Brown Paper Bag Floor

I recently mentioned on my SonlightBlog that we have a brown paper bag floor. Curious, some of you asked for more information. For those of you not interested in learning more about how to create a brown paper bag floor for your home, move along. There is plenty of more interesting stuff on the internet.

So, what is a brown paper bag floor?

A. An inexpensive and yet good looking floor covering alternative you can do on your own.

Good looking? See for yourself:


Brown Paper Bag Floor in Our Home Office


Close Up on the Paper Floor

What you need:

• A floor (preferably ugly wood or concrete)
• Paper (preferably brown, like contractor's or kraft paper, though you can use packing paper or grocery bags without printing on them)
• Glue (cheap white glue, purchasable by the gallon)
• Polyurethane (water-based, low odor worked best for me)
• Brushes
• Rags
• ...assorted other stuff

What you do:
Tear the paper into irregular medium sized pieces (approximately 8"). Crumple and then flatten to create a texture. I suggest you do this before hand as it makes gluing faster.

Clean the floor you're going to cover. Spread some glue and stick your paper pieces down. Slightly overlap your pieces, but try to avoid glue on the top of the paper as this stains darker.

Let dry.

Apply a coat of polyurethane and let dry. Ventilation is preferable during this step. Hanging a sheet to close off the room can work if you were to, hypothetically, attempt to do this in the middle of winter. Repeat this step 5-6 times.

Admire your work. Allow time to set.

Easily repaired with a little glue, a piece of paper and more poly.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester