I painted my awful underlayment to look like hardwood floors! I <3 it!

Tracy W
by Tracy W
So I had this crazy white and textured ceramic tile in the foyer and I hated it. Minutes after washing it, it would show dirt and it was so.... well, white. So I chopped up the tile with a hammer and chisel and was left with underlayment. I can't afford hardwood floors but I sure wanted the "look" of them. So I primed it, painted it, and faux woodgrained it. After it dried, I added some gloss and they look pretty amazing. I am thrilled with them for now until I can get the real thing. Here is progress so far...
http://generalsplendour.blogspot.com/2012/09/ok-this-is-work-in-progress-but-i-am-so.html
Here is a small section of the finished floor. When the room is done, I will post a complete room shot to show how much of a difference they made.
Here is the before - the ugly underlayment full of staples and paint. I removed the staples, used wood filler to fill gaps and then painted them.
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  • Will N Kathy Fowler Will N Kathy Fowler on Mar 16, 2017

    Another way to accomplish this look on concrete is by using a cementitious overlay on correctly prepared concrete. You can tape out planks, and trowel the coating to look like grain, knots, and nail holes. Then you can stain the final product any color you can imagine for different looks. For durability topcoat with epoxy, acrylic, or a urethane.

  • Sherry Sherry on Feb 26, 2019

    Wow! We need to try this at my son's house. His carpet is very "doggy" and needs to go, but he can't afford a house full of flooring. I'd love to try it. Thanks for the inspiration yet again!

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