10 Clever Ways to Give New Life to Old Floors
The floors in your home — exterior and interior — cover a vast amount of space and are continually in view for everyone to see. If your old floors have seen better days, it’s time to recharge them with a new look and fresh feel. Keep reading to discover 10 designer-savvy ideas on how to refresh your old floors.
(1) Invigorate with Stain
Give new life to bleached-out deck boards with a fresh coat of stain. Pick out a stain that provides ultraviolet protection against fading from the sun and a water barrier against moisture damage. Protecting the wood from the outdoor elements can extend the useful life of your deck while providing an attractive appearance.
(2) Repair Minor Damage
If your existing tile or wood interior floors are chipped, splintered, or cracked, replace the damaged tile, wood plank, or section of your floor if possible. Repairing a blemish in a structurally sound hard-surface floor is much less expensive than replacing the entire floor.
(3) Energize Drab Concrete
Liven up a drab concrete patio or porch by painting a fun pattern that looks like an outdoor rug. Use a concrete-friendly paint along with your imagination to create a bold black-and-white checkerboard pattern or any other rug design you desire. Paint a distinct outline around your rug and add some fringe with a coordinating paint hue.
(4) Add Instant Freshness
Wake up deadbeat or blemished wooden or tile floors with colorful area and scatter rugs. Place an oversized area rug on top of a hard-surface floor to create a modern, instant update for an old floor. A large area rug adds cozy texture while covering up a multitude of imperfections on a blemished hard-surface floor. Choose scatter rugs in a color that contrasts starkly with your floor color to add an extra wow factor. Select a colorful rug with a bold pattern to wake up a ho-hum floor.
(5) Rejuvenate Your Wooden Porch
Freshen up a tired porch floor with a coat of paint specifically formulated for outdoor porches. White paint creates a light-colored surface for sunlight to bounce off, creating a brighter space that feels spacious and clean. Choose traditional gray porch paint to better hide scuffs and marks.
(6) Make Hard-Surface Floors Shine
It’s a fact that grungy interior floors look old and tired. Regular dust mopping and wet mopping of hard-surface floors give an instant glow to dull, dusty surfaces. Determine the kind of hard-surface flooring you have and then investigate proper cleaners by reading and comparing the information labels on several floor cleaning products.
(7) Refurbish Dirty Carpets
Vacuum your carpets at least once a week to keep them fresh. However, if carpets are soiled and stained, hire a qualified carpet cleaner to give them a deep cleaning. Most carpet cleaning companies can also spot clean your carpets for specifically targeted areas, such as dirty hallways and stair steps.
(8) Revamp Your Concrete Garage Floor
Give your concrete garage floor a new look with fresh paint. Apply a new coat of specialty paint that’s designed to help protect concrete garage floors from unsightly grease and oil stains. Also, choose a garage floor paint that has a low odor.
(9) Restore Unsightly Hardwoods
To restore hardwood floors that are scratched, stained, or extremely dull, consider hiring a professional to remove old wax, buff, polish, and add a clear, protective coat to make them look new again. If your floors need a new coat of stain, this might be a good opportunity for you to change the color to your desired preference.
(10) Install New Replacements
Sometimes the only remedy to grossly damaged hard-surface floors or carpeting is to exchange old flooring for brand new replacements. Choose a new flooring product that complements your home’s style and decor. For example, rustic wide-plank wood flooring looks great with a lodge or farmhouse style. If you’re replacing the carpet, pick out colors in neutral hues, such as solid beige, gray, or brown. Or, if you prefer, choose a speckled color mix that helps to disguise dirt.
Use one or more of these 10 ideas to get your floors looking their best. Remember to open windows if you’re doing painting, varnishing, or installing new carpet in the interior spaces of your home to help circulate fresh air inside. When refurbishing outdoor floors, read product labels to ensure proper usage in specific climates.
