This week we’re revisiting some of the summer’s most popular stories from the archives. Here is one:
Every summer I make a beeline for one of my summer favorites: Nunan’s Lobster Hut in my hometown in Maine. My favorite thing about it is not the long rows of benches lined up inside or the way the building sits on top of the salt marsh, but the gray boat paint that covers the wooden floors and tables. I think the owners save gallons of it and add a new coat each season, layers built up over 65-plus summers.
Like splatter-painted floors (“which hide a multitude of sins,” Justine writes about her DIY tiny house: Splatter-Painted Floors), painted wood floors—commonly seen in summer homes in Maine and the Cape—are all about New England functionality: They’re expensive, needing another coat of paint and just a summer’s worth of sanding. if they dress. And they’re completely foolproof and sensual for a carefree summerhouse.
Check out a few favorites from past summer homes. (For more on boat and deck paint suitability, check out our new book,Maine Remodeling.)
Above: In a cabin set on a salt flat in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the builder/designers painted the wood floors in California Paint’s universal gloss, for practicality (and light). For more, check out Shipshape Cape Cod Cottage Inspired by Wes Anderson’s ‘The Life Aquatic’.
Above: Further inland, in the Catskills, Lisa Przystup and Jonathon Linaberry painted the existing wood floors of their farmhouse at Sherwin Williams’s. [product id=”757491″]Extra White[/product] as a means of saving costs. Photo from Catskills Farmhouse by Two Brooklyn Creatives, Weekend DIY Edition.
Above: The floors of Mjölk’s Renovated Scandi-Style Cabin on a Lake are also painted white, this one by Benjamin Moore’s. [product id=”621644″]White Cloud[/product]. Note the way it is worn which is part of the appeal.
Above: Justine’s 1807 cottage in Rock Harbor in Cape Town has been painted and splattered throughout, like here, in the sunny front room, where the floorboards are a light gray shade. Image from the Soulful Side of Old Cape Cod: Justine’s Family Cottage.
Above: Elsewhere in Cape Town, Julie’s bedrooms have white painted pine floors. For more, see Cape Cod Summer Bedrooms Updated with Farrow & Ball Paint.
Above: Lots of floors with white paint, which add light but don’t hide too much dirt, from A Tiny (but Brilliant) Marine Cabin on the Riviera.
Above: A Reborn Cabin in Coastal Maine features light gray stainless steel bathrooms.
Above: An unexpected shade that works: the pumpkin-colored, splatter-painted floor in Justine’s yellow summer kitchen. See the Soulful Side of Old Cape Cod: Justine’s Family Cottage. For more on splatter-painted floors, see DIY: New England Splatter-Painted Floors.
Above: Designer CS Valentin preserved the original yellow-painted wood floors in the bedroom of a sea captain’s house in Bellport, Long Island. See Colonial House in Bellport with Unusual Style from French Designer CS Valentin.
Above: More yellow, this is in a Hawaiian cottage. Benjamin Moore paint color [product id=”953838″]The White Moon[/product]. Check out Summer Hawaii: A Charming Stone Carriage House on the Maui Coast, Restored.
Above: A green splatter painted floor in Justine’s guest room in Cape Town. Image from the Soulful Side of Old Cape Cod: Justine’s Family Cottage.
Above: A narrow wooden staircase painted with Benjamin Moore’s [product id=”617813″]Martha’s vineyard[/product] An Artist’s Cottage in Truro, MA, Gets a Makeover from Boston Design Duo (Ikea Included).
Above: Dark gray floors add drama to a 1900s California lodge cabin. For more, see Steal This Look: Manka’s Vintage Bath in Inverness, California.
Above: A light gray painted floor conveys summertime in Tiina Laakonen’s Hamptons home. See Rhapsody in Blue: A Finnish Stylist at Home in the Hamptons. Photo by Matthew Williams for Remodelista; for more, see theThe Remodelista: The Book of the Imaginary Home.
Above: Designed to handle foot traffic from summer guests: a navy painted floor in the living room of a Bellport home. See Colonial House in Bellport with Unusual Style from French Designer CS Valentin.
Above: In Justine’s dining room, black splatter-painted floors make the sand hard to see, all part of the summer house charm. For more (and how to get the look), see DIY: New England Splatter-Painted Floors.
Above: Again, in a Catskills farmhouse, Przystup and Linaberry turned a cluttered attic into a summer bedroom. The biggest change? Painting a tired wood floor [product id=”621671″]Tricorn Black[/product]. For more on this project, see Before and After: Airy Summer Bedroom in Catskills Farmhouse, Transformed with Paint. For more on the beauty of painted floors, see:
- DIY: New England Splatter Painted Floors
- Expert Advice: Affordable 4-Story Finishes from Dirty Girl Construction
- Get This Look: White Painted Floors in a Frugal Farmhouse
NOTE: This post has been updated; Original story continued on May 30, 2018.