Check out my floors in the May/June 2012 issue of Natural Home and Garden!
My brown paper floors are by far my most viewed content, at the top of the list for FAQs, and seen more on Pinterest than anything else I’ve done. I think that’s kinda cool for such an easy and cheap floor solution! But I cannot take credit for this method alone, I originally saw this idea in a magazine that featured Jami from An Oregon Cottage. I changed a few things about the process to suit my tastes, but her site is also a great resource.
I wanted to put all the details in one place (instead of scattered over several posts) to make it easier for you to start your project. Keep in mind this is the method I have done in my house over plywood subfloors. There are other methods out there, but I can only tell you what has worked for me. If you have cement/concrete subfloor, these instructions as written will not work. Please click here for advice from others.
I also HIGHLY recommend getting a piece of scrap wood and testing the technique with your stain and poly of choice. I get a lot of people asking for help after they’ve done the whole room because the paper isn’t sticking, the stain isn’t even, or the poly is cloudy. At this point, it is very difficult for me to help. The way I developed my method was by getting a piece of plywood and trying it out. Yes it is extra work, but it is worth it to know exactly how the floor will look.
Ok let’s get started! Want to rid your house of bad carpet/linoleum/vinyl/etc?! Here’s what you’ll need for a large room:
- Brown craft paper on a roll-$11
- Elmer’s Glue (by the gallon, check A.C. Moore/Michaels/other craft stores)- use a 40% off coupon, it will run about $12
- Small bucket
- Paint brush
- Roller tray
- Stain (optional, I used Minwax Dark Walnut)- $8
- Floor Grade Polyurethane (I used this in semi-gloss)- $40
- Sponge pad on wood block mop head to apply poly- $5
- Lambskin stain pad refill (if you’re using stain- this fits on the same wood block as above)- $6
- Extension pole (universal screw in connection for the mop blocks or paint rollers)-$9
- 3″ chip brush- $1.50
- Gloves
The start up materials cost about $100, but will likely last for a few rooms (or into other projects, it’s always handy to have an extension pole). I did about 650 sq ft in my home for around $200.
First things first, prepare your floor. In my case, that involved removing the carpet, pad, and staples. I also sanded down any high spots (our subfloor had areas with plaster/glue or something on them), filled any deep nail holes, hammered in any loose nails, and filled any gaps between boards. Keep in mind when using filler that you usually want to overfill a bit because even though the package says it won’t shrink-it does. When it’s set, sand the filler down flush with the floor.
I’ll be the first to tell you that I absolutely hate prep work-especially sanding. But trust me, don’t skip this. Go ahead and tape off your baseboards if you really don’t want to do any touch up work. Once your floor is filled, sanded, and vacuumed (or swept), you’re ready for the paper.
It is probably faster to tear a bunch of paper, wad it up into garbage bags, then start. But I pretty much tear as I go, somehow seeing the progress helps and also allows me to take a break from sitting on the floor with glue hands. Get out your roll of paper and start tearing-keeping the pieces with straight edges separate from the ones torn from the middle of the roll. I like my pieces to be anywhere from 6″-12″ in diameter, but it really depends on the look you want. The smaller the pieces, the more wrinkly/leathery/vein-y the final result will be. As you tear, crumple the pieces into balls and toss into a bag or pile.
Next, mix up your glue. I don’t like to mix a lot at a time because you may need to stop or take a break, and you won’t want the glue to dry up and go to waste. I typically mix up 2-3 “batches” using a 3:1 ratio of water:glue- so 6-9 cups of water to 2-3 cups of glue at a time. This will fit it a 2 gallon bucket easily. Stir it up with a paint stick or a gloved hand.
Now you’re ready to start! Using a paint brush, brush the area you’re working in with the glue mixture then dunk 5-6 balls of paper in your glue mix. I have found this is the perfect amount of paper and working time for one person. As soon as you dunk the paper, you want to start submerging it and squeezing it out. I pull each ball out and set it on the floor until it’s time to use it. This is important: do NOT leave the paper in the glue too long. You will only have to leave it in too long once to realize how long that is. It will tear and break down and generally be a pain to use. So just dunk, squeeze, and set aside. Repeat if necessary.
The straight edge pieces are perfect for the back of a stair tread (shown above) and underneath baseboard. I like to overlap the pieces by a few inches, obviously it will help with durability but it also looks more natural in my opinion. Don’t be afraid to brush glue mix on top of the pieces to help them lay flat and remove wrinkles.
You’ll want to paper yourself out of the room, or in the case of the hallway, leave hopping spots to be filled in later. For a staircase, work every other stair. Heat helps the glue dry, so if you feel like getting out a space heater you can (pictured in the bathroom above). I have found that no matter how large the room-with or without heat- it usually takes no longer than 12 hours (or, overnight) to dry.
Once the paper is dry, it’s time to stain (if you want). I prefer the look of the stain, but if you like the natural color feel free to skip down below to the polyurethane section. My whole upstairs is done with Minwax Dark Walnut. This is an oil based stain, so beware. I have never used a water based stain, but I have had someone comment that they tried it and didn’t get good results. If you want to use water based stain, test it on some scrap paper first before proceeding.
For a small area, you could get away with a lint free rag and chip brush. However, if you’re doing a room I highly recommend the extension pole/stain pad route. Here’s a neat tip to keep your roller trays in good shape: slide them into a small garbage bag and tape to secure. This is great for any oil based product, but helpful for latex paint too!
If possible, have the stain shaken before use at your paint store. If you can’t, you will need to stir it VERY well.
Using the chip brush, cut in around baseboards and trim. The stain pad makes staining a pretty quick process, so you can really cut in a fairly large area (like a whole wall or closet). When using the brush, dip it in the stain and then dab it in the top of the roller tray to remove excess. You really do not want to apply stain with a heavy hand. It is much better to need to dip your brush more often than to have a puddle of stain you need to disperse. It is for this reason that I absolutely DO NOT suggest the use of a foam brush. I have tried them and trust me-the chip brush is much easier to control and about the same price. When cutting in, be sure to “pull” the stain out a good bit from the wall, about 6″ or so. This will make it easier to blend the edges with the bulky mop pad.
Once you’ve cut in a large enough area, grab your extension pole and attach the lambswool pad to the wood block (if you’ve bought them separately, or bought one that came with the foam pad attached) by removing the wing nuts . The lambswool pad is meant for oil based products, so if you’re using water based stain this will not work (you’ll likely need two of the foam pads). Vacuum the lambswool pad for a minute to remove any loose fur or use a lint brush if your vacuum doesn’t have a hose. I cannot stress the importance of this step enough.
The extension pole screws into a threaded hole on the wood block. It may take a few tries to get it to go, as the block and pad end up being more angled then you might think. It’s not a 90 degree joint, so just look closely at the threads and try to line up the pole. Maybe that’s too much information, but I seriously almost threw the whole thing out the window the first time I tried this. I was convinced that “universal” was false advertising.
Once you’ve got your stain pad-on-a-stick assembled, pour some stain into your roller tray. Again, don’t over do it- you don’t want to splash it everywhere. Make sure you open any windows in the room before you start because you won’t be able to access them later. Dip the stain pad into the stain then blot it on the upper half of the tray by pushing gently downward to remove excess. Using long mop like movements, brush the stain on the floor in large sections. Blend it into the areas where you’ve cut in. If you’re new to this, it’s best to start in a closet. I have found that staining the paper is a lot different than staining wood. Since there is no grain, it really helps to use circular motions. Once you’ve laid down most of the stain from the pad (a few long straight mop strokes), you’ll have enough stain on the pad left to swirl around the edges and blend. While the stain is wet, you can move it pretty easily. Just don’t try to go back over it a few minutes later. Remember to mop yourself out. This is sometimes easier said than done, so just plan carefully.
This next part is probably the hardest. After doing several rooms/areas in all weather conditions, I have never found that the stain dries completely. What I mean by that is even after 24 hours, it will likely still be tacky. It took me a few tries to come up with the best method of applying the polyurethane given this annoying situation. You’ll be mopping first, then cutting in.
I used a water based poly because it is a quick dry and less smelly. Considering the amount of time spent applying it, I highly recommend going this route. It is more expensive, but please do not make your decision based on price (this is already such a cheap flooring solution). If you choose oil based poly, test it in an inconspicuous area first!
Using the extension pole again, attach the foam mop head to the wood block. Cover your roller tray with a garbage bag and pour in your poly of choice. Dip the mop head in the poly, blot out the excess, then apply it in long strokes on the floor. Stay away from the walls, you can cut this area in with a brush later. Be quick and wear socks. Just get that first coat down with minimal walking. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Once it dries, the tack will be gone and you can take your time cutting in around the baseboards and applying subsequent coats. Follow the directions for re-coating that your brand of poly suggests. I recommend no less than 12 coats.
I get asked a lot about sanding in between coats. The truth of the matter is that it does make a difference in how the floor feels under foot. It likely extends the life of the floor as well. However, who wants to sand an entire room? I didn’t. I sanded my stair treads and landing, and these areas are really smooth and lovely. But of course- these areas are also not covered with rugs and furniture. So to me it’s a trade off. If you want perfectly polished looking smooth floors, definitely sand with 220 grit-maybe not between each coat but definitely after the first and before the last.
To really finish the look, install quarter round or shoe molding. I’m in the process of starting this in my master bedroom, and it looks amazing.
FAQs
1. How does the floor wear? Is it durable?
Well, it’s paper. So, considering that…it is remarkably durable. Once the poly is fully cured (sometimes up to a week), I find it is pretty resistant to scratches from normal traffic. I have a large dog and she can scratch the floor if she gets really crazy. It is similar to hardwoods in that way. I can’t guarantee it will last for 10 years, but I have heard that it can. It’s all in the application and general care of the floors. We have area rugs and felt feet on our furniture. I have never installed this in a bathroom or kitchen.
2. How long does it take?
I would say no matter how small the area, you’ll need at least 3 days without stain and 4 with stain.
3. What if my subfloor is not plywood?
I have no experience installing this on concrete/cement, tile, vinyl or linoleum. Some of my readers have suggested other methods which may work for your application. Please test in a small area to be sure.
And now here are some final shots from my house to get you motivated! Keep in mind all of these photos were taken on different days in different light, and you can see variation in how the floor photographs. But in person, it is very seamless and uniform.
{Basement Stairs-Natural, No Stain}
{Main Stairwell, March 2011}
{Main Stairwell, September 2011}
{Hallway And Ryan's Room}
{Ryan's Room}
{Hallway and Guest Room}
{Sneak Peak- Master Bedroom with Quarter Round Molding}
For concrete/cement subfloors, here are a list of things I have read or been told by others that do or do not work. Again, I have never done this so please test in a small area.
- The 3:1 glue mix does not work for most.
- A 50/50 glue mix has worked for some.
- Using polyurethane only, brush it on the floor then lay the paper and brush more on top- do not saturate/dunk the paper.
- If you have to use the poly only method, you cannot apply stain over the poly-it must be mixed in for the initial paper application. Look for “stain + polyurethane” products. I do not know anyone who has done this, so I have no idea how the stain+poly will affect the color of the paper.
- I am curious to see if wallpaper glue would work.
I don’t know how I missed these before on your blog. Such a neat idea and they look great. This would have been a good solution in our old house.
I freaking LOVE it! My husband even wants to try it haha. But we live in a 100+ year old house with original tile floors. The tiles are hideous and broken etc so i’m not worried about keeping this original feature in our house. But since its a tile floor through out, not sure how we could manage doing something like this. I’m thinking maybe trying it in our bedroom. See how that goes. I’ll send you a message
Great post!
WOWOWOWOWOW!!!! I just absolutely love this!!! I need to do this one. I am pinning it now. It is just beautiful thanks so much for sharing.
Hooray! Great idea putting it all in one spot! I love the new updated pictures too! One question, how come the stairs look so different in the photos? Is it just the flash or did you do an additional treatment? I was the one that had contacted you about the water based stain, and it was a NIGHTMARE, I highly recommend doing the oil based stain instead. I did the powder room, and am going to venture forth with the rest of the house, starting with my son’s room next. I did end up doing my first “repairs” to the powder room floor after a full 4 months of hard use (including 4 toilet overflows thanks to my son). They were tiny areas that were easy to touch up with a Q-tip, stain and repoly’d. Have you had any of these areas occur in any of your floors yet? I noticed them because they were the color of the original contractor’s paper. They weren’t from scratches or anything like that either, and a few were almost perfectly round. My guess is that it was maybe my dog’s nails popping off a dot of the poly and the stain stuck to it? I’m not sure, but was wondering how your floor has been holding up. I did the shoe moulding too and it looks FANTASTIC!
Kim- Yes I think it’s just the flash and also the correcting features on my photo software. I mainly put up the two shots so people could see how they are holding up over 6 months of use. I have done a couple of touch ups, nothing like what you described though-I wonder if it’s water spots? I don’t have this flooring in a bathroom, so I’m thinking that must be the difference. I touched up a part on the landing where my dog scratched it doing a nose dive off the stairs, using the same method basically-just dabbing some stain and brushing a bit of poly. But in general I have spent almost no time maintaining these floors other than using my sweeper attachment for my kirby and a vinegar/water spray mop.
Perhaps you’re right and it is water spots, my son has overflowed that bathroom a ton of times and it sometimes sits a while before I discover it! Grrrrr. Even though it did need a few “repairs”, it took less than 10 minutes and after 4 months of hard use, TOTALLY worth it. I did a little writeup and short video on my repairs in case any of your readers want to see what they looked like. http://mossisawesome.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/diy-update-paper-flooring-repairs-oh-nooooooo-not/
I am thinking about doing this in my kitchen. My mom thinks it will not hold up to traffic and my dogs! My daughter thinks it will be rough and hard to keep clean! What do you think?!?! Thanks
Also, my floor is bare concrete!
Shira- It is holding up very well in our house, and I have a large dog and 3 cats. It’s super easy to clean, but if you choose a dark color it will show dirt more (like any dark hardwoods). I have no trouble keeping it clean though, just sweeper vac and mop.
Im wondering what your thoughts of doing this technique on a gass fireplace wall. Do you think the poky would hold? It’s not a fireplace we use on a regular basis and when in use it’s not on for a long period of time. I’d love your input. Thanks.
