I have hated my parquet floor since we moved into this home, and finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I started by sanding the entire surface. Then I painted the entire floor with 2 coats of white paint, sanding in between coats. Be sure to let the paint dry between coats. Next, I painted the entire floor with a cream colored paint and let it dry. Finally, I handpainted the squares...each square is 4 of the little parquet squares together. After all of the paint dried, I sanded the entire floor for a worn, cottagy look. Find the entire tutorial at
http://www.mom4real.com/2012/07/painted-wood...
they put down plywood...used a router and carved lines which looked like wide pine floor planking when she finished... then sanded.....stained and poly'd it and OMG! you would not believe how beautiful these floors came out! I thought they were real pine planks..seriously! when she told me what they did my jaw dropped.
this is certainly something to consider.