Decorative Painted Floor: Rockport Lodge
I shared this image on Instagram a while back, it is a floor that I designed for my client in Rockport Ma, and I received so many wonderful comments that I thought I would talk a little bit about the process and craftsmanship that went into creating it.
Painted floors were all the rage in the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth century, especially in the Northeast. In fact, if a floor was not meant to be covered, it would be painted, often with fanciful, geometric patterns (one would never see the stain or varnish that we use now). So while this might feel modern, it is very much in keeping with the spirit of this antique New England lodge.
An let me tell you, painting a floor is not as easy as it looks. Different grain patterns, plank widths, and preexisting wood tones complicate what seems to be a straightforward endeavor. But we found that it is both an art and a science to get it right: looking perfectly imperfect.
The entire room is a dance between black and white, modern and traditional. Once the concept was solidified, we rendered it in CAD to get just the right scale, color balance, and rotation. To me, the success of this floor was the 30 degree rotation of the motif. As is most things, the details are crucial.
Our decorative painters translated our renderings into pencil drawings on the floor, and then began the painstaking process of hand painting the design. Long days, indeed, in which it was hard to tell if it was all coming together as we imagined. The end result, though, was beyond our, and our client's expectations. We are going to be photographing this room as well as a few others we renovated over the past year. I will be sure to share those images!
