Author and designer Cheryl MacLachlan adds diamonds to hardwood floors with a Scandinavian pearly soft palette.
Materials:
latex paint in two colors
primer
fine sandpaper
painter's tape
chalk line
measuring tape
paintbrushes, roller
Steps:
- Using a 4-inch-wide bristle brush, paint the entire floor with two coats of your lighter color, making sure to follow the grain of the wood. It is well worth investing in a good quality brush since inexpensive brushes shed bristles into wet paint. Allow the first coat to dry completely according to manufacturer's directions. Sand lightly between coats, to prevent peeling or flaking.
- When the floor is thoroughly dry, mark the diamond grid. Marking will go faster if you work with a partner. Measure the length and width of your room. For the purpose of this illustration, let's say the floor is 12' x 10'. In a room this size, you should place four diamonds across and four diamonds lengthwise.
- Divide the length and the width of the room by 8 (double the number of diamonds). Twelve feet break into eight 18-inch sections, and 10 feet into eight 15-inch sections. Make a small mark in pencil every 18 inches at the edge of the floor along both long walls; repeat procedure every 15 inches across the two short walls.
- Using a chalk line (available in any home improvement store), start in one corner of the room and locate the first mark out from the corner in each direction. Snap the chalk line to connect. Move to the third mark out and repeat. Continue to connect every other mark, until the entire room is marked out in parallel lines. Then repeat process in other direction to make a second set of parallel lines that intersect the first set.
- With painter's tape or one-inch wide heavy-duty masking tape, tape off the outlines of the diamonds to be painted. Press the tape firmly, so that paint will not bleed under the edges. Using a 4-inch-wide bristle brush, work with the direction of the grain and apply two coats of the darker paint to the inside of the diamond patterns. Allow to dry thoroughly between coats and after. Remove tape carefully.
If you like the idea of your floor attaining a weathered look, leave the paint alone so that scuff marks will build up over time. If you defer to practicality, you can seal your handiwork with two coats of a matte-finish, waterborne polyurethane. Following the manufacturer's instructions, apply one coat, allow to dry thoroughly, then brush on the second coat.
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