Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jun 05, 2025

Painted Floors Are In—Again!

Painted Floors Are In—Again!

Designers agree: Don’t underestimate the power of looking down

When we first laid eyes on the pictures of Kate Rheinstein Brodsky’s colorful Hamptons home, we were floored—by the floors! For her family’s newly renovated 1901 beach house, the proprietor of Manhattan’s Upper East Side homewares emporium KRB tapped decorative painters Chris Pearson and Bob Christian to revamp the residence’s unsightly orange-y boards with fresh paint rather than replacing them. A number of eye-popping floor jobs ensued: They covered the living room in grassy green, coated the kitchen in a New England–style speckled cherry red, traced the bedroom in a subtly hued hexagonal pattern, and decked out the sunroom in an unforgettable pink-and-white checkerboard. Nearly all of the walls in the house are painted white, yet each room pulses with color and pattern.

“One of the many things my mother taught me was never be afraid to paint wood,” explains Rheinstein Brodsky, daughter of Suzanne Rheinstein, the legendary decorator who ran the cult-favorite L.A. shop Hollyhock.

Stampede from C2 Paint adds a jolt of color to a guest bath floor in Kate Rheinstein Brodsky’s colorful Hamptons home.

In Australian model Jessica Hart’s L.A. abode, designed by Carlos Mota, the floors of the living and dining rooms are punched up with a painted-on diamond pattern executed by Javier Sánchez.

A painted floor might seem old-fashioned, but designers are revisiting the throwback decorating move, which is both economical (just paint over what’s already there) and totally transformative to a space. In a London flat for two 20-somethings, AD100 interior designer Beata Heuman brightened things up by coating dark wood floors in an electrifying raspberry hue, which, as her senior designer Caroline Barker explained, “sounds like a really bold choice but actually ties everything together and feels quite calming.”

Meanwhile, Will Cooper of the AD100 firm ASH NYC is fond of covering floors with white epoxy paint, as he did in a family home in Tribeca and his own petite Manhattan pad. And who can forget the emerald green and sunflower yellow floors in Brock Forsblom’s minimalist color-blocked New York apartment, which ran in New York magazine? AD100 designers Rodman Primack and Rudy Weissenberg used a similar jewel-toned green on the floors of their Mexico City home.
A deep emerald green graces the floor of Rodman Primack and Rudy Weissenberg’s Mexico City pad.


Of course, decorators have been painting floors for decades. Centuries even. Bunny Mellon, the legendary gardener and philanthropist, famously commissioned interior decorator and painter Paul Leonard to create imitation inlaid marble floors in her New York City town house. They were modeled after the Swedish imitation of the Italian vogue: “Marble was too expensive and too cold underfoot, so the practical Swedes did a painted checkerboard in imitation of marble,” Leonard once told AD. Meanwhile, the great decorator Mario Buatta conjured a veritable pattern book of floors over the course of his career. Nearly all of them were executed, for the past quarter century, by decorative painter Haleh Atabeigi, who swears that a painted floor “somehow always makes your room bigger.”

Years of experience have armed her with a wealth of do’s and do nots. Rule number one? “Once you’ve decided on the design, you can’t start worrying about the furniture,” she advises. Still, there are a few rules of thumb: “Some spaces lend themselves better to a central design,” she explains. “Spaces that don’t have any furniture—entryways and such. For a room that has a lot of stuff, an overall design and definitely a border makes sense.”

With the help of decorative painter Haleh Atabeigi, interior designer Mario Buatta conjured an octagonal pattern based on Victorian tilework for the entryway of Patricia Altschul’s South Carolina mansion.


Atabeigi exclusively paints wood floors, which, she advises, must be sanded and treated, so that whatever sort of paint is being applied will adhere. (“Otherwise, this beautiful painting will peel right off,” she adds.) It is possible, though difficult, ​​to paint linoleum, concrete, tile, or plastic flooring, according to Pearson, so long as it is sanded down, vacuumed, and swept thoroughly before it gets a layer of primer, ideally applied with a brush. Regardless of the base material, the paint—you’ll usually need two or three coats—gets sandwiched between that primer coat and a top coat of varnish (Atabeigi recommends a brand called Bona).

