I just finished my Little White Trailer art studio. I used 10 years of paper bags I had stuffed under the bathroom sink. I stained it and made a stencil. I love it. Labor intensive, back and knee tribulations, but came out beautifully. Thank you, for this wonderful video!
I'm a professional carpenter. I've seen just about everything I thought but I've never seen this before. You can buy that cardboard paper in bigger rolls too cause we use it for when we're covering stuff up for painting. Floors actually looked pretty unique. I like stuff that's different than everyone else.
@@capricejones2106.. since you know the spongy area you can use 2" wood screws to secure the floor, countersinking the screw-head slightly. A dab of wood filler over the screw-heads to avoid the metal from ripping the paper and sand lightly. Then proceed with the process. If the wooden subfloor has stain from pets or bits of paint visible maybe consider painting the floor first. Raw wood would need to be sealed, I prefer a coat of Zinser sealing primer. If you want a dark brown or black floor add a coat of that color paint, allow to dry and then proceed with the paper bag process. Years ago I was selling a rental property and removed all carpet. It was a small house, typical of the 1950s. I painted the floors white and used the brown paper bag treatment. I added a bit of white paint to my Polycrylic topcoat so the end result was much brighter. The rooms appeared larger and the house sold within a week. No carpet was a positive factor and small windows were not a deterrent - the light floors were a plus.
As a carpenter who has done a lot of flooring I have never seen this before but I think it looks awesome, a real Depression era type solution that looks great. Good job.
I did my living and dining room like this and it held up great to me and 4 large dogs. I also took an extra step and put wood stain on the dried paper. Really brings out some character. I also did 12 coats of poly.
I was wondering about dogs. Did they ever do a pee or poop on the floor and how did that work out? I have really uneven concrete floors and if my dog pees it flows under the fridge and hides there till it stinks. I wish i could even out the floor but they said id have to have the concrete ground down and i couldnt manage that level of renovation. Even floor leveling i think id have to cut the bottom of the doors off and i dpnt think id be able to do it myself or even want. To. I dont mind maybe trying hydraulic lime. But then i was thinking maybe paper mache with lime or pva and borax i could smoosh it onto the floor...but then though oh no the damp and mold and the dogs wee wee would make it a big mold pit.
We used to do this in the 70's. It's about time stuff like this is making a comeback. I've already starting doing macreme again, and I feel much better. Put on some van Morrison and enjoy!
Michelle could I use like a gorgeous wrapping paper like I remember mom using rice paper and decoupaging ceramics and well anything she wanted to revamp. Could I use a pretty wrapping paper? We have begun decorating the bedroom in blush pinks and sage greens and as some are vintage family heirlooms we will not likely ever change it, could I use something to color the floor to match? Any thoughts on bad idea? Maybe glitter in first coat or polyurethane??? And also is 7 or 8 coats too much?? I'm so ready to be rid of this NASTY brown carpet!
I'm sure that they would as long as they didn't shred when you brush the glue on them. I would buy a roll of a brand that claims it's strong and experiment first.
Great idea and great video instructions that kept my attention. Sometimes these video's are so BORRING because people get too technical in explaining a simple thing. Thanks for keeping it simple. I'm starting my kitchen floor this week! I've been living with a sub-floor for a year now. Every type of flooring I've wanted has been too darn expensive...this fits the bill, perfectly and I think it will be therapeutic as well. Thanks AnOregonCottage! Well done
I've also see this technique where they put stain over the paper after the glue dries and before the poly is applied. It also looks amazing. This would give more color choices.
Nice! I did a wall using this method. The only difference was I dipped the paper in the poly and rung it out then applied. It work a treat and didn't require further coats. The poly doubled as glue and protection.
This is incredible. So simple and you don't have to worry about things like cutting laminate pieces with a circular saw, making a bunch of racket, dealing with warped pieces from water damage, etc etc. I will DEFINITELY use this technique in my next DIY home. I can't believe the savings this idea provides, and my local HD store sells rolls of this paper for $11 that covers approx 400 sq ft of area. Unbelieveable.
1) great video 2) can’t wait to do it on some of our rooms. 3) hands down, the best part of the video is when you re-assured your viewers not to sweat the wrinkles. Without that key info, people wouldn’t be as empowered to give this a go! 4) Wondering how adventurous you can get with paper stock... say pages from your favorite books for your library or office etc?
Thank you for your feedback - I'm glad you found it helpful. Quite a few people have told me they've tried other papers - white craft paper, thicker book pages, and construction paper. The key is to test, test, test before you do a large area!
everyone has their own techniques, i think you guys did a fabulous job. When I did this in a rental house we did it in the kitchen over top of some old asbestos tiles... that were cracked and awful looking. i tore up the bags in all sorts of different shapes and actually put it down with pre mixed wallpaper paste, the kind you get in a bucket. it did pretty good it did not wrinkle at all.. then we used what was called gym seal... like they use in gymnasiums its oil based and took longer to dry but it turned the floor a darker honey color and really resembled stones... this held up o our kitchen table and chairs and many parties at that house and it did great no tears.. i did get a tear once moving the washing machine but i just patched over it with more paper and a dab of gym seal once i dried and it was all fixed... this is really a fantastic floor for someone on a budget and looks so much more expensive then it really is... we loved ours.
That does sound like a great solution! And I haven't heard of gym seal before, I can imagine that would be so perfect for kitchens and bathrooms like yours. Being able to easily repair this is one of the best things about it, I think, too.
@@AnOregonCottage I agree with you on kitchen and bathroom floor where it has a more than likely chance of getting wet the gym seal probably is more durable . I did all the rooms in my house except for the kitchen and bathrooms ,and use the no VOC water based wood floor poly , Loved it and so did the people who bought my house . I cut my paper with my rotery cutter in random sizes though anywhere from 4" to 2' and overlapping the corners and some places useing the smaller squares to cover 4corners at once . One thing I didn't realize until after the first room I did started to dry was that the craft paper has one side that dries slightly darker (I got mine at Walmart since my nearest Home Depot was 21/2 hour drive from my house ) .it added a surprise bonus to the over all look and I was able to take advantage of that info once knew what I was looking for . Since I did mine some years back I've seen some really amazing floors , really the only limit is ones imagination . To any one who is thinking about doing this , I'd say go for it . Nice video ;)
We refinished our mint green formica counter top with paper! . Only different steps is, we used wallpaper paste, skipped crumpling since the tearing and gluing gave texture and used tinted polyurethane in Red Oak. Now Looks like beautiful real wood counters and have held up for two years. Just once a year we apply another coat of polyurethane to freshen up the shine. For any nicks, we add a repair piece of paper, repeat install steps and no one can even tell a repair was done!
Dee Miller Wow, this is great to read, Dee - especially how it's held up for you! Thanks so much for letting us know - and how you adapted it, that may be helpful to others.
You are very welcome. Wish I was tech savvy enough to know how to attach a photo (will have to ask our son ;-) A realtor and contractor came by, and it fooled them! People think we spent thousands instead of just $60 and a couple of days.So worth pretty and worth it.
