MOREGEOUS

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26 May 2009

Paint your laminate flooring, credit crunch style!

Project BB was looking a little tired, as well as filthy, and the living room laminate floor, which has seemed oh so funky in 2001, now looked like a battered old squash court. Time for a change, but no cash, in the attic or otherwise :)
So a Sian stylee makeover was needed, starting with the floor. Inspired by the gorgeous brilliant white floor in Project Cathedral, but lacking the new extra wide pine boards, a little experiment has been carried out. Laminate lightly sanded, oil based primer sponge-rollered on (don't use brushes as they leave lines and hairs), then get rid of all the dust and close all the windows, cause heaven only knows where all the dust, insects and bits of fluff come from.

After the primer, comes the two coats of diamond eggshell white paint - water based, not oil, as oil based gloss paint eventually yellows and looks hideous. Of course if you are using another colour, then this doesn't matter, though water based eggshell dries a zillion times quicker than gloss.
Then two coats of varnish, flooring hardness, I used Ronseal cause it does what it says etc etc :-)
And suddenly, the room was transformed, I was delighted with it. Blitzed the Ikea tables with gloss, new lights instead of the papery student ones, new hanging panels at the windows and a zippy Ikea print on the wall. Lo and behold the very next day, two lots of tenants fighting over it. Result.
Of course there was the obligatory disaster. Not mine, you understand, because I wouldn't have been stupid enough (like a man was) to move chocolate brown gloss paint (like a man did) and put it on the communal hallway carpet (like a man did) without ensuring the lid was properly on (like a man did)......



1 comment:

  1. ok.. impressive end result!! but, i have to ask.. because i'm VERY surprised any coating would stick to the finish the Tundra comes with. having painted lots of floors, even actual linoleum ( prime with latex-epoxy deck paint an you can even top with the more resilient oil based coatings, no topcoat necessary )
    but i thought most ikea laminates had an aluminum silicate finish, and that paint just wouldn't stick.
    did your job hold up? for how long? how did it wear under traffic? any peeling? would it withstand adult pivoting?
    many thanks, looking forward to hearing about it!

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