Thursday, July 08, 2010

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

17 comments:

Katie said...

That is neat!

Kimmie said...

Hey, that is really cool Luke! It looks really great too. Thanks for sharing, who would have ever thunk it ;-)

Kimmie
mama to 8
one homemade and 7 adopted

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Oo, you could probably draw stuff on the paper bags first, too. :)

Anonymous said...

It looks nice and is probably comfortable to walk on. But isn't it a bit hard to clean? What happens if it gets wet?

Mary in Marrakesh

The dB family said...

This is awesome! I would have never thought of that. Thank you for sharing it!

Blessings!
Deborah

Claude said...

I just did the floor in my livingroom using this method...only difference was that I cut all the paper into "planks" (1' x 4' strips). I laid these out in horizontal rows, stained them a dark walnut and then put on my polyurethane. I fooled one person into thinking I had used hardwood.

Grateful for Grace said...

Very cool! I like it lots!

Anonymous said...

Very cool! I never have thought of such a thing.
-Carolyn

Dana said...

Hmm. Something is telling me this could be an interesting way to make my floor look a little nicer while we're saving for the bamboo we want. Why do I want to use grocery bags with the logos?

Dom said...

Hello

The floor is very nice, and thank you to benefit and for your explanations.
I am a "great" handyman French and yet I do not know this method.
It suits me because I make objects and decorations with things recycled.
Bravo! I'm in love!
Excuse me for not mastering your language
Best regards.

Unknown said...

That is GROOVY!

Anonymous said...

I am trying this method now in my kitchen till we can save for our bamboo floors too, but I was wondering if you had any bubbling of the paper after applying the poly?

Amber said...

Can you tell me how this takes lots of use? I'm thinking about it for my farmhouse kitchen floor which gets used hard. Can it take water drops? Chairs being pushed around every day?

Anonymous said...

My friend did this but not on her floor. She did the exact same thing for her bathroom vanity counter and it looks fabulous!!!!

Anonymous said...

Of the people that stained the floor: Did you use just wood stain and did you find it to be colored darker than you thought after it dried? Trying to figure out the color to stain on my floor. And did you just roll on the stain? Love to hear more details on the part of the process. Please email me @ kristenshriver@gmail.com Thank you so much!!

Anonymous said...

Of the people that stained the floor: Did you use just wood stain and did you find it to be colored darker than you thought after it dried? Trying to figure out the color to stain on my floor. And did you just roll on the stain? Love to hear more details on the part of the process. Please email me @ kristenshriver@gmail.com Thank you so much!!

Anonymous said...

Of the people that stained the floor: Did you use just wood stain and did you find it to be colored darker than you thought after it dried? Trying to figure out the color to stain on my floor. And did you just roll on the stain? Love to hear more details on the part of the process. Please email me @ kristenshriver@gmail.com Thank you so much!!