Very helpful, Dee. Our counters are getting old and we’re considering using art paper or even book pages to cover them. You mentioned a Formica surface. I’m assuming you just laid it down on that because it is smooth. We have tile and I’m wondering if we can fill the gaps and lay it on top or do I have to pull the pile off and sand. Rather the former of course.
My parent’s had poured concrete floors in their kitchen and breakfast nook. This looks a lot like the concrete floor, but a lot more cost effective! Great job, looks lovely!
You can alter the look of any "paper" or fabric in this decoupage application. Just add paint pigment to your "glue". Did a kitchen floor where I had "dyed" the paper to give color. It was beautiful. You can do the decoupage treatment to just about anything (floors, walls, ceilings, furniture, etc, etc, etc) and decorate accordingly. A nice touch is to have special messages on the paper... either text... children's handprints... photos... anything, really. Let your imagination be your guide. As with ALL applications, you will need to protect the finished product, accordingly.
Ooh some great suggestion.. Yes we are only limited by our imagination.. So glad I can read others amazing input lol.. Someone said photos.. Love love that idea!! Very unique!
The best thing about this is that you can pretty much use any type of paper and you wish the paper was darker like a hardwood floor you can stain it. There is a video where a lady took the brown paper and cut it into long strips just like a hardwood floor and the finished product came out fabulous and it actually looked like wood
I made a border of william morris paper around my aunts hardwood floors because we couldnt sand the gunk off that was around the edge. I painted it white used pva and then water based varnish. Was very light paper like thin wrapping paper but it looks like beautiful tiles or something.
I agree with using the poly to adhere to the floor. One suggestion also spray paint the paper either before it's torn this will create cracks in the paint, art work & lay down the entire sheets without tearing. Stain darker to look like wood. The possibilities are endless
We had an RV that we redid the walls with paper bags and it looks wonderful. You can do your walls as well or even one wall for a nice look. We didn't need the polyethylene so it was very inexpensive!
I was doing this to pieces of furniture in the late 70 early 80 if you want you can add a splash of color with spray cans of different colors of paint before you rip up the paper . I recently covered some doors in a house that had been abused and would have cost roughly 2500 to replace all of them but I soak the paper in a mixture of water based varnish and 10% water small group of paper at a time then place them on the item I wish to cover and next day clear coat 2-3 times depending on the finish I’m after. If I was going to use this on a floor I would use a good two complement wood finish such as Bona they make a very durable product that will stand up to heavy use. Thanks for the video I enjoyed it greatly.
I have done this with walls but before putting a sealer on it I would go with some dark brown and cream color paint to put some low lights and high lights on it, when I was finished it looked like leather very beautiful for an accent wall in an office
I've worked with brown paper in several projects, albeit in a much smaller scale....and I mixed a small amount of brown and gold acrylic paint into the coat that goes on the top of the paper while gluing it down. The pigment and mica in the paint catches in the creases from crumpling and the raw torn edges of the paper. i'm considering doing this as a temporary way to update my 50 year old countertops until I can afford to totally replace them. I would use resin as a sealer rather than polyurethane in that case.
What a great idea! I have very slippery ceramic floor tile but ive always qanted wood floors but cant afford it! Im gonna try this in my guess restroom first see if i can achieve the look that i want but of course i want the dark brown wood look! Thanks for the tip!
I did this but added a capful of liquid brown rit dye to a 1 liter soda bottle of glue and water mixture. This dyed the wrinkles darker and made it look really well.. Eliminated the staining process.
I think it's beautiful the concept was similar in texture to the hard would flooring and let's not forget the fact that paper is a product of wood. not intended to be for everyone however for those of us who are not born with a silver spoon up our behinds this is an environment friendly economical way to have your home quite dignified until the you are able to upgrade if you so choose to to the couple that created this video thank you I was at wits ends look forward to any other hacks you may have for people of modest means who still have the pride of ownership.. Best of everything to you...
I did the same technique to walls in a powder room. Then I lightly brushed over it with cordovan shoe polish. I truly looked like leather, and people couldn't believe I just used shopping bags, lol!
@@kathygrindle7144 wish I could have shown it to you, however we lost that house during the recession in 09! Initially I played with the idea on cardboard, and I didn't smooth out the wrinkles alot. The shoe polish is darker on the wrinkles and gives it an aged look. And when you kind of buff it, it has a bit of a sheen. It was fun to do!
When we did this back in the 70s we used shoe polish and it really looked like leather! This was on a wall however! We didn’t use polyurethane because the polish made a nice shine.!
Thanks so much for this video. I just finished putting it all down in my new crafting studio. First coat of poly is down and it's looking pretty good! The room is 12' x 28' so it took a while to put down.. but so inexpensive I love it! I'm going to create a video showing my 14,000+ YT subscribers what I did and will link to your video and give you guys credit for the fab idea! Thank you!!!
I am sooooo doing this in our bedrooms!! We just did hard wood in our living room and it cost like 600$ or more...don’t get me wrong, it’s gorgeous, but doing this in the bedrooms will make up for the high costs of the dining and living rooms!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
2 days and $60 is awesome. My new cabin will look great,Thank you. For heavy traffic areas I am using vinyl pieces that look like bridges over a stream. This technique was all I was missing.
I've used this technique on canvas board as a background for a collage picture, and as a book cover. You can also add a bit of stain to it. I like the darker leather look, but your floors look great.
You can definitely use leaves of all shapes, sizes and colors to cover table top or counter top, etc. Once you poly it, there is no chance of having a problem of decomposition. You can also use a spray can to make the job go faster. This is what we did in the seventies. My husband showed me how to use small pieces of eggshells on a table with a coating of polyurethane.
Nice job! Looks great! There are SO MANY applications for this technique: walls, furniture, shelving, statues, AND so many kinds of paper that can be used: gift wrap, newspaper, comics, maps, book pages, etc.
Many years ago I did the same with a wall and I used news paper. At the time every body thought I was nuts, and I may have been as it was a rental.. But it was like no other, and that suited me fine.. I did put multiple layers on as news print is pretty thin. I had never really thought about it again till now since I have a reason to approach this idea again .. thank you for sharing your idea....
Thank you for this, I have been thinking how to do my floors on a budget... you gave me a fantastic idea and then some of the commenters on here added to the ideas... how fantastic! I am so glad you did this... thank you
Hi! Thanks for the video... I finally did this to my workout room and I absolutely love it but I did a couple things different. First I used Kraft paper from Walmart which is more of a "brown" color, I used the "long roll" and each were a bit under $5 a piece... it took about 2 rolls... I like the browner color as I think adds more warmth. I also cut them, which was real simple, I just rolled out a square and cut into quarters. I did that while watching TV at night. For my room it took 4 brown paper bags filled with scrunched up squares and really you want to have enough because it's a pain to stop and do more each time you need them... I also used the water based poly but different brand bought at Home Depot which I think was slightly less expensive but it is for floors. No matter what type of poly you're doing make sure the room is really well ventilated and I had 2 fans running and with the glue too as sniffing in that much glue is not good for you! One mistake I did to the first few was throw them in the solution prior to putting them on which was a big mistake because they all turned out totally flat with no dimpling, etc. Luckily I'd only done a few so no biggie, just went over them again... so easy... but it does cost for the supplies, for my room that was 12 x 12 was about $80... still not bad for it... I'm also going to do a design, like a stencil or I was thinking another way was to make a cool design is to use a darker or lighter color, cut out a design (like leaves or squares, circles and them glue them down just before you poly... even stamping... that's what's so fun about this... also make sure you take your quarter round off and then repaint and put back on your baseboards... I painted them white... they look amazing, and what's great is you can make it your own piece of art!