Nicole- I’d be very hesitant to use this technique in that application, you would definitely need to use a different product than poly- something made for high heat. If you try it let me know how it works out!
What about trying this on a wall? Can you apply the stain on a sheet rock wall covered in the brown paper?
Julie- Yup, you can absolutely do this on a wall…I think that was actually one of the first uses I came across for this technique.
Just wondering have you ever tried a water based stain? I have heard the using oil based and water based don’t mix well together….I was wanting to try this on my bathroom walls…..I just love the look on your floors!!!
Julie- I have not tried water based stain, but people have told me it doesn’t work well. Waterbased floor poly can go over oil based stain. If you’re doing it on a wall though, you may want to check out this method: http://www.diyinspiration.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22
Forget what I asked about the water based stain, I just got thru reading that you don’t suggest using that…Would you suggest using just a chip brush on a wall, I was just planning on doing the bottom half around the bathroom…the walls are painted right now, I have a wall paper border thru the middle and I just wanted the bottom half done with the craft paper… and the bathroom isn’t all that big….
Yeah if it’s a smallish area (I did my whole hallway by hand), I would use the chip brush. It will be much cheaper than getting into the mop situation and probably won’t take too long. Good luck!
Hey! love this. found on pinterest (of course). I posted it in the comments to a post on COLOURlovers.com regarding Eric Carle’s painted tissue method…. anyway, we got off in left field…. I went back to link someone to the instructions which you have now FULLY added so HUGE thank you to you.
What I really wanted to say was, what if you used a Marine Varnish – yes, it would probably be super smelly to apply but wouldn’t it hold up to the years and cleaning, etc?
How do you clean the floors, are you able to mop or spot scrub if needed? That is why I was thinking the Marine Varnish would be a hefty solution.
Great job and awesome that you are sharing it!
btw. I am the community curator / blog editor over at COLOURlovers.com
keep up the good work!
Cool site Molly, thanks for stopping by!
apologies. never-mind on the cleaning Q as you answered that above.
Molly- I would think marine varnish would work great, it didn’t come to mind when I was starting the project though.
We have done this treatment on our concrete subfloor but did not think it would work upstairs on the wood subfloor. We are getting ready to buy laminate. How is the noise level? also, how does it feel on the wood sub floor? Thanks
Teri I am thinking of doing this on a concrete subfloor, what alterations to the above directions did you have to make since it was concrete or did you not? Also, did you do any kind of a concrete sealer on the floor before doing this?
No alterations on concrete and no concrete sealer. Just make sure you use concrete filler/ patch where here are holes and where the tack strip comes up. It will sink some as it dries so wait and make sure it is even with the other floor. Also. as the paper dries, it shrinks so overlap so you don’t get small triangles of concrete showing. I have had mine over 2 years and love it. i am doing my master bedroom next week. It has held up really well with 4 kids and 3 dogs. Lots of compliments. Let me know if you have any more questions for concrete.
Terri , Am I correct ? Did you use the same formula for wood floors with sucess? I would love to do this in my basement , I dont want to put much in it as were not down there much. It is concrete. Thanks for any reply
Terri or Karen if you have attempted it, Did you use the glue then stain then poly method or just the poly method? Thanks.
I did the treatment on my concrete floors. I did not stain mine but I had not seen this website at the time. I saw it in a friends home. We have had it almost 3 years and it has held up well. I am going to do it on my stairs here soon.
I would like to know what method was used with concrete as well. I’m looking to do this to my basement within the next week or two. I just want to make sure it will stick and stay on for a long time. Just making sure you used the formula for the wood floors. (what Karen had asked)
My husband and I have just discovered that our first floor is concrete and we were planning to brown-paper the entire house, major set back until I saw your comment. How did you apply it to concrete? Did you use the poly-paper-poly method or exactly as she does it to the wood sub-floor? We want to stain the paper if at all possible. Any suggestions/feedback are welcome.
I used 50/50 glue and water and then poly over the top. I did not stain but I had not seen that idea when I did mine.
I am going to try this next week on my kitchen table. It is laminate or verneer or something to that nature – not REAL wood anyway – and the finish is coming off from using cleaning chemicals when kiddos & hubs make messes. I can’t wait to try it out. Thanks for all the tips!
Hey Rachael ~ I just laid my paper onto a concrete floor last night & am very pleased with the overall look/color. But, even though I worked every piece by hand to try to remove any air, I have quite a few dried ridges/lumps. I’m not sure if I should leave them or just “Varathane” over them? Thanks!!
Rhonda- You can slice them open with a razor blade and try to re-adhere them if it bothers you. I had a few also but just poly-ed over them.
Thanks! Well, I did 2 coats of the poly, but have decided that the ridges that open to the end of a paper, will need to be repaired or they could really be a problem. I’ll do as you suggest, cut and re-adhere using a small artist’s brush. I’ll let you know how it works.
Well – I’m finally getting around to my concrete floor update…
I started the cut/adhere process, but it was soooo time consuming that I just cheated a bit & focused on just securing the edges not removing all the pockets. Luckily for us, we like a bit of an imperfect / rustic feel!! Then I finished poly-ing (I have 12 coats)!!
I have decided that the reason that my finished product is less than smooth is the fact that my sub-floor is concrete. All the examples I’ve seen on the internet were on a wooden sub-floor, so maybe the wood absorbed the glue/water mixture better. Anyway, the next space I try I’ll adjust the amount of glue I use AND use a squeegee.
Nontheless…even with its imperfections it is still a bazillion times better than the carpet we took up and we LOVE it!!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention a discovery I made about my “Kraft” paper. I bought it at Home Depot & it was called EASY MASK BUILDER’S PAPER. It is a heavier paper (kind of like a grocery bag) and as I was tearing it into pieces, I thought I’d definitely buy a thinner paper next time because it would be easier to crumple. I also noticed that it had two distict different sides…one was a bit darker than the other. I made special effort to place the darker side to the concrete throughout the room since I wanted the lighter tan on top so I could stain it like everyone else did. That is NOT how it worked!! Even though the dark side was face down, that is the color that shows through. I did accidentally put the lighter side down on one piece and had to step away for a few minutes. When I came back it was noticably a tan color; far lighter than the rest of the floor! Ultimately, I did NOT have to stain my paper because it’s a pretty reddish brown color already, which blends perfectly with the red ceramic tile in the entryway!!! Needless to say, I’ll be sticking with this same paper on future floor projects!!!
I had seen some color discrepancies on other webpages, but they didn’t know why those occurred. It’s very possible that they too used a paper with two distinctly different sides.
I’d like to do this in my kitchen which has older asphalt (I think) tile; looking for any pretreat info, plus how do I know whether the glue method or using the poly and paper only is right for my situation. Which Elmer’s glue are you using–white glue or glue all?
Leslie- I don’t know much about tile, I’d try the poly only method in a small area to test adhesion. I use white glue, but I doubt it will stick too well to tile.
Any thoughts on colored craft paper? Say “ocean” blue?
Tammy- My dad used red rosin paper (with the poly-only method since he had concrete subfloor) and he loves it!