“Have patience!” Rheinstein Brodsky advises. “Painted floors need to cure between each coat of primer, paint, and sealer.” But once you’ve completed the job, upkeep isn’t too complicated. Atabeigi recommends a gentle mop—nothing abrasive—on painted floors or using a spot treatment for individual scuffs, which will inevitably appear.

In this 18th-century house on Martha’s Vineyard, interior designer Victoria Hagan restored the painted blue-and-white checkerboard floors in the kitchen.


Despite their timeless appeal, today’s painted floors feel different from those of yesteryear. In our opinion, modern iterations feature all-over bold color in a not-so-shiny finish, or something bold and geometric like a larger-scale checkerboard. But, heeding the words of Rheinstein Brodsky, who grew up with loads of color underfoot, don’t be daunted by the concept, as they can be tailored to your style: “They can be low-key or super glam.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Global News Roundup: From Ukraine's strategic military strikes and Russia's demands and Tensions Escalate in Ukraine, to serious legal issues faced by Britons in Bali and Trump's media criticism, the latest developments highlight a turbulent landscape
Majority of French Voters View Macron's Presidency as a Failure
Hungary Partners with China to Boost Electric Vehicle Production
‘Vibe Coding’ Emerges as the New DIY Trend
AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio Warns Models Can Deceive Users
Big Four Firms Rush to Create AI Auditing Systems
Musk’s xAI Pursues $113 Billion Valuation in New Share Sale
Walmart Increases Revenue Despite Shrinking Workforce
Hims & Hers Plans UK and EU Launch of Replica Obesity Drugs
Toyota to Acquire Supplier in $33 Billion Buyout
U.S. Reduces Military Presence in Syria
Trump Demands Iran End All Uranium Enrichment in Nuclear Talks
China Accuses US of Violating Trade Truce
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
France Implements Nationwide Outdoor Smoking Ban to Protect Children
German Chancellor Merz Keeps Putin Guessing on Missile Strategy
Mandelson Criticizes UK's 'Fetish' for Abandoning EU Regulations
British Fishing Boat Owner Fined €30,000 by French Authorities
Dutch government falls as far-right leader Wilders quits coalition
Harvard Urges US to Unfreeze Funds for Public Health Research
Businessman Mauled by Lion at Luxury Namibian Lodge
Researchers Consider New Destinations Beyond the U.S.
53-Year-Old Doctor Claims Biological Age of 23
Trump Struggles to Secure Trade Deals With China and Europe
Russia to Return 6,000 Corpses Under Ukraine Prisoner Swap Deal
Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds More Amid Restructuring
Harvey Weinstein’s Publicist Embraces Notoriety
Macron and Meloni Seek Unity Despite Tensions
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Newark Mayor Sues Over Arrest at Immigration Facility
Center-Left Candidate Projected to Win South Korean Presidency
Trump’s Tariffs Predicted to Stall Global Economic Growth
South Korea’s President-Elect Expected to Take Softer Line on Trump and North Korea
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Ukraine Executes Long-Range Drone Strikes on Russian Airbases
Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election
Study Identifies Potential Radicalization Risk Among Over One Million Muslims in Germany
Good news: Annalena Baerbock Elected President of the UN General Assembly
Apple Appeals EU Law Over User Data Sharing Requirements
South Africa: "First Black Bank" Collapses after Being Looted by Owners
Poland will now withdraw from the EU migration pact after pro-Trump nationalist wins Election
"That's Disgusting, Don’t Say It Again": The Trump Joke That Made the President Boil
Trump Cancels NASA Nominee Over Democratic Donations
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OnlyFans for Sale: From Lockdown Lifeline to Eight-Billion-Dollar Empire
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Hegseth Warns of Potential Chinese Military Action Against Taiwan
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Jamie Dimon Warns U.S. Bond Market Faces Pressure from Rising Debt
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
×