That looks exactly........like a floor made out of brown paper. It looks very, very nice. It takes an artist to do that and I have the artistic ability of a fruit fly. I would have to take years of lessons to even tear the paper prior to beginning, good video.
I once did a room this way, only it was on the walls. But doing the floor was pure genius!!!!!! I would never of thought of that on my own. Great job, great look, great tutorial!! Thanks for sharing.
Your results look nice but there is a better easier way. Use your water based poly to apply your paper. After you tear your paper scrunch it up, dip it into the poly, squeeze it out, open it up and stick it to the floor. This swells the paper a little but as it dries it pulls down tight, no wrinkles. And you don't have to poly it again when its down unless you want to. Yes you need gloves and your forearms get a good workout from the squeezing but the results are worth it. I've done it on walls, floors, over wood, over concrete , interior and exterior(need an oil based poly to finish with).
Thanks for the tip, Keith. We use glue initially to keep the costs down since it's 1/5th of the price of the poly. There's room for all variations, though!
No matter what you do it will need multiple layers of poly. Even on wood they recommend multiple layers. If not the poly wears with heels, furnture, dog nails, games, etc - then you will be catching paper edges etc. I would use at least 3 as a minimum topcoat. Even the quick floor redos with poly is 3 coats and that is commercial hard products. I use to do wood decoupage where the image looked like it had been painted on and it took a minimum of 12-20+ coats until it had the look.Usually it was 4-5 coats for the start. Each coat must be thin, be allowed to dry completely, then the next coats until it is wet sanding time after absolutely dry. Wet sand, dry and then you did 3 coats Delf, wet sanded, dried, 3 more coats, wet sanded, etc and continued with 2-3 coats in between wet sanding until the look was right. The look was beautiful but it was a project.
If you apply the glue to the floor and dip the paper into water so the fibres stretch and relax you won't have any wrinkling once you paste the wet paper into the glue. It dries tight and smooth. Trust me. I've done it for years. Great video though. That's not my forté. Well done
Ps... You can make a thin mix of wall paper glue instead of plain water to relax your paper. It mixes well with the white glue and is nicer to apply as it isn't so sticky
Very cool and soooooo many ways you could take this application and make it your own like the suggestion for walls with a finish that made it look suede. Could use some color or dye in the glue to add a bit of pop as well as the suggestion to cut like planks! Thanks for the creative muse! My brain is already running with this to do it on stairs I want to do something funky with other than carpet or $1000/stair hardwood! Great job and thanks for the “don’t” suggestions as well!♥️
You have done a beautiful job, and at the same time shown a lot of people who don't have the resources to do a wood or carpet floor. I've done this and simply love it. Now go rest for a long time!!
Wow, absolutely genius. Considering all the wasteful expenditure one sees in society today, it is amazing to see people applying their "little grey cells" (as Poirot would say). Bravo!
WOW, that is really nice looking and cheap to do... “A Joy of Beauty and a Sight to Behold”. I like it when the parents get their children involved in projects like this. Thanks for the “AWESOME” step by step video.
I did this with different "color" paper bags on a panel wall about 24 years ago . It works great and when you are ready to change it, just peal off in large pieces and reuse someplace else. I did not poly the wall, just used the glue, in my case, wall paper paste. Finish was great.
This is so COOL! I grew up around all art types and I have to say that this method is a new take on an old type! Thanks for sharing this ... I want to use this in the future.
Thanks! There was something about this I just couldn't shake..it is a creative twist on DECOUPAGE...on the floor!! VERY SUPER COOL!! I see others had pegged-it straight on!! Hopefully, I could do this in the future too.
@@beastman1083 I'm wondering about getting a butcher paper or even using that brown paper, but dying it even with permanent markers or whatever and then putting it down. Still tearing it or possibly even cutting it out like tiles or cutting it out in smaller tiles and doing sort of a mosaic look. I just wonder if there is a paper I could buy and what type of coloring I could use on it.
I'm not exactly sure where to get the butcher paper? But some art suppliers are online could help, ask the meat dept at the grocery store, or a pack n' ship business could direct you. The permanent markers would run and fade because of the type of chemicals used in the sealer, but test a piece to see how it goes. ..If not works, try an acrylic paint; when dried it has a plastic like quality.
I am delighted by the ingenuity and results! Brava! I have a suggestion, then I have a question. As the paper was going down, I thought, hmm, it looks a bit like stonework. When we see the 'after', it hit me: if you can buy slate colored paper, or dye the paper ahead of time, you could get a faux slate look. I would be careful to introduce just the tiniest color variation to the paper pieces, to give the finish a bit more depth and life (by the way, the paper already creates that, it's just a color I would not pick). Just a bit of variation goes a long way, otherwise you wind up with contrast that can appear disharmonious. Question: I have a raised ranch, built on a slab. The first floor is wall-to-wall carpet over sheet linoleum. I would be happy to pull up the linoleum, but the house was built in the 60s and I really don't want to even test for asbestos. Do you think this treatment will work over linoleum? Anyone in UA-cam-land try this? Again, great work, and cheers!
I like the idea of the stone look as well. But I'd be so afraid of not getting the colour and pattern to look right. You could go greys or browns.. Or a bit of both. I hope they respond to your question. Good luck.. Happy creating!
You can do it over any surface, it's just the outcome that may differ. If your floor has a raised pattern or deep seams, they may show through. I always suggest a test area.
decoupaged in , the kids could do that part if I were a kid I'd love to be a part of that pics from magazines now we've be different colors of tissue paper decoupaged in. Now I we all have put our heads together this is fantastical
@@christened7425 I love the slate idea too, I would practice on a large piece of cardboard or cut up some boxes to lay flat and practice on those first. :)
A girl I know owns a nail salon in town. She did this to her floor. It looks great and it wears really well. Once in a great while she has to patch a small area near the door and heavy traffic area. Really nice look.
Beautiful job. Love this! I have also seen someone just screw up the paper pieces and dip them into the glue mixture. Squeeze it out, straighten it directly onto the floor and smooth with your hands. It went a lot faster.
Would be really great if you could dye the paper and do an "inlaid" geometric design or a compass, or even paint the design into the floors and add gold touches like a kintsugi style floor. Has a lot of potential.
A fun option is to save interesting paper bags and display them on the floor. You can top a finished floor with scrapbook paper, or a story; just glue and refinish.