This is so awesome! I have applied the brown paper directly over my linoleum in a half bathroom using the same method (except for the stain) and it looks GREAT! It wasn’t hard at all….and very inexpensive. Thank you!!!
I’m planning on doing this over linoleum also. Did you use glue or poly to stick the paper down?
Andrea- I have heard that the glue will work on linoleum, but you”l have to test to be sure.
Any news on how this worked over linoleum? I am planning on doing this over a very ugly linoleum bathroom wall…any advice?
I am waiting for the glue to dry on the stairs now. So far it looks awesome!!
Thanks so much for sharing this awesome idea!
How was the prep work on the stairs? I did this treatment about 3 years ago on my concrete sub floor. It still liiks great and I love it. I am curious as to how well it works on wood subfloor.
Thanks,
Hi! I LOVE this and going to do my great room ASAP! I have a question though, what filler did you use on your subfloor? Thanks for the Super idea!
Marg- I used Elmer’s Wood Filler
Thanks so much Rachel!
Has anyone done this over tile? If so did you have a problem with grout lines showing?
What did you do to fill the gap between the bottom of your baseboards and the floor? If I remove the flooring I have now, the bottom of the baseboards will not be flush with the floor any longer. Advice?
Taylor- You can attach quarter round to the bottom of the baseboard and that should cover the gap. I’ve started doing this in my master and the hallway.
I have some walls that are in bad shape. They are not horrible, but not smooth like walls should be and regular paint on them looks awkward. Could this be a solution?
Oh definitely! I would smooth out what you can, and just go right over top. Any roughness will probably add some nice texture to the overall look!
I have done a wall with tissue paper and glued it to be wrinkled – to give the wall texture. this would solve your imperfect wall problem, and it looks amazing. i use Mod Podge – not elmers… glue, paper, and glue on top… then add wall paint – i did mine in a “champagne” metallic. it is the most talked about accent in my home – even over my glass mosaic stairs!
This is so awesome….i have to try this!
My sister did the poly only method on a bathroom wall. It looks great. I never thought about doing it on a floor. Gorgeous!
I saw this on Pinterest. I absolutely love it! I am in desperate need on a new kitchen floor and I want to do this, but the hubs doesn’t want to take the time. Hoping he will keep putting it off and I will do this while he is gone to basic training next year.
had random white spots after drying overnight. Any ideas what caused it – glue puddles, air bubbles, etc?
Starla- I’m not sure what happened, I’ve never seen that before. Did you use Elmer’s white glue?
I originally saw this technique done in a magazine too. It was back in the 90′s. I am thinking it was in a Southern Living Magazine for a cabin. I am considering doing this in a room that the wood floors are bad grade of wood and separating. I will caulk them first where needed. Thanks for the tutorial. There are a number of us discussing this on my FB wall right now.
Kelly on FB
I love this idea!! We are adding on a mud room/laundry room to our home this spring and this will save tons of money on flooring!! Thanks for the great idea!!
Love this idea. I have seen this done on boxes, vases, etc. Never dreamed you could do this to a floor. I have a beautiful little potting shed that is MY SPACE! Think I will do this to the floor and shelves. Thank you for jarring my imagination.
Hi all, I really want to do this in my basement over the concrete subfloor. I have two questions. Can I do this with in floor heat (Wirsbo)? And how would I remove it if I need to?
Thanks!
Angie- I would not recommend this for use with in floor heating. Removal would involve a lot of sanding and scraping…I would just lay replacement flooring right over top (we are planning to upgrade to hardwood to match the downstairs eventually and I will not be removing the paper floor).
I was working on putting the brown paper on my basement floor using the poly-paper-poly method, but it is not sticking. What could I be doing wrong?
Donna, what kind of poly are you using?
Pro Finishers Oil based Poly for floors-professional grade
I have only used water based poly, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work….you have cement floors? Are you brushing the poly on the floor and dunking the paper?
I brushed the poly on the concrete then I tried it both ways(dipping the paper and dry) Neither one wanted to adhere. I brushed the poly on top, but the edges kept coming up and the centers kept coming up even after I smooth it out. Not sure if the concrete is too cool or If I should try the glue method instead.
Use 50/50 glue and water. We did that on our concrete floor almost 3 years ago. It still looks great. After it dries, poly.
I’m just wondering about the removal process on plywood and also on concrete. I need to know simply because my landlord gave me permission but I need to inform him if there would be any difficulty in doing such later on. His floors are terrible and this would be an awesome fix. Also can you do this on cabinets, cause that would be tremendous?
Also I see a picture of the main stairwell and in the light it looks like you may have used a different stain. If so what was the color because that is just gorgeous!
Amber- I used the same stain throughout, it’s just the lighting. The stain is Minwax Dark Walnut.
I wouldn’t attempt to remove it, it would involve a lot of sanding and scraping. Generally speaking one of the advantages of this flooring is that you could put pretty much anything right over top (with proper prep of course). I’ve seen it on walls, so you could probably do it on cabinets as well, just add a sealer like you would on the floors because of the heavy use.
Thank you so much!!!
This looks great! With all the steps involved, I can hardly believe you did nearly a whole house!
This looks great! With the number of steps involved, I can hardly believe you did nearly your entire house!
With so many steps to the process, I can hardly believe you did almost an entire house! It looks great!
Thank you!! I love this flooring option. Thanks for working so hard to get us all of this information. I hopped over to the Oregon Cottage and saw she had a lot of issues with it wrinkling after glueing. Did you have this happen too? I feel like dunking the paper in the glue would really help. Also maybe using a plastic putty scraper on it? THANKS!
Jackie- I didn’t have too much problem with wrinkling, but from what I’ve heard typically the wrinkles disappear after drying. I do dunk my paper in glue.
Well, we just completed our basement! Concrete floors in January made for a cold and difficult task, but it worked out great! We did have to use a 50/50 glue mix for a better grip on the floor, and we had a lot of problems with wrinkling, a lot are still there but we gave it a week to set and a lot of them did go away. We will just have to live with the wrinkles that are there. We used oil based stain and oil based poly and while Oregon Cottage mentioned oil spots, we had no problems. It’s so hard to know what will happen with your floors until you are doing it! My husband was REALLY skeptical about it in the beginning, but he lovingly gave in to my crazy and we did 650 square feet, and he’s in love with it!!
My house has old, real hardwood floors..will this work over the top of them? It would be way to much to pull up these floors
My daughter and I did this at her house years ago, only we did it on the wall. It looks like a leather patched wall. We stained the paper first, before applying it.
Has anyone tried this with white paper, like butcher paper or something?
I love this idea, for over a year i was trying to decide on a floor to cover the old 50′s linoleum tiles in my kitchen. after bugging the hubby for only one day. i started doing my floor! However, i am very concerned about putting my kitchen table back on the floor. I have this horrible fear that i am going to put my table back in place and next time i go to move it, it is just going to rip up an entire part of my floor! How long did you wait until you put furniture back in the rooms? I also have 2 dogs and 2 small kids that have been locked out of the kitchen for days! Thanks for the awesome idea!
Beth- I waited 24 hours, but really if there is enough poly on it, it shouldn’t rip up. You can scratch it- like hardwood-so I put felt feet on all my furniture. Honestly you have to try pretty hard to scratch it, I’ve found it to be really durable (we have a large dog and 3 cats).
