Painting a Sub-Floor?

I've seen several people out there in blog land, who rip up old carpet or tile and paint the sub-floor underneath and use it as regular flooring.  My experience with sub-flooring is that it's paint splattered and very rough.  So I really wonder how one prepares such a floor to use on an every day basis.  Seems like a lot sanding would be involved, but totally worth it.  What an inexpensive way to brighten up a room.
How do you like this one from
 I absolutely fell in love with this one from Ashley at

And Laurie from Little Blue Chairs painted the floors in her dining room

We have a the typical 80's linoleum still residing in our kitchen and I desperately want to get rid of it.  But, of course it is not in our budget anytime in the near future.  So maybe this might be a temporary solution.
What do you think??? 
Any comments or opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated :)

10 comments:

  1. I've been thinking of doing the same thing at our cottage. I hate the carpet there in the dining/living room (I think carpet in a dining room is just gross, personally). I can't afford new flooring, so I thought painting the plywood might be the way to go for now.

    Let's do it! ;-)

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  2. I looked into this as well. It seemed to be inexpensive but a LOT of steps to it. Like you couldn't step on it for some ridiculous amount of time. The room I wanted to do this to leads to all of the other rooms so it wasn't feasable. If you find a more practical way please share!

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  3. do it!! I have always wanted to do that to my floors with some cool design on them.

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  4. I'm intrigued with all of the painted floors I've been seeing. We have bamboo floors throughout. If we had a spot I think I would try it! It would be fun to have a patterened one in a kitchen. I'm impressed with the ones that I've seen done!

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  5. I luv love your blog! Im always inspired!! I want to forward my "Versatile Blogger" award to you! Feel free to stop by my page and pick it up!
    Thanks

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  6. That's a great idea. Like you said, it can be a temporary solution, and it's way cuter than ugly vinyl flooring.

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  7. You could try a paper bag floor! I haven't had the courage yet but it looks good!
    http://www.ehow.com/how_5147306_make-brown-paper-bag-floor.html

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  8. Since I won't be replacing my bathroom floors with tile just yet, I'll be taking the paint I used for painting my laminate countertops and trying it out on the linoleum. It won't be permanent, but I'm curious to see if it works!

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  9. i'm a huge fan of painted and stenciled floors. if you think it will be an economic alternative to having the floors refinished, i definitely think you should go for it!

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