We got some critical judge-MENTAL people on this planet!good hubby for doin his part & mom/carpenter money saver multitasker I luv ur life girl.i challenge any person at any skill level social level ect to make over a floor that has potential of lasting a real long time WITH KIDS(5years is an eternity)under a hundred freakin bux( that is a mind blower i sware it just blows my wig off)lol I think it looks FAB U LOUS.U R E GENIUS GIRLY,the type of person who's family would get threw any disaster the world has to throw at them,I can tell the mind set,I'm a grandma,lost my daughter 3 years ago(car accident only child😔) to shed light I have my son & son in law & HIS NEW FAMILY(she has 3 girls)so I'm always desperate to find inexpensive,not CHEAP,ways to save the condition of my frkn home,4person add on is just insane so TYTYTY I'm going to try this like pronto n I'll keep u posted,SORRY SO LONG COULDNT HELP MY SELF
Sorry for the loss of your daughter, my heart goes out to you. Your enthusiasm is a parade, and I am with you, I too want to try this it looks like fun and not costly. Hope everything turns out well for you. All the best!
colored construction paper in my kids room would look way cool! just shared this with the wife who has been crying about flooring in the family room. I am willing to bet she will start on this tomorrow whole I'm at work! looks alot easier than laying wood or linoleum. Thanks guys.
I saw Christopher Lowell do this once with latex paint on the paper for color. He used a couple-three colors and it came out beautifully. I did it on a wall without the paper in two shades of red and deep raspberry, and it looked like red suede. It was so beautiful that Im planning a floor with two shades of dark green and turquoise for my bedroom.
LoL! This happen to me while watching this video lol. I wanted to know if this was going to look good so I paused the video and jumped forward to see if the end result was any good before watching the video in its intiraty and after a quick tap on the progress bar I ended up randomly on 8:10 but had to keep the video on pause and place my cell down on the table to run out and let my Cats inside. My better half asked me what I was watching and I told her I was going to build her something that I know she would love and would be a nice addition to our bedroom (she had been asking about wooden floors for our bedroom for sometime) I told her I wanted it to be a surprise and I was watching a video tutorial a young lady had uploaded on UA-cam on a affordable way to do this project. She said she wanted to see what it was and I said no it will ruin your present, but knowing she would look at it any way I walked out of the house to bring my cats in and to my surprise as I turned the door knob to comeback inside the Door was locked and she was MAD! something on the video got her mad and was letting me have it trough the door "OH I BET YOU WERE THINKING OF ME! MORE LIKE YOURSELF!" and I was like what is she talking about? Well we went back and forth and when I got back inside she handed me my phone and told me if I put that in our bedroom she would sleep on the couch! I couldn't belieave she would get this upset over paper wood floors I thought she would Lo💘e the idea knowing how much she liked "do it yourself home decorations" and saving money but then I looked at my phone and it all became clear to me lol 8:10, I will let you go to 8:10 on the video to see what she was screaming about lol in the end though I was able to let her see the complete video and she understood the mix up lol and we had a good laugh out of it lol go to 8:10 and let me know if you see what she was thinking and what she thought I had in mind for her bedroom gift lol.
Finally! I've been searching for this comment. So many people being so judgmental. I agree, it wasn't MY favorite, but I can totally see a ton of people loving the idea, and I always applaud someone doing what THEY love. Great video.
Thank you, you seem to point out the things like the bubbles that would have worried me. I think I will try this using the strips and wood grain tool to get the effect I want. You really explained it well!
This is amazing & also what I call really sticking to the man that keeps getting rich off us po folk!!!!! I'm gonna do this 1 day & thanks cause you guys are AWESOME!! I totally LUV the rigged paint brush! I have a bad back. I'll totally get stuck down on the floor till someone get's home..lol I'm sharing on FB.
This is amazing!!! I love it!! If and when I ever get the chance to create my dream home, I am definitely going to use this method of flooring! I will most likely tint it darker though!
You guys peaked my interest in this type of flooring especially since I have limited funds. I researched some more on paper bag flooring and decided to give it a try. Below is my journey and my icon is the result before the poly: I finished applying paper bags to my guest bedroom floor Nov. 25, 2014. I did not use stain; instead I used 3 bottles of acrylic paint from JoAnn Fabric (Deco Art Americana; color- Antique Maroon). I had two buckets and two dollar store paint brushes. In the first bucket, I mixed 2 cups glue and 4 cups water and the second bucket I mixed a half bottle of the acrylic paint, 2 cups of glue and 4 cups of water. I applied the white glue/water mix on the bottom of the paper strips (I made strips instead of mosaics), flipped it over and laid it in place on the floor. I then took the acrylic paint/glue/ water mixture and applied it on top of paper bags. I applied 3 drops of the Antique Maroon to each paper bag strips while the strips were still wet and lightly swished the paint brush across the droplets. When the paper bags dried, it created a mahogany-color wood look which I let cure for 3 days before I started applying the water based polyurethane. For most people, it takes 24-36 hours to lay paper bags/poly but because I am disabled, it took me 3 days to lay the paper bags on the floor. Poly took me one day because I didn't have to be on my hands and knees and I let each coat dry 2 hours (so that my back could stop screaming) before I applied the next coat. I took me 5 coats before the gallon of polyurethane was emptied. As I had never done any type of flooring before, applying the polyurethane thinly and trying not to overlap was kind of challenging. The end result was pretty good considering this was my first time doing anything like this.
Fantastic, Tammy!! It looks great and you came up with a creative way to add color without the extra step of staining. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Tammy Allen Hi Tammy. Will you send me some pictures of your floor with acrylic paint? Did you do anything other than paint the brown paper, like gesso etc? Also, did you use several layers of paint or simply roll on different colors? I have thought of making my stairs into abstract art using paper and acrylic.. thanks for posting
Hi Judy, I don't know how to photos on this site but I will add you as my Google+ friend and see if I can send you pictures that way. As for your other questions, my procedure went like this: I cut the brown paper (purchased at Lowes) every 16 inches and crumpled the paper. I un-crumpled papers 2 days later (option is really your choice on how long to leave paper crumpled). I had two $1 store buckets; in one, I mixed 2 cups glue & 4 cups water (mix well). In the other bucket, I mixed 1/2 bottle of Deco Art Americana (this was a 2 oz. bottle) along with the same ratio glue/water mix listed above. I had two dollar store paint brushes. One I used for the 1st bucket and the other for the 2nd bucket. I took one strip of paper and started in the corner wall. I brushed the glue/water mix from the first bucket on the paper and turned it over so that it will stick to the floor. I gently smoothed it out and then I used the second paint/glue/water mixture to brush the top of that paper. I laid down at least 3-4 strips before I proceeded to drop 3 droplets of the Deco Art Americana (color: Alizarin Crimson) on each sheet of paper and then I used the 2nd brush from the second bucket to lightly swish the drops. I must say that it came out very well. Some people who saw it thought it was wood flooring and some thought it was ceramic flooring. I also did the door to my bedroom using this same procedure although I haven't taken pictures of it yet. I too am planning on doing the steps in the hallway foyer.
I saw another video where she tore the paper in yet smaller pieces, stained them and then glued. The effect was beautiful. I like yours too, just would prefer a darker color. I had friends that did this on the walls under a chair rail in the dining room, it was amazing, looked like leather.
I am up to sealing the floor and it is very wrinkled. Thought is was a failure. Thank you for your upload. I feel so much better now and will keep going. Cheers!
We did this several years ago... it started out nice but over time ripped and became an eyesore. Going from carpet to Bpb flooring cost us in electric bills from the lack of insulation. I completely understand the investment in tools etc can make other options cost prohibitive. I worked with a home renovation ministry twice and was given hardwood floor projects both times and learned the tips and tricks and just completed 450 sq feet of hardwood in a long day over the weekend including furnature moving. .59c a sq foot and my vapor barrier is a billboard tarp for $20. I am not saying it is a bad option.... if you have the time and not the experience with power tools this is a great option.
This is for Tracey - for some reason there is not a 'reply' under your comment! :( I've had the floor seem like a lot of wrinkles, but then it relaxed after about a week - did yours? Sometimes if the paper was a heavier weight it will wrinkle more - then you need to use smaller pieces. If it's still too wrinkled, use a putty knife to tear up the wrinkles only to flatten it and add more paper over those areas, but this time just using the poly to 'glue' it down.
People are seeing this for the first time.. As I, and this is 4yrs old 😉 new posts are offering lots of ideas. So cool to read the different imaginative variations of your project. If thicker paper might wrinkle then would newspaper be ok or is that too thin!? Maybe, a couple layers of newspaper? What are your thoughts? Such a great project!
I used brown paper bags, with a mix of thinned clear elmers glue to basically make an axe handle for my sons fireman costume, and it looked like real wood or leather, very cool.
So much better now that the FAQ page is fixed :). I was able to read how to repair and found out I don't use the glue for the repair step, just the poly, and guess what, THIS WORKED!! my walls are now perfect!!! Thanks so much.
I have done this on walls, but used watered down house paint in two colors close to the paper color was a wash. Then do scrubbed dry brush highlights with metallic acrylic paint, followed by a fine splatter of metallic paint. It looks like weathered leather on the walls. Skip the sealer, the acrylic paint washes takes care of that. It's very dramatic!
Wow THIS HAS SUCH GREAT POTENTIAL! I appreciate you showing every step of this technique with your tips on how to manage certain aspects of the paper and putting on the top coat. I think I would like this treatment with a little forethought of grain of the paper (direction of the wrinkles) and placement of the pieces - and with consideration of the shapes and sizes. in fact with a bit more preparation of the pieces, you could indeed make this look like wooden planks. - it would look great if you did wide strips to imitate the wider floor planks that were typical in old turn-of-the-century farm houses. And in case you didn't know, they often painted the floorboards brown throughout the house to make it easier to mop and clean the floor. Now that I think of it, you could also imitate vintage linoleum flooring by putting the grain down in desired direction and then painting the vintage patterns onto the floor leaving a margin of floorboards around the edge, and treating the linoleum rug like it is a large area rug. That's what they were called - "linoleum rugs" and they had geometric designs that presented a boarder pattern that was different from the rest of the area/middle of the rug. My grandmother had them in several of the rooms of her house. Gosh! for that matter, I bet you could imitate stone and tile by using the right painting techniques (trump l'oeil). But unless you want the grain of the stone to be random, I think you need to work in the same direction with the grain of the paper.
I feel like this would look good also if the paper was ripped into long strips, almost like hardwood floors are laid out, or if you mixed a bit of white paint with glue and water for the top layer of the paper. Super cool!
I just finished my Little White Trailer art studio. I used 10 years of paper bags I had stuffed under the bathroom sink. I stained it and made a stencil. I love it. Labor intensive, back and knee tribulations, but came out beautifully. Thank you, for this wonderful video!
That is awesome! You're welcome!
I'm a professional carpenter. I've seen just about everything I thought but I've never seen this before. You can buy that cardboard paper in bigger rolls too cause we use it for when we're covering stuff up for painting. Floors actually looked pretty unique. I like stuff that's different than everyone else.
Yep, that's the paper we buy - it's called "builders paper" at Home Depot. I agree it's nice to be different.
Would this work for floors that are flexible. My floor is a little spongy in one area
@@capricejones2106.. since you know the spongy area you can use 2" wood screws to secure the floor, countersinking the screw-head slightly. A dab of wood filler over the screw-heads to avoid the metal from ripping the paper and sand lightly. Then proceed with the process. If the wooden subfloor has stain from pets or bits of paint visible maybe consider painting the floor first. Raw wood would need to be sealed, I prefer a coat of Zinser sealing primer. If you want a dark brown or black floor add a coat of that color paint, allow to dry and then proceed with the paper bag process. Years ago I was selling a rental property and removed all carpet. It was a small house, typical of the 1950s. I painted the floors white and used the brown paper bag treatment. I added a bit of white paint to my Polycrylic topcoat so the end result was much brighter. The rooms appeared larger and the house sold within a week. No carpet was a positive factor and small windows were not a deterrent - the light floors were a plus.
As a carpenter who has done a lot of flooring I have never seen this before but I think it looks awesome, a real Depression era type solution that looks great. Good job.
Thank you!
I did my living and dining room like this and it held up great to me and 4 large dogs. I also took an extra step and put wood stain on the dried paper. Really brings out some character. I also did 12 coats of poly.
Nice, Mark! Doing the extra coats probably went a long way to helping protect it with the dogs.
I was wondering about dogs. Did they ever do a pee or poop on the floor and how did that work out? I have really uneven concrete floors and if my dog pees it flows under the fridge and hides there till it stinks. I wish i could even out the floor but they said id have to have the concrete ground down and i couldnt manage that level of renovation. Even floor leveling i think id have to cut the bottom of the doors off and i dpnt think id be able to do it myself or even want. To. I dont mind maybe trying hydraulic lime. But then i was thinking maybe paper mache with lime or pva and borax i could smoosh it onto the floor...but then though oh no the damp and mold and the dogs wee wee would make it a big mold pit.
We do animal foster care so I was wondering how it holds up to animals. Ty!
We used to do this in the 70's. It's about time stuff like this is making a comeback. I've already starting doing macreme again, and I feel much better. Put on some van Morrison and enjoy!
Michelle, where are you finding macrame supplies? Online? Thanks
Michelle could I use like a gorgeous wrapping paper like I remember mom using rice paper and decoupaging ceramics and well anything she wanted to revamp. Could I use a pretty wrapping paper? We have begun decorating the bedroom in blush pinks and sage greens and as some are vintage family heirlooms we will not likely ever change it, could I use something to color the floor to match? Any thoughts on bad idea? Maybe glitter in first coat or polyurethane??? And also is 7 or 8 coats too much?? I'm so ready to be rid of this NASTY brown carpet!
I’m reminded of masking tape on wine bottles and shoe polish.
swag lamps
I'm sure that they would as long as they didn't shred when you brush the glue on them. I would buy a roll of a brand that claims it's strong and experiment first.
Great idea and great video instructions that kept my attention. Sometimes these video's are so BORRING because people get too technical in explaining a simple thing. Thanks for keeping it simple. I'm starting my kitchen floor this week! I've been living with a sub-floor for a year now. Every type of flooring I've wanted has been too darn expensive...this fits the bill, perfectly and I think it will be therapeutic as well. Thanks AnOregonCottage! Well done
I've also see this technique where they put stain over the paper after the glue dries and before the poly is applied. It also looks amazing. This would give more color choices.