Thank you!!! I followed your wonderful instructions and I’m so happy with my new floor! http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2012/01/my-new-brown-paper-flooringpretty-cool-stuff.html
I absolutely LOVE this!! I would love to do it everywhere in my home but my husband will not go for that.. BUT I do have a craft room and I was looking to replace the flooring in there.. I think its going to be a GREAT way to show my creativity! Thank you for posting
currently doing my batroom floors in this treatment, i have some brands that i cut out of roll of wallpaper i have going to place cow brands in the last coats to give it more of western look, will take pictures to post on how this looks, also going to do my counter tops in this treatment, thanks for posting this great moneysaveing idea thinking of all kinds of projects to do. thank you cowgirl in oklahoma
also useing feed sacks cut picture out of cows to go in front of commode. cowgirl in oklahoma
I love this idea, though, my question is, did you manage to cover the whole floor and poly it all at once, or do you think it would be possible to do this in sections? I have huge living room furniture that doesn’t have anywhere to go for storage.
Kate- I did whole rooms at a time, but it is possible to do smaller areas. It’s a little bit more difficult when you’re using stain, but if you leave a jagged edge and try to place the seam under a rug/furniture/other large item you should be fine. I have 3 seams where the hallway meets all of the rooms upstairs, and it’s not that noticeable IMO.
Has anyone tried this process on outdoor concrete? If so, how did it hold up?
I haven’t heard from anyone who has, but I’d only try it if it was a covered patio…and even then it’d have to really not get wet at all. But that’s just my opinion!
Thanks! I value your opinion! Really excited about this process!
I just saw this wonderful idea and have purchased everything I need to get started. I live in a log home that we built ourselves and have a bonus room floor and a basement ceiling I need to do something with. I am so excited to get started. I was wondering if anyone had ever colored the glue mixture before dipping the paper? I wanted to do the basement ceiling red, but don’t like the idea of painting over my head especially with carpet on the floor. My thought was to tint the glue mixture with a little red paint before putting it up. Any thoughts on this?
I love this and have purchased everything I need to get started. I live in a log home that we built ourselves, and we are out of money to finish up some of the little things that need done. This is the perfect solution. I have a bonus room floor and a basement ceiling and support beams to do. Since our home is pretty much all wood, I was going to do the basement ceiling with faux tin tiles and paint them a brick red. However, I think this will look much better and I know the cost is far less!!! My question is this…Has anyone ever tinted the glue before dipping the paper? I was thinking of adding a little paint color to the glue so I could have the red tint that I want. Painting a ceiling does not excite me in the least since I have carpet on the floor. Any advice??
Sorry, I posted my comment twice. I made several attempts at posting and it wasn’t taking. Please disregard the second post.
I love this treatment! It’s brilliant, cheap, and looks awesome -especially since there are so many options to really make it your own. Thank you for posting this guide.
I’ve done it on my wall with printed photos (http://not-the-brady-bunch.blogspot.com/2011/03/family-room-update.html) , and I just did it on my basement stairs (http://not-the-brady-bunch.blogspot.com/2012/01/basement-stairs-update.html).
We are finishing our basement, and I am going to do this with wrapping paper in my new craft room. I’m so excited to see how it turns out. If it works well on that concrete subfloor, I’m going to try it on my concrete front porch!
I have hardwood flooring. WOuld i just put this right over my hardwood?
Star- I don’t typically recommend doing this over hardwood 1) because I’d trade my paper for hardwood any day and 2) the paper will not hide the spaces between planks.
Really gorgeous! Looks like a LOT of work but what a beautiful result.
This is terrific. So glad I discovered your site. I’d like to try a light, antique white maybe, finish for my shabby chic bedroom. Would I need to use oil based paint?
Jan-I’d experiment with a regular acrylic paint “white wash” on some samples. If possible, avoid oil-it’s really stinky and hard to clean!
I am wanting to use this technique to cover my ugly formica backsplash in my kitchen. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.
I haven’t done a counter surface before, but I would suggest sanding the formica very well. Make sure the glue/water mixture sticks first- you may need to use poly instead. Good luck!
Thanks for the inspiration and the instructions. I am making the final run today to finish purchasing all of the needed items. Now that the time is here, I’m getting a little nervous
I hope mine turns out as well as yours did!!
Thanks again!!
(Found you through Pinterest
-Shannon Norman
I used this technique 14 years ago on the walls in my laundry room. Holds up extremely well, easy to wipe down. I still receive compliments on how great it looks.
Hey
thanks for this! We were about to do the floor in the livingroom, but I just found out I’m preggo. So now money is tight. So I had a thought of cutting the paper into rectangles like hardwood. Have any thoughts?
I have seen it done Annie! I’ll try to find the link…
I pinned this months ago and I think it’s finally time to start! I am only doing the stairs to my basement. Sorry if this has been asked already (I didn’t see it though), did you apply the paper to the face of the stairs/risers or just wrap it around the bullnose of the stairs? Hope that makes sense! Thanks!
If you’re having trouble with the stain remaining tacky, you might want try wood dye instead. It should dry completely, as it is water or alcohol based instead of oil based. You could also use a pigmented poly instead of clear poly. Best of luck!
Hi Rachael!
Thank you for your response to my comment on one of your other posts about the gap between the stairs and the skirt board. I’ll be working on that later.
My wife and I did half of our hallway and every other stair two weeks ago. Last week we did the other half and every other stair and it went perfectly well until it was time for the stain. Apparently we did not stir the stain well enough because the color came out very differently. Here is a link to my blog post about it and you can see what we’ve done: http://recoveringstraightgirl.wordpress.com/pinterest-projects/brown-paper-floor/
We decided to repaper the entire half of the hallway that the color did not come out and we used poly to adhere the paper because it was on top of poly’d floor. This time when we applied the stain, it came out streaky and much darker than the other half. We don’t know what we’re doing wrong.
How have you matched different floors coming together?
At this point we’re thinking we will need to tear up what we’ve put down on the second half and sand it down and start over with paper/glue combo instead. Do you have any thoughts?
Have you ever stained OVER stained and poly’d paper? Would the stain even take do you think?
As always, thank you. I hope my mistake will help others! We’re all learning as we go I guess!!!
Hi there! I’m so sorry it’s not going smoothly…it is difficult to try and split up areas. I think probably at this point it might be best to take some 120-150 grit and sand the area, then use the glue mixture to lay new paper…if it’s easier to tear it up though I might go that route and start fresh. I do not think the stain will penetrate the poly. Repairs can be tricky, fortunately I have never had to do any (I think it’s more straightforward without stain). Where my hallway meets all three rooms there is a subtle difference because they were all done at different times. I basically applied the stain by hand in these areas, using a rag to match the color as best as I could. I wish I could be of more help! Let me know what you decide to do.
Thanks so much. We tried the sanding route and in the end decided to rip it all up which was NOT easy. At all. I would recommend to always try an alternative route rather than rip it up, but it’s done now and we will start again next weekend on that half. I think that applying the stain VERY carefully will be the trick. I will certainly let you know how it turns out when it’s finished.
