Posts Tagged ‘Floors’

In Praise of Checkerboards

Comments Off Written on January 30th, 2012 by mary
Categories: Decorating Ideas, Olive Design
Tags: Checkerboard, Color Scheme, Floors, Kitchen, Laundry Room, paint, Patterns

I had occasion to visit an American Legion post this weekend, for a memorial for my father. When I went down to the service kitchen I was impressed by just how cool it was- all because of the incredibly fabulous checkerboard floor.

Checkerboard Kitchen Floor

I took a shot of the floor with Maureen, one of the lovely Auxillary ladies who was helping with the food for the service. I love the way a checkerboard floor, made from even the most mundane material (linoleum or paint), can transform a space into something fun and dynamic.

The laundry room floor photo was taken while I was visiting a friend.

Checkerboard Floor I was impressed by the great color scheme (it matched my scarf perfectly), how the time was taken to make these inexpensive tiles in a utility room return more than their money’s worth in great design.

TagsCheckerboard, Color Scheme, Floors, Kitchen, Laundry Room, paint, Patterns
Posted in Decorating Ideas, Olive Design

Designs on Wood

Comments Off Written on January 17th, 2012 by mary
Categories: Decorating Ideas, Olive Design, Olive Green
Tags: Floors, paint, Patterns

After a film crew unceremoniously sanded off my teal blue kitchen floor, with its aqua checkerboard, I was left with a somewhat unlovely- but natural-looking wood floor. I didn’t miss the fabulous teal color I had painted as much as I did the pattern on top. So I designed a checkerboard ”rug” to drop on top of the polyurethaned wood. It gives me the pattern fun, but is easy to maintain. When the next film crew that used my kitchen (see it in the pilot show of “a Gifted Man”) damaged the floor- it was easy to paint back in a few tiles without re-doing the whole thing!

As the floor was an awkward shape, I designed an area with the size squares that I had in mind and positioned it on the floor with a same-color border all around. It makes it way easier than dealing with the awkward edges of the room that do not lend themselves to extending a checkerboard across the whole thing.

I took the opportunity, when the floor was redone, to switch to a water based finish. With today’s new technology the finish is just as sturdy as the oil based variety, dries faster and is way less toxic than its alkyd brethren.

I have used natural floors as the backdrop for other floor patterns, it makes a great textured ground and hides blemishes and mess better than a plain two-colored pattern.

TagsFloors, paint, Patterns
Posted in Decorating Ideas, Olive Design, Olive Green