White Washed Floors How To

The steps below follow the order of the work for this methods project.

Submitted By: The Corson Cottage

Okay so I promised I would share with you my how to on our porch floors. So here goes. Handmade Plywood Floors

1. We started with sheets of CDX plywood. (The low-cost Stuff.) Tip: If you try this make sure to pick through the lumber pile to pick the best pieces. Try to get the sheets with less ink writing on them. If the sheet has a little ink…don’t worry no biggie, you can sand it out.
2. Travis cut each sheet into 6 inch wide pieces.
3. Then he laid the first piece against one wall to make sure they were all cut square.
4. Then he staggered his cuts to be laid out like a traditional wood floor would be. You do not want all your seams lined up in a row. Trust…this is my hubbies pet peeve!
5. I wanted an aged rustic lived in cottage look, so I wanted the seams between the boards to have a little gap. About the size of a penny….maybe just a touch bigger in random areas.
6. We simply nailed the floor right over the original sub floor. To stay with the aged look I didn’t even fill the nail holes.

White Washing a Wood Floor First…..let me just tell you I’m a first timer!
It actually wasn’t too bad of a project.

1. Start off with a white satin finish paint. I have a thing for Behr paint from Home Depot, so that is what we went with on this one.
2. You need to mix about 2 cups paint to 1/2 cup water. (Stir it up! The paint will sit at the bottom. You will need to continue to stir up the paint as you go as not to let the paint portion over power the mixture. It will leave the floor uneven and too heavily coated in white paint.
3. We used a roller to roll on the paint. Be careful not to leave the floor too wet in one place. Even it out to avoid streaking.
4. Our floor took a total of 2 coats. In some areas we painted and wiped the paint away where it seemed to be just a little heavy.
5. Do not paint yourself into a corner…….obviously;)
6. Wait 24 hours before walking on or placing furniture back in the room.

And……we did it all for under $150 bucks!
Viola!!!! There you have it folks! Our modest-cost friendly white washed wood floors!

before (well kinda actually somewhere in the middle of the project – this went on for a bit longer than originally planned)

after

This is probably my go-to room in the whole house. I think it’s becuase it feels the most like me. I love the white on white and the contrast of the rustic wood. Warm and cozy, yet minimal and direct. Keep checking back all week. We have lots more updates to share. Also, we will be posting some how to series for some of our projects as well.