I think our problem was applying the stain to the pieces that were poly’d down. If we had wiped it off as we went, I don’t think we would have had this problem. All I can say is that we are learning what not to do for the next project!
So, I am thinking of doing a headboard in this. It should last awhile don’t you think? I would get the plywood and then do this same technique on the plywood. I think it would be different but yet cool!
Cheryl- It’d probably last forever on a headboard! Let me know if you do it!
I love you floors! I’ve been coveting them for months now, and I think I am finally ready to tackle this in my own home. Just have one question though. When working one room at a time how did you stop in doorways, etc so that once you had them all done it looks seamless? For example, the picture of your hallway going into a bedroom? I’m planning to do most of my main level. I have an open floor plan and included will be; kitchen, breakfast nook, hallway, entryway, bathroom and laundry room. The space is just to big to do all at once and still live in our house
Any tips for breaking this into smaller projects would be great! Thanks!
Jen- Anytime you want to stop, I suggest leaving a jagged paper edge, and after you stain everything, only poly till about 3″ from your edge. It probably won’t be perfect (mine isn’t…) but if you use rugs or try to plan it around furniture you won’t notice the breaks! Good luck!
Thanks Rachel! I’m planning to do this over my existing white vinyl flooring, and I think I will use the 50/50 mix to make sure it adheres well to the vinyl. Any suggestions there? I’m also not sure if I should remove all the floor trim before starting and what to do around doors where the vertical trim reaches the floor. I’m afraid that if I try to remove the door trim it will break. It already has in a couple of places we’ve had to remove it for other reasons….Not trying to replace all the trim in my house! LOL! One last question…I’m assuming that you can walk on the paper after the glue has dried but before the stain and poly without causing any damage?
I think the 50/50 should do it- you might want to rough up the vinyl with some sandpaper too. I wouldn’t both removing the trim…you can use the straight edged pieces of paper from the roll to go right up to it. Just tape it off so it doesn’t get all gluey, then you can stain and poly without worry as well. You can walk on the dried paper, but I try to avoid it. I would wear socks only and tiptoe if you need to get across. Good luck!
We just bought a house and we are carpeting the house which is going to take up a lot of money. I was trying to think of a low cost way to do something with the kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms but couldn’t come up with anything so I said I’ll just leave it till next year when we remodel those rooms…not anymore! Now I have a way to make it look nice until we pull up the floor to remodel next year. Thank you so much for the great idea! And if I like it too much I might just have to keep it!
If you get a chance would you please answer my previous question…
Did you apply the paper to the face of the stairs (the risers) or just wrap it around the bullnose of the stairs? Thanks!
I’m sorry Melissa, your question must have slipped through the cracks! I only applied it around the bullnose, not to the face. Hope that helps!
Thank you very much! Did you just paint the riser then?
I used paint first, then later added textured wallpaper: http://www.lovelycraftyhome.com/2011/11/28/a-new-love-textured-wallpaper/
I did this on my kitchen floors a few years ago and I’m still smitten with it! It is still so durable and beautiful. The best part is that they are warmer underfoot than any other hard material I’ve ever seen, even warmer than cork! I just wanted to chirp in and say that I did mine with all poly and no glue, but only because we were doing a smallish area. When I colored mine I did it with acrylic paint mixed into the second topcoat of poly. I did this because I wanted to darken it up and give it a slight metallic sheen.
Your floors are truly beautiful! Great job!
Liliedale: I would love to see a photo of your floor! Is that possible? I have a huge kitchen (open-floor plan on this level) and it would be so much easier if I didn’t have to stain and glue too! Staying out of the kitchen is going to be one of my biggest challenges here, not sure how that’s going to happen.
Do you have pictures posted of your floors? I would love to see them!
HELP!!!
I have started this on cement floor and it is getting super wrinkled. Will this go away or should I change something up? I am using the glue mixture suggested in the instructions. I have been painting the floor, putting down paper, then painting the floor again (by painting I mean glue).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Andrea- If you smoothed the paper out well during the application process, most of the wrinkles will disappear after the floor is dry. You may still have a few stubborn ones though. How does it look now?
They smoothed out a lot! New problem tho… I just put stain on it and all the edges of the papers look darker than the rest of the floor. It hasn’t dried yet but it looks funny. Thanks for the quick reply!!!
Andrea- The edges around each piece or the edge of the room? The paper absorbs stain based on how much glue was used, the amount of layers in any given area, and other random properties of the paper makeup I’m sure. It’s kind of like wood grain- how some of the knots looks darker and such. My floor has variations as well (the edges of the pieces are very pronounced, but I think it adds to the overall character of the floor. What type/color stain did you use?
The floors are stunning! You have probably answered this, but I have original (beat up) oak floors in the living and dining room. Can I apply this to those floors? Also, what tips do you have for the stiars? Thanks!
Thanks Trisha! If I had wood floors upstairs in my house, I would refinish them instead of doing the brown paper treatment…but that’s just me. I’d be cautious about proceeding because 1) it is not pleasant to remove, so if you think you may ever want to refinish the oak I would just hold off 2) I’m not sure how the paper will look over planks…you may be able to see all the cracks or imperfections. New or engineered wood floors might be fine (ours downstairs are very smooth and tight together), but if you have deep knots or large gaps you would have to fill all those first before laying paper. For the stairs, I only used the paper on the tread (the part you step on) and painted the risers. I did every other stair so that we could still use them while I was working. Hope that helps!
Good Job! That was quite an undertaking! Beautiful!
I did this on my bathroom floor in my last house, lived there for 10 years and the floor was still going strong when I sold the house! I threw a fresh coat of poly on it after about the 7th year but that is the only extra I ever did. LOVE IT!!!
I would like to try this over linoleium flooring in dogs room. Think it would be stong enough to hold up to doggie paws? Throw carpet would be covering most of the room. Hoping that it would work. Any thoughts?
Diana- I think if you prep the linoleium right (clean it well, light sanding, filling any gaps or repairing any peeling areas) it would definitely work. I have a dog myself and our floor has held up well. There are a few scratches from crazy play, but nothing abnormal (it’s similar to the wear on our hardwoods downstairs). Especially with a carpet, you’ll be fine!
The floor looks wonderful, and seems to be improving with age. I have done the same thing with my stairwell walls, my paper came from paper grocery bags, which I used a mocha glaze to finish. We love the leather look.
Hi, just a quick question: when you did the stairs, did you do the risers also, or did you paint them? Love the look, def want to try.
Cathy, the risers are just painted (now they are covered in embossed wallpaper actually). Hope that helps!
I just did my floor in my spare bedroom. I love how it turned out but I have a lot of “wrinkles”. Any idea why I have so many wrinkles and how to prevent it next time?
Has anyone ever tried this on paneling? I was wondering if it would work!!
Cristen- If the paneling has deep grooves, they would show underneath the paper unless you fill them. Generally this is best for flat/smooth surfaces.
I agree, I did this over my lenoleum (spelling) and I can see the design of the squares through the paper bag flooring.
Has anyone tried this on paneling?