Nice! I did a wall using this method. The only difference was I dipped the paper in the poly and rung it out then applied. It work a treat and didn't require further coats. The poly doubled as glue and protection.
Why would you varnish the walls wouldnt wallpaper paste be the thing for the walls?
This is incredible. So simple and you don't have to worry about things like cutting laminate pieces with a circular saw, making a bunch of racket, dealing with warped pieces from water damage, etc etc. I will DEFINITELY use this technique in my next DIY home. I can't believe the savings this idea provides, and my local HD store sells rolls of this paper for $11 that covers approx 400 sq ft of area. Unbelieveable.
Make certain you UNDERSTAND the nature of urethane before opening the can! If you are unwilling to take precautions stay away!
1) great video 2) can’t wait to do it on some of our rooms. 3) hands down, the best part of the video is when you re-assured your viewers not to sweat the wrinkles. Without that key info, people wouldn’t be as empowered to give this a go! 4) Wondering how adventurous you can get with paper stock... say pages from your favorite books for your library or office etc?
Thank you for your feedback - I'm glad you found it helpful. Quite a few people have told me they've tried other papers - white craft paper, thicker book pages, and construction paper. The key is to test, test, test before you do a large area!
everyone has their own techniques, i think you guys did a fabulous job. When I did this in a rental house we did it in the kitchen over top of some old asbestos tiles... that were cracked and awful looking. i tore up the bags in all sorts of different shapes and actually put it down with pre mixed wallpaper paste, the kind you get in a bucket. it did pretty good it did not wrinkle at all.. then we used what was called gym seal... like they use in gymnasiums its oil based and took longer to dry but it turned the floor a darker honey color and really resembled stones... this held up o our kitchen table and chairs and many parties at that house and it did great no tears.. i did get a tear once moving the washing machine but i just patched over it with more paper and a dab of gym seal once i dried and it was all fixed... this is really a fantastic floor for someone on a budget and looks so much more expensive then it really is... we loved ours.
That does sound like a great solution! And I haven't heard of gym seal before, I can imagine that would be so perfect for kitchens and bathrooms like yours. Being able to easily repair this is one of the best things about it, I think, too.
@@AnOregonCottage I agree with you on kitchen and bathroom floor where it has a more than likely chance of getting wet the gym seal probably is more durable . I did all the rooms in my house except for the kitchen and bathrooms ,and use the no VOC water based wood floor poly , Loved it and so did the people who bought my house . I cut my paper with my rotery cutter in random sizes though anywhere from 4" to 2' and overlapping the corners and some places useing the smaller squares to cover 4corners at once .
One thing I didn't realize until after the first room I did started to dry was that the craft paper has one side that dries slightly darker (I got mine at Walmart since my nearest Home Depot was 21/2 hour drive from my house ) .it added a surprise bonus to the over all look and I was able to take advantage of that info once knew what I was looking for .
Since I did mine some years back I've seen some really amazing floors , really the only limit is ones imagination . To any one who is thinking about doing this , I'd say go for it .
Nice video ;)
@@lindamazur4208 Glad to have your take on it, Linda - I agree 100% - it's a good option for people.
photos.app.goo.gl/pvrdiwRvh4W1YuWeA ,a few pictures of how my first room turned out
@@lindamazur4208 Your floor turned out great! Thanks for sharing your photos.
We refinished our mint green formica counter top with paper! . Only different steps is, we used wallpaper paste, skipped crumpling since the tearing and gluing gave texture and used tinted polyurethane in Red Oak. Now Looks like beautiful real wood counters and have held up for two years. Just once a year we apply another coat of polyurethane to freshen up the shine. For any nicks, we add a repair piece of paper, repeat install steps and no one can even tell a repair was done!
Dee Miller Wow, this is great to read, Dee - especially how it's held up for you! Thanks so much for letting us know - and how you adapted it, that may be helpful to others.
You are very welcome. Wish I was tech savvy enough to know how to attach a photo (will have to ask our son ;-) A realtor and contractor came by, and it fooled them! People think we spent thousands instead of just $60 and a couple of days.So worth pretty and worth it.
I was just going to ask if I could do countertops with bags and a feature wall also !!! 💚
Very helpful, Dee. Our counters are getting old and we’re considering using art paper or even book pages to cover them. You mentioned a Formica surface. I’m assuming you just laid it down on that because it is smooth. We have tile and I’m wondering if we can fill the gaps and lay it on top or do I have to pull the pile off and sand. Rather the former of course.
Would love to see pictures. Did you use floor or cabinet polyurethane?
My parent’s had poured concrete floors in their kitchen and breakfast nook. This looks a lot like the concrete floor, but a lot more cost effective! Great job, looks lovely!
You can alter the look of any "paper" or fabric in this decoupage application. Just add paint pigment to your "glue". Did a kitchen floor where I had "dyed" the paper to give color. It was beautiful.
You can do the decoupage treatment to just about anything (floors, walls, ceilings, furniture, etc, etc, etc) and decorate accordingly.
A nice touch is to have special messages on the paper... either text... children's handprints... photos... anything, really.
Let your imagination be your guide.
As with ALL applications, you will need to protect the finished product, accordingly.
Ooh some great suggestion.. Yes we are only limited by our imagination.. So glad I can read others amazing input lol.. Someone said photos.. Love love that idea!! Very unique!
I might have to try this on something like an old cigar box.
How did you dye the paper?
Bible verses
The best thing about this is that you can pretty much use any type of paper and you wish the paper was darker like a hardwood floor you can stain it. There is a video where a lady took the brown paper and cut it into long strips just like a hardwood floor and the finished product came out fabulous and it actually looked like wood
Yes, you can definitely adapt this! I like the leathery look so didn't really want to mimic wood.
I made a border of william morris paper around my aunts hardwood floors because we couldnt sand the gunk off that was around the edge. I painted it white used pva and then water based varnish. Was very light paper like thin wrapping paper but it looks like beautiful tiles or something.
I did this technique about 13 years ago in a bathroom - still holding up Haven’t even needed to repoly. Insane
Amazing!
I agree with using the poly to adhere to the floor. One suggestion also spray paint the paper either before it's torn this will create cracks in the paint, art work & lay down the entire sheets without tearing. Stain darker to look like wood. The possibilities are endless
We had an RV that we redid the walls with paper bags and it looks wonderful. You can do your walls as well or even one wall for a nice look. We didn't need the polyethylene so it was very inexpensive!
Nice idea!
I am buying a rental soon and may just do this!! Thanks so much!! Single mom of 4 trying to make some extra $$ and you just saved me big bucks!
I was doing this to pieces of furniture in the late 70 early 80 if you want you can add a splash of color with spray cans of different colors of paint before you rip up the paper . I recently covered some doors in a house that had been abused and would have cost roughly 2500 to replace all of them but I soak the paper in a mixture of water based varnish and 10% water small group of paper at a time then place them on the item I wish to cover and next day clear coat 2-3 times depending on the finish I’m after. If I was going to use this on a floor I would use a good two complement wood finish such as Bona they make a very durable product that will stand up to heavy use. Thanks for the video I enjoyed it greatly.
That sounds like such a great idea!
I have done this with walls but before putting a sealer on it I would go with some dark brown and cream color paint to put some low lights and high lights on it, when I was finished it looked like leather very beautiful for an accent wall in an office
I've worked with brown paper in several projects, albeit in a much smaller scale....and I mixed a small amount of brown and gold acrylic paint into the coat that goes on the top of the paper while gluing it down. The pigment and mica in the paint catches in the creases from crumpling and the raw torn edges of the paper. i'm considering doing this as a temporary way to update my 50 year old countertops until I can afford to totally replace them. I would use resin as a sealer rather than polyurethane in that case.
What a great idea! I have very slippery ceramic floor tile but ive always qanted wood floors but cant afford it! Im gonna try this in my guess restroom first see if i can achieve the look that i want but of course i want the dark brown wood look! Thanks for the tip!
Wow, you sound really skilled and creative. :)
I did this but added a capful of liquid brown rit dye to a 1 liter soda bottle of glue and water mixture. This dyed the wrinkles darker and made it look really well.. Eliminated the staining process.
Great tip, Patty - thanks!
AnOregonCottage I really love ur video. I restore houses for a living. Where the wrinkles are does it wear fast since it is raised up ?
I was thinking make a half to cup of coffee add to the glue for color.
She may have been serious. I know someone who used coffee for colouring in artwork. :) Might smell a little odd though!
Very creative. We have multiple rooms to do and your method (using different dye color per room) would help differentiate them
I've never seen this before. As an artist I wonder how I missed it. Thanks for sharing.
hi ginger, fancy spying you here..lol a sub
Me too ? I can’t wait to try it…
I think it's beautiful the concept was similar in texture to the hard would flooring and let's not forget the fact that paper is a product of wood. not intended to be for everyone however for those of us who are not born with a silver spoon up our behinds this is an environment friendly economical way to have your home quite dignified until the you are able to upgrade if you so choose to to the couple that created this video thank you I was at wits ends look forward to any other hacks you may have for people of modest means who still have the pride of ownership.. Best of everything to you...
I did this in utility room. Fantastic durability and if you get a stain just cover it with a fresh piece using same technique.
Yes! Thanks for adding your perspective.
I did the same technique to walls in a powder room. Then I lightly brushed over it with cordovan shoe polish. I truly looked like leather, and people couldn't believe I just used shopping bags, lol!
Great idea!!
I wish youtube would let you post pictures. I'd love to see that.
@@kathygrindle7144 wish I could have shown it to you, however we lost that house during the recession in 09! Initially I played with the idea on cardboard, and I didn't smooth out the wrinkles alot. The shoe polish is darker on the wrinkles and gives it an aged look. And when you kind of buff it, it has a bit of a sheen. It was fun to do!
Leesa Brown, did you seal it after you applied the shoe polish?
@@grittykitty50 Nope. No need, just a powder room. Not alot of humidity! I did use wall paper glue, not Elmers... Does that make a difference?
When we did this back in the 70s we used shoe polish and it really looked like leather! This was on a wall however! We didn’t use polyurethane because the polish made a nice shine.!
Thanks so much for this video. I just finished putting it all down in my new crafting studio. First coat of poly is down and it's looking pretty good! The room is 12' x 28' so it took a while to put down.. but so inexpensive I love it! I'm going to create a video showing my 14,000+ YT subscribers what I did and will link to your video and give you guys credit for the fab idea! Thank you!!!
I love your videos!
Ooh... I look forward to seeing your results!! Good for you!
Just saw ur comment and checked ur subs now 584000 ... 14,00 8 years ago ... congrats girlie 🥰💕 wish u all the best !
I am sooooo doing this in our bedrooms!! We just did hard wood in our living room and it cost like 600$ or more...don’t get me wrong, it’s gorgeous, but doing this in the bedrooms will make up for the high costs of the dining and living rooms!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Glad it's helpful to you!
2 days and $60 is awesome. My new cabin will look great,Thank you. For heavy traffic areas I am using vinyl pieces that look like bridges over a stream. This technique was all I was missing.
I've used this technique on canvas board as a background for a collage picture, and as a book cover. You can also add a bit of stain to it. I like the darker leather look, but your floors look great.
Wow! I'm blown away! This is fantastic!!! Looks expensive! I'm so doing this! Thanks for sharing! Ur Awesome!
So happy you found this helpful!
You can definitely use leaves of all shapes, sizes and colors to cover table top or counter top, etc. Once you poly it, there is no chance of having a problem of decomposition. You can also use a spray can to make the job go faster. This is what we did in the seventies. My husband showed me how to use small pieces of eggshells on a table with a coating of polyurethane.
Very cool look when you crack the eggshells and then soak them in tea or coffee for a bit.
Wow, congrats, wish I could see it.
Nice job! Looks great! There are SO MANY applications for this technique: walls, furniture, shelving, statues, AND so many kinds of paper that can be used: gift wrap, newspaper, comics, maps, book pages, etc.
I did a whole basement floor but used brown and red craft paper and stained it a darker color then poly. It’s gorgeous!!!
Sounds great, Christine!
Many years ago I did the same with a wall and I used news paper. At the time every body thought I was nuts, and I may have been as it was a rental.. But it was like no other, and that suited me fine.. I did put multiple layers on as news print is pretty thin. I had never really thought about it again till now since I have a reason to approach this idea again .. thank you for sharing your idea....
I have more time than money. I have seen this on walls but not flooring. I think this is amazing. Thank you for sharing.
Walls! Good idea lol
I seriously thought this was a joke at first but then realized it’s actually pretty cool! 👍
Thank you for this, I have been thinking how to do my floors on a budget... you gave me a fantastic idea and then some of the commenters on here added to the ideas... how fantastic!
I am so glad you did this... thank you
Hi! Thanks for the video... I finally did this to my workout room and I absolutely love it but I did a couple things different. First I used Kraft paper from Walmart which is more of a "brown" color, I used the "long roll" and each were a bit under $5 a piece... it took about 2 rolls... I like the browner color as I think adds more warmth. I also cut them, which was real simple, I just rolled out a square and cut into quarters. I did that while watching TV at night. For my room it took 4 brown paper bags filled with scrunched up squares and really you want to have enough because it's a pain to stop and do more each time you need them... I also used the water based poly but different brand bought at Home Depot which I think was slightly less expensive but it is for floors. No matter what type of poly you're doing make sure the room is really well ventilated and I had 2 fans running and with the glue too as sniffing in that much glue is not good for you!
One mistake I did to the first few was throw them in the solution prior to putting them on which was a big mistake because they all turned out totally flat with no dimpling, etc. Luckily I'd only done a few so no biggie, just went over them again... so easy... but it does cost for the supplies, for my room that was 12 x 12 was about $80... still not bad for it... I'm also going to do a design, like a stencil or I was thinking another way was to make a cool design is to use a darker or lighter color, cut out a design (like leaves or squares, circles and them glue them down just before you poly... even stamping... that's what's so fun about this... also make sure you take your quarter round off and then repaint and put back on your baseboards... I painted them white... they look amazing, and what's great is you can make it your own piece of art!
