Rustic Black Painted Hardwood Floors
Learn how I achieved the perfect rustic black painted hardwood floors with this tutorial.
We put hardwood floors in our manufactured home and after doing so, I decided to paint the floors.
*This post was updated in October 2019 – updated photos at the bottom of the post*
Black Painted Floors Idea
I went in search of inspiration of painted floors and I found a lot of white painted hardwood floors but not nearly as many black hardwood painted floors.
We already have a lot of white painted furniture and I was concerned about the difficulty of keeping the white floors clean. I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and found these images that I really liked for rustic black painted hardwood floors.
You can find more black farmhouse style on my Pinterest board.
How to Paint Wood Floors
After finally deciding that I wanted to add a lot of contrast to our home, I decided to go with black hardwood painted floors. Here is how I painted our hardwood floors.
1. I chose to go with the Behr Premium Porch & Patio Floor Paint. I had previously used paint on our sub-floors after we bought our manufactured home and tore all the carpet out. The paint held up very well and I decided to go with the same type of paint again. When I purchased the paint, I chose the color Tar Black.
2. Our hardwood floors are #3 grade and had not had a finish put on them. So, I was able to just paint the hardwood flooring. I know a lot of people use a roller brush to apply the paint but I actually used a brush and hand painted every single board. I know that may sound extreme but I really wanted to control how much paint I put on the board. My goal was for the grain to still show through.
3. After applying the first thin coat, I waited 24 hours and applied a thin second coat. After I was finished with the second coat, I had achieved the look that I wanted.
4. I have not sealed our floors at this time. I am rather particular about the way I want the floors to look and I have not found a sealer that doesn’t have a lot of shine to it. I also want our floors to develop more character so that they look old and worn.
Painted Black Hardwood Floors – Before and After
Our manufactured home has come a long way in the remodeling process. It has been a slow remodel and we still have things to do in this room, including all the trim work and putting bead board up on the ceiling.
I also plan to add an area rug and more decor. I currently have not put any finishing touches on this room, like the trim work as we are planning to move our manufactured home within the next couple of months.
Update on Painted Black Hardware Floors
On October 10, 2019 we moved our home to the farm. While all the furniture was out of the home I decided to sand the floors down. I loved my black floors but they were high maintenance.
Black floors show every bit of dirt! I had reached a point where I was tired of the maintenance especially with a large family.
So, I rented a floor sander and started sanding. I quickly realized that it was going to take a lot of sanding to remove the black paint. Then, I realized just how much I loved the rustic character of the floors with the black paint still partially on the floors. 
It took almost 6 hours to sand our dining room, kitchen, living room and hallway to achieve the look that I wanted! I would call this quite the happy little accident! I am extremely happy with the floors and plan to continue this look throughout the rest of our home!
Updated Rustic Hardwood Floor Photos
Here are some current views of the rustic black painted hardwood floors! I definitely love the rustic look that this added to our home!
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Our Dining Room
The contrast looks lovely! I just painted my laundry room floor, white with a black stencil. I used “Varathane Nano Defence premium clear floor finish” in Matte, and there is absolutely no sheen on my floor that I can see, as well as it dries incredibly fast. It also has a 5 year guarantee! It may or may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s perhaps worth a try on a tester piece if you do want to seal them eventually!
Thank you so much for that information! Matte finish is more my style so I will look into that after our floors get a little more wear.
I give two thumbs up to your black painted flooring. It look amazing. Cheers, Ardith
Thank you so much!
You did an amazing job!!!!!! You have “nailed it”as they say…? We have ugly hardwood floors,and I would be thrilled to be able to do this…hmmmm…how to convince my husband??!! He is so strongly against painting wood;it’s crazy ?! Since he so strongly disliked photos of white painted floors,maybe;just maybe,your photos may convince him! Wish me luck!
That would be great if he would let you! Best of luck!
I love this! But can you tell me a bit more about painting your sub floor after removing carpet? What material was your sub floor? And did you prime before using the porch&floor paint on sub flooring? This is our plan in our bedroom in the next couple months.
Our sub floors was pressed particle board type stuff. It was in great shape and I just used the porch and floor paint from Walmart to paint them. I did put down a primer coat as soon as we pulled the carpets up because they were so nasty.
Ya floors are Awesome, we have original hard woods, floors in some
rooms were painted with numerous different colors of paint.
We had them restored.
I love painted/ stained floors.
I love the floors, they turned out wonderful! My question is, without sealing them how do you clean them? Damp mop? With 4 kids I am sure liquids get spilled, do you worry about liquids warping them? Thanks!
Hi, Im so glad that I found your blog on Pinterest. I pulled up the carpet on my hardwood floors and the floors had quite a bit of wear on the main traffic areas. We sanded them twice and still no luck. I am a huge fan of black, mainly because of the great contrast it gives with white walls. My contractor is totally against me painting the floor but I look at the floors as my blank canvas and I can be as creative as I like.
Black is so pretty!
Yes! Very cool but I want black black black distressed though. Previous question, is hat about waterproof or in kitchen?
First I wanted black and now I wanted distressed black…! Both are gorgeous! Great work!
Thank you so much!
Thank you!
I’m completely obsessed with the transformation of your floors! The rustic black painted hardwood floors look amazing and I’m currently inspired to paint my own floors. What type of finish did you use to protect the floors and how do you clean them?