OK, I have been working on this over the past for days. I made some mistakes. First mistake( which was the biggest) was changing my glue mixture. I started with 2:1 and it gave me this dark crackly lovely finish that would not need to be stained. Then goofed up and mixed up the 3:1 mixture I thought was using. This gave me the more peanutbutter smooth look, great for staining. Two very different looks. I would have been happy with either look, not both. I chose to patch the smooth side with the 2:1 glued paper. The Stained ( because we wanted to see how the stain behaved on this) and now I have a cobble stone look because the stain really stuck to the 2:1 pieces more. I wouldn’t call it a disaster, but it frustrated me greatly. I will poly today and make my piece with it. I’ll have the process perfect for when I do another room.
Okay, I have made my ‘peace with it! Floor actually turned out very nice after 5 coats of poly. So glad I did this! Thank you for taking the time to share all your wisdom! Next floor I do will probably be the 2:1 mixture with no stain. Really like the crackles in it and variation of color. I can see where i used ‘glue hands’ to tear paper. The hand print dried before applied to the floor. When i stained they popped out! Could be done purposefully with a stencil to create a design? Just a thought! Thanks again!
This tutorial is so detailed and well-written that I want you to come to my house and rewrite the instructions and directions on everything I’m ever fixin’ to do!! I remember tearing jagged pieces of masking tape and sticking them on a wine bottle and staining it to look like leather in camp one summer back in the late 70′s. My parents probably still have that crazy old bottle and are going to get a good laugh when I suggest doing this treatment to my teenage son’s bedroom floor!
HAHA Thank you Charlotte!!
I was wondering if you could use tissue paper with this? My sub-floor is painted white, and I wanted to put scraps of colored paper over it. Do you think this will work? Pam
Pamiam…I’m not sure, it’s worth a shot to try it on a piece of scrap wood to see! Let me know if you try it!
I did this is my kitchen, dining room and bathroom. I LOVE the overall look but after having this in my home for 3-4 months I can clearly see that I will need to replace it very quicky. Reason being is that there are scratches everywhere that are very obvious. The scratches look white, like its the glue lifting off the paper. We are not rough on our house but I do have a 3 year old and a 8 month old so we do have everyday wear and tear. I have the fabric floor protectors under all objects that are of the floor (chairs and table) I also have cloudy spots on the floor as well. I used stain and in most places the color really took and in a few either the stain didn’t take well or the glue and polyurethane did take well. I want to say it was the polyurethan because it had plenty of stain on it and looked like the rest of the floor before the polyurethane went on. It almost looks like there is a layer of spilt milk on the floor. We used brown carptenters paper from Home Deopt, elmers glue/water mixture, Minwax stain, oil based (special walnut) and waterbased polyurethane made by PRO finisher (12 layers)Any help would be much appreciated.
Meg- sounds like the same method and materials I used, the milkiness can be cause by applying the layers of poly too thick or not letting it dry enough in between coats. That could also be the reason it’s scratching so easily.
my question is this, has anyone had to redo this, and what was necessary for it, and how did it turn out? i love, love, love this! but my thought is for future, what if it gets to a point of needing to be redone? i have 4 kids, i know nothing lasts forever!
Forgive me if you’ve already answered this question, but I was wondering how long you have to wait between coats of poly? Twelve coats sounds like it would require a lot of drying time!
Cheryll- It depends on the type of poly you use (it will say on the can), but it can be pretty long
I used a fast dry water based poly which helped! But yes, it’s a time consuming project, although CHEAP as far as flooring options go!
I found your site through Pinterest. I have to say your floors look AMAZING!! I just recently put wood floors throughout my house, but I still need to do something in the bathroom, so I might give it a go in there. I hope to completely re-do it in a couple years, so if the paper doesn’t last in there as long it won’t matter. THANK YOU for the wonderful information!!
Angela- Thank you so much for stopping by! Good luck with your bathroom, you should be able to knock that out pretty quickly!
Hey there! We’ve chatted before, via email. I have another question. I decided not to stain once we got the paper down..we loved the color. I put the first layer of poly on and it dried kind of with a shimmery powdery look? Anyway, I sanded lightly and it really looks powdery now…is it supposed to look like that? I’m going to put my second poly on now…hoping the high gloss will start to develop…what are your thoughts…did I miss something and doing it wrong? thanks!
Hi Lori! Refresh my memory, what poly are you using? Are you applying it with a brush or a mop pad?
I’m using the Varathane no odor Floor Finish High Traffic Formula Fast Drying Water Based Crystal Clear Semi Gloss. I couldn’t find the kind you used, but saw where others had used this and had good results. I just got home and opened my front door to see how this mornings run went. It looks like someone spread powder over it in many places….a rug won’t cut it. My husband think we need to sand it down more over those areas (i sanded lightly after the first round) I’m only on the 2nd coat…really hoping it will shine pretty soon. It is right in my front entry way with sunshine. Help! I want to do my kitchen next, and it has a 10 foot bay window…lots of light! How do I fix the powder look?
Hmmm… did you do this on subfloor? The only thing I can think of is that maybe the glue/plaster on the subfloor seeped through the paper and is showing up as a white powdery substance. I’m not sure how to fix it unfortunately…if you sand really well you may be able to improve it, but make sure you vacuum up all the dust. Sorry I can’t be of more help, it may be that I have the same problem but because I used stain it covered it. I’ve never done a large area with the plain paper.
I did this on about 800 square feet. Instead of Elmer’s, I used a waterproof glue (Tightbond II), and added Minwax to the glue water mix. So my mix was 1/2 glue, 1/4 Minwax, and 1/4 water. This dried in a few hours. When it dried, the color was color-fast, which I did not find to be the case in my test runs using non-waterproof glue, and it could be polyed with oil-based poly as a result. So five layers of oil-based poly later, and it is holding up strong in a light-use commercial application. Swiffer wet floor cleaners seem to work best for me. Oh, I also used red rosin paper instead of brown paper. It added a slight hint of red undertones, like a cherry wood.
I would like to do this to over my kitchen counter in the brown, any advice other than scratching it up first? I’m thinking smaller sections of paper would look better? Do you know of any poly’s that are extra water resistant? My bathroom is charcoal/lavender… any suggestions for a gray version?
For superior water protection you could venture into oil based or marine sealer. It would be stinky, but may hold up better on a counter. For gray you could try mixing craft paint with water and sort of glazing it. I’d give it a try on a scrap piece of plywood to see if you can mix up a color you like. After the paper/glue dries, apply the paint glaze and let it dry, then apply poly. Hope that helps!
Is there other paper you can use other than brown? Like if you wanted it to have a blue flooring? I would like to do this in my bathroom but i don’t really want a “hardwood” look about it
I know of only red rosin paper that comes on a roll like the brown, but if you found an art supply store they might have other color paper.
Did I read correctly? TWELVE coats of poly???
Teresa- Yes, 12
If you want long term durability that is what I recommend, but I know people who have had satisfactory results with less.
I’d like to report for those who are working with a concrete floor, that after much research on the Brown paper floor. I finally broke down and did mine. I took it very slow in ripping out my carpet, and tack strips, patching the holes with Dap concrete patch ( super easy ) cleaning the floor with Tsp. I used 10 cups water with 6 cups glue, and it worked beautifully. I now need to stain, then water base poly, when I’m finished I will link my pics, but here is what I’ve done so far.. http://flic.kr/s/aHsjz4P6dy
We want to do this in our bathroom.. but i am worried about a few things.
