I got the sweetest e-mail this morning from Joan in Louisiana in the U.S. Thanks Joan!
Joan wanted to know how the checkerboard floor in our kitchen was done. You could see the floor in last and next to last posts about the recycling and the kitty litter box and I've had some questions on Flickr about it too so it's about time I shared.
Having same or similar floors throughout the house makes a small space look larger. Most of our floors are oak but in some rooms like the kitchen and bedroom there were linoleum and plastic floors when we moved in. We tore that out and were left with the plain pine floor boards which were much lighter than the oak. I wasn't sure how staining the whole kitchen floor would look so I decided to go for a pretty compromise and have half the floor resemble the oak and the rest in white.
There's this wonderful product called Zar Oil Based Wood Stain. Normally a wood stain is impossible to correct once you've applied it, it soaks straight into the wood and there's no going back. Zar is oil based and you have a little bit of time after application to wipe away any unwanted bits.
I sent Martin and Wille away for the weekend, hired a small sander and sanded the floor (it's not a big space, only 88 square feet). I then figured out the size of the squares and went for 26 cm/10" squares which is three floor boards in width.
I simply drew the grid with a regular pencil, masked the Country White squares off and stained those. Removed the tape, let dry and then taped again so I could stain the Spanish Oak in between the white.
After staining and removing all the tape I used a semi matte varnish to seal the floors about three times, added the beading along the skirting board and it was finished.
This was done about six or seven years ago but I have to admit I still like it a lot. I like the way it blends into the oak but still doesn't pretend to be real oak. See more and read more about the kitchen here if you like.
