention to the floor rather
than letting it blend in with the rest of the house. Let them see your
lovely rugs, window dressings, etc. I've had many friends build their own
homes and have to live with plywood subfloor for a couple of years. I think
all have said the same thing. They were much happier when they floor
painted but they were also happier when people didn't notice they were
living on subfloor.

We found in our current house that if we painted all one color on the same
level that it made the house seem bigger. Adding a stencil around the rooms
makes the rooms seem smaller but cozier. You'll have to decide which look
you prefer. My upstairs is very small so we went with no stencil and
handwoven rugs.

I just happen to have my floor paint page from ACE handy. Here are their
color options:

Steel Wool - kind of brownish gray, medium dark
White
Tile Red - really nice rust/burgundy color
Slate Gray - definetly gray
Bark Brown - a redish very dark brown
Silver Spur - kind of a light gray
Dixieland - a very light gray
Mortar Gray - slightly off white
Alaska Jade - light green
Pale Cadet - a lovely light colonial blue
Dutch Blue - a medium colonial blue
Veridian - a medium green
Flint Ridge- now this color is deceptive. This is what we used. We took
the paint sample to our current bedcoverings and looked for a color that
was in all coverings. This was the color. I'd never have chosen this color
right off. Hubby picked it after we'd gone with a darker color and it made
our bedrooms look the size of the bathroom. This color turned out
absolutely lovely. It goes with everything. It's sort of that sagey tanish
green color that you usually find in leaves. Dosen't show dirt like the
dark colors or really light colors do! I fought painting it this color but
it turned out very nice. I painted the stairwell this color too but plan to
paint the instep of the stair a different color and stencil the instep.
Glacier Gray - a medium tan
Temple Gold - a nice harvest gold type color
Brushwood - the color of hot cocoa
Spicecake - kind of between a pinky beige and rust
Oyster Gray - a really nice option. A color that will blend with
everything, light enough to reflect light but dark enough not to show dirt.
Kind of a brownish gray.
Harvest Tan - the color of red oak cabinets if you evened out the color
Aged Teakwood - a really nice color, brownish rust
Cornice Beige - o.k. they call it beige but I'd call it dusty rose!

Hope this helps.....Deanna