Flooring on a budget but don't want to settle for the look of cheaper materials? You don't have to! If you really feel that the carpet tiles, vinyl, laminate, or plywood floors that we talked about on Tuesday are not going to work with the vision you have for your home, we do have a few more options up our sleeves. With a little elbow grease and some out-of-the-box thinking, you can create a beautiful, completely unique floor for your home.
1. Paint over the floor you already have.
A can of paint can bring new life to your existing floor. Imagine being able to make your floor any color, style, or pattern you want for about $0.10 per square foot! You could even paint a mural on your floor if you're feeling ambitious. Plus, your current floor will add some awesome textures for interest underneath its new coat. All you'll need aside from the paint is some primer and a good top-coat. Easy!
2. Welcome atypical flooring materials.
Pennies, peach pits, wine corks, or old record covers; these are just a few of the materials you could turn into a fabulous new floor. Really! Look it up. People all over have turned all kinds of stuff that would otherwise be thrown away into a new floor. It can be a bit tricky making sure the entire surface is level, but you'll have that with almost any floor. We know anyone can make this work if they want to.
3. Understand that wallpaper doesn't just have to be for your walls.
You read that right. If you can use peach pits as a flooring material, you can certainly use wallpaper. Wallpaper is amazing because it can adhere to most types of floors. Once it has been applied to the floor you will just need to cover it with several coats of polyurethane to ensure it lasts and shines.
4. Add a pattern using stencils.
Thinking outside of the box doesn't mean you can't color inside the lines! Using stencils to create a beautiful new pattern on your floor is a great way to give your floor an inexpensive makeover. Similar to painting your floor outright, you just apply the pattern and follow it up with some top-coat.
5. Think back to your crafting days.
Have you ever done decoupage on anything before? Maybe an old jewelry box or tray. Well, you can apply the same techniques you would for those things to your floor. Imagine a floor made up of family photos or pictures of your favorite movie characters. You can't get much more custom than that! Have fun with it.
Happy Flooring!