Wood Floor Finishing Ideas

Wood Floor Finishing Ideas

The floor is the foundation of the room. It should give the assurance of being substantial. Hence it should be the darkest part of the room so far as tone is concerned. While there are justifiable exceptions to this general rule, it is best to keep that principle in mind. We will find that it applies to practically all sorts of floors - stained, stone, tile, waxed or painted - which is the way they are grouped in this section.

The effect of brilliantly varnished yellow oak floors, often seen in the homes of so many excellent housekeepers, is of extreme cleanliness but of extreme inartistic taste. A better effect is produced by keeping the floor a very soft neutral shade of grayish brown. This not only sets off the rugs to better advantage but keeps the floor always darker than the walls, which is a basic rule. Moreover, floors should not glisten; they should have a dull polish which reflects just enough of the chair and table leg.

There are countless stains and floor finishes and varnishes and the processes of applying them are almost legion. By one process a floor should first be well filled and then rubbed down with oil and pumice and finally stained to whatever shade desired. Floors darken, so it is advisable to stain them somewhat lighter than the shade eventually required. They should have a finishing coat of shellac or varnish. Some floors are sufficiently finished by being merely shellaced two or three coats.

If a floor is left too brilliant by the painter, it may be washed with warm water. This will take off the undesirable glassy look. In moving into a house it is best to leave the shiny floors untouched until after the moving, and consequent dust, is over. Then wash the floors with warm water. The final finish may be given by waxing, which will leave the floors somewhat duller. It also makes a more lasting finish and requires only an occasional rubbing to keep in good condition.

One of the most satisfactory ways of finishing a floor is to apply to the raw boards a bath of ammonia, which will darken evenly as it eats into the wood a quarter of an inch or so. It does not darken the soft parts of the grain so much as does stain, and the general tone it leaves the floor is a pleasing soft, grayish brown. Two coats of white shellac can then be applied and a coat of wax. The entire process is over in twenty-four hours.

Oak, chestnut and some varieties of pine make serviceable hard floors and show a good grain. It is a distinct advantage to the final appearance of the floor if the boards of such woods are selected and laid to match, although the cost, naturally, will be additional.

Old floors that are uneven require the carpenter's care. The cracks should be well filled, the boards planed down and the whole floor given several coats of varnish with stain in it. Varnishes may be had with stain of any tone desired, so that if one wishes to have a mahogany foundation for her mahogany furniture, it is readily procured.

Inlaid and parquet floors, with their intricate patterns of vari-colored woods, are rather distracting. Unless the wood is very carefully matched they remind one of a picture puzzle. A more uniform floor can be had by using boards the length of the room and finishing off with a small border. While it is the nature of brick and tile to be of small area, wood ought to be in long lengthsthe way it grows. On the other hand, if one has a floor laid in small squares and attempts to use small rugs over it, the effect is nothing short of a patchwork.

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