Ok.  Here’s the deal.  I wanted to paint the floors but after using a small handheld belt sander (Mother’s day present) to sand over 1000 square feet on my hands and knees, I was in no mood to sand another thing.  So I decide to use the primer I used on the kitchen cabinets – Valspar Bonding Primer.  I remembered the salesperson telling me that with this primer I wouldn’t need to sand the cabinets – I didn’t listen and sanded all the cabinets to bare wood, but I definitely wasn’t sanding anything else.  My husband wasn’t convinced – he was sure this was going to be a disaster, fortunately, he was WRONG.  I did this over 3 years ago and it still looks great – there are definitely some scrapes, mostly from the bed frame.  There are a couple of places that my husbands shoes have marked the floor and no amount of magic eraser scrubbing will get it off, but considering we walk on it every day + we have 2 small dogs whose nails always seem to need trimming…it has held up really well.

Foolproof (it’s just an expression, no one is calling anyone a fool :-)) process for painting hardwood floors for beautiful long-lasting results.

What you’ll need:

• Valspar Bonding Primer
• 2″ paint brush
• Paint roller with a long handle
• Paint tray
• Wide painters tape
• Paint with primer – I used semi-gloss, but you could use gloss
• Benjamin Moore, Stays Clear® – DO NOT SUBSTITUTE –  this is very important, other protective finishes can yellow or change the color.  This product will not do that.  This is a fav product I use it for everything that needs a hard protective finish.  I used the Low Lustre but gloss would be fine here as well.

• Experience Tip:  If you are painting your walls with this makeover.  Make sure you paint your walls first.  Your new floors will look so amazing you won’t want to spill any paint on them.
• Tape all baseboard with wide painters tape.
• Pour you primer into the paint tray and using the 2″ paintbrush quickly cut-in around the baseboards.  That went really fast, right?
• Experience Tip: Wash your brush right away or wrap it in plastic and store in the fridge if you’ll need to use it again with the same paint/product in the next day or 2.
• Now it’s time to start rolling.  Just that simple.  Experience Tip:  Make sure you plan an escape route, so start in the furthest corner from the door and work your way back toward your escape route door.
• Let it dry – it dries pretty fast.
• Do not remove the painter’s tape, you’ll want that in place for the next step.
• Clean your roller right away or wrap it in plastic and store in the fridge if you’ll need to use it again in the next day or 2.

• Pour your paint into a clean paint tray.
• Using a 2″ paint brush cut-in along the baseboard.  Experience Tip: Take your time now it will make everything go faster in the long run.   wrap your brush in plastic and store in the fridge, since you’ll use it again for a quick 2nd coat.
• Grab your clean or new roller with the long handle and again starting in the corner furthest from your escape route begin painting your floors – just like you would a wall, making sure to overlap strokes and keeping the layers even.  Experience Tip:  It’s better to come back and do a quick 2nd or 3rd coat instead of painting heavy paint layers.
• Let it dry based on paint manufacturer recommended dry times based on temperature and humidity conditions in your area.  Experience Tip:  wrap your roller in plastic and store in the fridge, since you’ll use it again for a quick 2nd coat.
• Once the paint has dried –  use your 2″ paint brush to do another quick cut-in around the baseboard.
• Grab your roller from the fridge and roll another coat of paint.  
• Let dry.  
• So what do you think?  Do you need a quick third coat or does it already look amazing?
• If it looks amazing and it has completely dried then it’s time to seal the deal or in this case seal your floors.  For this step, we will be using the Stay Clear™ from Benjamin Moore.

• Your floor looks awesome!  Now we want to make sure it stays looking this good for a long time to come.  For this step, we will be using the Stay Clear™ from Benjamin Moore.
• EXPERIENCE TIP:  READ THE INSTRUCTIONS & DO NOT SHAKE THE STAY CLEAR™, STIR IT GENTLY.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO FINISH A COAT – TO GET THE BEST RESULT YOU REALLY NEED TO DO THIS WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.  Gently pour the Stay Clear into a clean paint tray and using a new 2″ brush cut in at baseboards.
• Then with a new roller start in the furthest corner and working back toward your escape route begin painting thin even coats making sure to overlap edges and to always keep a wet edge.  Wrap your roller in plastic and store in the fridge, you’ll need it for a 2nd coat.
• Let dry until no longer tacky – it dries quickly.  
• Once dry, roll the second coat – you shouldn’t need to cut-in a second time but you should judge that for yourself.
• Grab a Mojito – You deserve it.  Your floor now looks amazing!  Sit back and admire your new floor, snap a few pics, post to Instagram and Facebook.  You rock.  I’m so proud of you.  