Being its a bathroom.. it would need to be pretty water proof.. which poly should i use? Its also our only bathroom.. so the faster drying would be better.. would the water based poly be waterproof enough to use in a bathroom?
We would be putting it over vinyl flooring… what glue mixture whould you recommend? The 50/50? But what will the floor texture/staining be with the 50/50 glue mixture?
Thanks so much for any help.
Also just wanted to add that your floors are beautiful!
Wendy- I’ve never done it in a bathroom, but what you could do is use the fast dry water based for most of your coats, then put some oil based on top. As for adhesion, unfortunately you’ll probably have to do some testing on your own in a small corner. I would think 50/50 would work, but I can’t speak to how the stain will behave. Generally the glue is what darkens the paper, so more glue might mean your stain would turn out darker in the creases than in my version. I would get a piece of scrap linoleum and try out some different glue/water ratios + stain (that’s how I determined my method). Hope that helps!
OK, the only part that really confuses me is why do you wad up the paper, dunk it in the glue mixture and then flatten it out on the floor? I am thinking about doing this on an old kitchen linoleum and this sounds like the dream answer for us! We just redid our counters and cabinets all on our own. The color of the paper would look great too with the room.
Shawna- The wadding creates the wrinkles, whether you dunk and wad or wad then dunk doesn’t really matter. Hope that helps!
I completely love this concept. However, I had issues with the paper where I had to start and stop glueing to take a break. It took 22 hours to do the entire area and so I had no choice but to start and stop in a couple spots. We decided to test an area with just poly to see how it looked and one with stain since it a spot that will be covered by a cabinet. Well, the paper part with just poly on it has absolutely none of the crinkling showing. When the floor was drying you could see all the definition of crinkling, but without stain it is just a flat color it seems. Is there a reason that happened? Will the spots where I start and stopped blend better with a single coat of stain over the whole area at once? We’re suppose to move to the next step tomorrow and just want to be sure before I stain. But it is an extremely great floor over what has been there, just want it to look great. Thanks
It has crinkle texture show but nothing like your sample on the stairs. It might be a thicker paper we used. Not sure. But still worried about spots where I started and stopped. Wish I had used the 2:1 glue ratio. More texture in that spot. Have to patch it though. Pretty obvious. But definitely wondering if you had spots that you could tell where you started and stopped and if it blended with the stain for a more even coloration look. Thanks Again.
Mary- from what I can tell based on some things others have said, more glue= more defined wrinkle lines. But, I also think that sometimes when people use more glue that it effects the way the stain goes on (blotchy, uneven, etc). So I would be aware of that when you are staining. Starting and stopping the stain is not a perfect process, I blend the areas with a small brush like where all my rooms meet my hallway (which was done first), but it’s not seamless. I wouldn’t say it’s very noticeable though.
Mary- It could be that there wasn’t enough wrinkling/dunking/squeezing during the application. I squeezed my pieces into pretty tight pieces before applying. But generally, the stain will bring out the lines more than poly alone. If you decide to stain, yes it is better if you do the whole area at once if possible.
I had definitely planned on doing the stain all at once, but the papering was such a big job, I had to stop and start back a couple of times. There is tons of crinkle and so with the Early American stain it should be a great bold texture . She loved the sample of the crinkling with the stain area she did under the cabinet. So I’m hoping once she puts the stain on the whole floor tomorrow those areas where I started and stoped with the glue will stand out less with all the other crinkle being bold. I also mentioned that with the room stripped bare all of that would be more obvious to us because we know it’s there. So onward. Thanks for answering so quickly.
I actually did this method, BUT, on walls!
I just love it..our mud room and my craft room look wonderful
I started putting my stain down today and Im STRESSED!!!!!! I also got the minwax dark walnut. When you put it down was it almost completely black looking? Im hoping that it dries lighter. Its been a few hours I hope it does or I will have a black floor. sigh.
The dark walnut is pretty dark, but did you stir the stain or have it shaken at the desk? That is really critical to even pigment. You can also wipe off the excess after you apply, and that might help.
I let it sit overnight hoping it would lighten up because by that point it was too late to wipe because it was starting to get tacky. I want it to be dark (like yours) just not almost black with no veining. Its still tacky this morning. Do you think using mineral spirits on it would help?
I wouldn’t use mineral spirits, I’d be afraid it would degrade the paper. I’m not sure why you’re getting such a dark result though. What did you use to apply it?
So I figured I would try the mineral spirits because it was still almost black. I figured if it messed up we would just repaper it. It actually looks really good. Almost like a medium shaded cork. Im pretty sore from all the scrubbing but thought I would post a follow up in case someone else ran into the same issue as me. Im guessing the problem came from my floor being concrete and Im down south so its super humid. But come monday almost 1100 sqft will be done!!!
Great to hear!! Man that is twice the size of the area I did. Take pics when you’re done!
Can you do this outside on a covered patio??
Staci- is the patio concrete? Is it exposed at all (like could rain blow in sideways?) I’d be hesitant to do it outside at all, but it’s cheap enough to try if you feel like gambling. It could look great for several years and then need to be redone. I’m not sure unfortunately
But let me know if you do try it!!
What a cool project! Anyone know how easy/difficult this is to remove?? I’m mainly interested in trying it on a wall, just wondering how you’d remove it, if you ever wanted to.
Donna- I don’t imagine it would be easy to remove. On the wall, you might try applying it with wallpaper paste rather than glue. Hope that helps!
Hi Rachael!
So, question about transitions from the paper floors to the raised vinyl rooms or rooms with tile floors? From your pics it looks like you used a casing type transition from the bathroom to hallway? I want to have a gradual transition that I don’t feel immediately since we’re going to be doing the paper floors in the kitchen too next. I found these things called “carpet shim” online, which would fit the bill awesomely, but I added up how much it’d cost to do just the downstairs with them and it came to almost $200. Was considering using thinset and creat a ramp. Are you just dealing with a bump type transition for the rooms that have elevated flooring?
Kim…I just used plain transitions from HD that I stained to match. I’d recommend those even if you’re planning on doing the floor on both sides of the transition because I worry that anything underneath the paper would either 1) not adhere correctly 2) give the paper in that area a different appearance and 3) weaken the floor in general. I know it may not be the most appealing solution though. But if you try something else and are happy with it, please let me know!!
Hi, So I hope I can still get an answer and hopefully soon. I am sorry if you have answered this before I just really don’t have time to read all the comments looking for it. Anyway I did my stairs and all of them except 3 look great. I must have layered my Poly too thick for each coat and they have a crackle effect which would look cool on a wall but not on the stairs (ouch). I need advice on redoing those ones. Should I start over (how?) or can I sand off the poly. If so will they then look different then all the other stairs? Also what grit of sand paper should I use. I hope to hear from you soon. I just want to be done and enjoy them. Other then that they are turning out beautiful. Instead of ripping the paper I cut “slats” so it looks like hardwood. LOVE it! Thank you so much for being a pro at this!
Rainier
I would sand down the poly a bit with 120 grit and reapply. If that doesn’t work, sand down the poly again and re-paper. Did you use stain?
Thanks Rachael! Yes I did use a stain. I think it was the same color you used or even a little darker.