Ok.  Here’s the deal.  I wanted to paint the floors but after using a small handheld belt sander (Mother’s day present) to sand over 1000 square feet on my hands and knees, I was in no mood to sand another thing.  So I decide to use the primer I used on the kitchen cabinets – Valspar Bonding Primer.  I remembered the salesperson telling me that with this primer I wouldn’t need to sand the cabinets – I didn’t listen and sanded all the cabinets to bare wood, but I definitely wasn’t sanding anything else.  My husband wasn’t convinced – he was sure this was going to be a disaster, fortunately he was WRONG.  I did this over 3 years ago and it still looks great – there are definitely some scrapes, mostly from the bed frame.  There are a couple of places that my husbands shoes have marked the floor and no amount of magic eraser scrubbing will get it off, but considering we walk on it everyday + we have 2 small dogs whose nails always seem to need trimming…it has held up really well.

Foolproof (it’s just an expression, no one is calling anyone a fool :-)) process for painting hardwood floors for beautiful long-lasting results.

What you’ll need:

• Valspar Bonding Primer
• 2″ paint brush
• Paint roller with long handle
• Paint tray
• Wide painters tape
• Paint with primer – I used semi gloss, but you could use gloss
• Benjamin Moore, Stays Clear® – DO NOT SUBSTITUTE –  this is very important, other protective finishes can yellow or change the color.  This product will not do that.  This is a fav product I use it for everything that needs a hard protective finish.  I used the Low Lustre but gloss would be fine here as well.

• Experience Tip:  If you are painting your walls with this makeover.  Make sure you paint your walls first.  Your new floors will look so amazing you won’t want to spill any paint on them.
• Tape all baseboard with wide painters tape.
• Pour you primer into the paint tray and using the 2″ paint brush quickly cut-in around the baseboards.  That went really fast, right?
• Experience Tip: Wash your brush right way or wrap it in plastic and store in the fridge if you’ll need to use it again with the same paint/product in the next day or 2.
• Now it’s time to start rolling.  Just that simple.  Experience Tip:  Make sure you plan an escape route, so start in the furthest corner from the door and work you way back toward your escape route door.
• Let it dry – it dries pretty fast.
• Do not remove the painters tape, you’ll want that in place for the next step.
• Clean your roller right away or wrap it in plastic and store in the fridge if you’ll need to use it again in the next day or 2.

• Pour your paint into a clean paint tray.
• Using a 2″ paint brush cut-in along the baseboard.  Experience Tip: Take your time now it will make everything go faster in the long run.   wrap your brush in plastic and store in the fridge, since you’ll use it again for a quick 2nd coat.
• Grab your clean or new roller with the long handle and again starting in the corner furthest from your scape route begin painting your floors – just like you would a wall, making sure to over lap strokes and keeping the layers even.  Experience Tip:  It’s better to come back and do a quick 2nd or 3rd coat instead of painting heavy paint layers.
• Let it dry based on paint manufacturer recommended dry times based on temperature and humidity conditions in your area.  Experience Tip:  wrap your roller in plastic and store in the fridge, since you’ll use it again for a quick 2nd coat.
• Once the paint has dried –  use your 2″ paint brush to do another quick cut-in around the baseboard.
• Grab your roller from the fridge and roll another coat of paint.  
• Let dry.  
• So what do you think?  Do you need a quick third coat or does it already look amazing?
• If it looks amazing and it has completely dried then it’s time to seal the deal or in this case seal your floors.  For this step we will be using the Stay Clear™ from Benjamin Moore.

• You floor looks awesome!  Now we want to make sure it stay looking this good for a long time to come.  For this step we will be using the Stay Clear™ from Benjamin Moore.
• EXPERIENCE TIP:  READ THE INSTRUCTIONS & DO NOT SHAKE THE STAY CLEAR™, STIR IT GENTLY.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO FINISH A COAT – TO GET THE BEST RESULT YOU REALLY NEED TO DO THIS WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.  Gently pour the Stay Clear into a clean paint tray and using a new 2″ brush cut in at base boards.
• Then with a new roller start in the furthest corner and working back toward your escape route begin painting thin even coats making sure to overlap edges and to always keep a wet edge.  Wrap your roller in plastic and store in the fridge, you’ll need it for a 2nd coat.
• Let dry until no longer tacky – it dries quickly.  
• Once dry, roll a second coat – you shouldn’t need to cut-in a second time but you should judge that for yourself.
• Grab a Mojito – You deserve it.  Your floor now looks amazing!  Sit back and admire your new floor, snap a few pics, post to Instagram and Facebook.  You rock.  I’m so proud of you.