Sounds great, Lisa! Thank you for taking the time to report on your experience and ideas - it will help others wanting to do this. :)
This has opened my mind to so many ideas. Thanks for sharing.
I worked at an interior design store and they had stained concrete flooring that looked very similar. Creative. Do you and have fun.
I've always wanted a denim floor. The technique should work for that too.
That looks exactly........like a floor made out of brown paper. It looks very, very nice. It takes an artist to do that and I have the artistic ability of a fruit fly. I would have to take years of lessons to even tear the paper prior to beginning, good video.
Ha! Well, yes.Though I do have to say in real life, no one can guess what it's made from...
I once did a room this way, only it was on the walls. But doing the floor was pure genius!!!!!! I would never of thought of that on my own. Great job, great look, great tutorial!! Thanks for sharing.
Dudie sipe excellent tutorial 👍
You are basically decoupaging the floor! I love it!!
Your results look nice but there is a better easier way. Use your water based poly to apply your paper. After you tear your paper scrunch it up, dip it into the poly, squeeze it out, open it up and stick it to the floor. This swells the paper a little but as it dries it pulls down tight, no wrinkles. And you don't have to poly it again when its down unless you want to. Yes you need gloves and your forearms get a good workout from the squeezing but the results are worth it. I've done it on walls, floors, over wood, over concrete , interior and exterior(need an oil based poly to finish with).
Thanks for the tip, Keith. We use glue initially to keep the costs down since it's 1/5th of the price of the poly. There's room for all variations, though!
Keith Williams Keith, I want to do this to my kitchen. Is the poly first enough for a water barrier?
No matter what you do it will need multiple layers of poly. Even on wood they recommend multiple layers. If not the poly wears with heels, furnture, dog nails, games, etc - then you will be catching paper edges etc. I would use at least 3 as a minimum topcoat. Even the quick floor redos with poly is 3 coats and that is commercial hard products. I use to do wood decoupage where the image looked like it had been painted on and it took a minimum of 12-20+ coats until it had the look.Usually it was 4-5 coats for the start. Each coat must be thin, be allowed to dry completely, then the next coats until it is wet sanding time after absolutely dry. Wet sand, dry and then you did 3 coats Delf, wet sanded, dried, 3 more coats, wet sanded, etc and continued with 2-3 coats in between wet sanding until the look was right. The look was beautiful but it was a project.
If you apply the glue to the floor and dip the paper into water so the fibres stretch and relax you won't have any wrinkling once you paste the wet paper into the glue. It dries tight and smooth. Trust me. I've done it for years. Great video though. That's not my forté. Well done
Ps... You can make a thin mix of wall paper glue instead of plain water to relax your paper. It mixes well with the white glue and is nicer to apply as it isn't so sticky
I like these people - they are so real 😊
Thank you!
Very cool and soooooo many ways you could take this application and make it your own like the suggestion for walls with a finish that made it look suede. Could use some color or dye in the glue to add a bit of pop as well as the suggestion to cut like planks! Thanks for the creative muse! My brain is already running with this to do it on stairs I want to do something funky with other than carpet or $1000/stair hardwood! Great job and thanks for the “don’t” suggestions as well!♥️
You have done a beautiful job, and at the same time shown a lot of people who don't have the resources to do a wood or carpet floor. I've done this and simply love it. Now go rest for a long time!!
So glad to know you've done this and like it Rose!
Stunning work and I never thought of something like this. So nice to see something refreshing and new on youtube. You guys are great.
I did this to a wall years ago it looked like suede. Great project .
Looks great use a fat nap mini roller on floor and paper both then brush it out if it creates any air bubbles it works great for the finish too
Awesome
Amazing
I did it to my spare room , getting ready to do it to my bedroom, so going to do it in parts because it’s my bedroom!
Wonderful!
Wow, absolutely genius. Considering all the wasteful expenditure one sees in society today, it is amazing to see people applying their "little grey cells" (as Poirot would say). Bravo!
That's got to be one of the COOLEST techniques I've ever seen!!
Thank you so much, Catherine - we think so, too!
Wow Amazing Really got me thinking about doing all my bedrooms
I really like the look, thanks for sharing such a cost effective way to finish floors
Glad you liked it!
WOW, that is really nice looking and cheap to do... “A Joy of Beauty and a Sight to Behold”. I like it when the parents get their children involved in projects like this. Thanks for the “AWESOME” step by step video.
Thanks.
I did this with different "color" paper bags on a panel wall about 24 years ago . It works great and when you are ready to change it, just peal off in large pieces and reuse someplace else. I did not poly the wall, just used the glue, in my case, wall paper paste. Finish was great.
This is so COOL! I grew up around all art types and I have to say that this method is a
new take on an old type! Thanks for sharing this ... I want to use this in the future.
Me too, except I've never heard of this before or anything like it.
Thanks! There was something about this I just couldn't shake..it is a creative twist on DECOUPAGE...on the floor!! VERY SUPER COOL!! I see others had pegged-it straight on!! Hopefully, I could do this in the future too.
@@beastman1083 I'm wondering about getting a butcher paper or even using that brown paper, but dying it even with permanent markers or whatever and then putting it down. Still tearing it or possibly even cutting it out like tiles or cutting it out in smaller tiles and doing sort of a mosaic look. I just wonder if there is a paper I could buy and what type of coloring I could use on it.
I'm not exactly sure where to get the butcher paper? But some art suppliers are online could help, ask the meat dept at the grocery store, or a pack n' ship business could direct you. The permanent markers would run and fade because of the type of chemicals used in the sealer, but test a piece to see how it goes. ..If not works, try an acrylic paint; when dried it has a plastic like quality.
@@beastman1083 thank you so much for the tips. Have a beautiful day ❤️
Just found this accidently, and it is genius! Thank you for sharing.
I am delighted by the ingenuity and results! Brava! I have a suggestion, then I have a question.
As the paper was going down, I thought, hmm, it looks a bit like stonework. When we see the 'after', it hit me: if you can buy slate colored paper, or dye the paper ahead of time, you could get a faux slate look. I would be careful to introduce just the tiniest color variation to the paper pieces, to give the finish a bit more depth and life (by the way, the paper already creates that, it's just a color I would not pick). Just a bit of variation goes a long way, otherwise you wind up with contrast that can appear disharmonious.
Question: I have a raised ranch, built on a slab. The first floor is wall-to-wall carpet over sheet linoleum. I would be happy to pull up the linoleum, but the house was built in the 60s and I really don't want to even test for asbestos. Do you think this treatment will work over linoleum? Anyone in UA-cam-land try this?
Again, great work, and cheers!
I like the idea of the stone look as well. But I'd be so afraid of not getting the colour and pattern to look right. You could go greys or browns.. Or a bit of both. I hope they respond to your question. Good luck.. Happy creating!
You can do it over any surface, it's just the outcome that may differ. If your floor has a raised pattern or deep seams, they may show through. I always suggest a test area.
decoupaged in , the kids could do that part if I were a kid I'd love to be a part of that pics from magazines now we've be different colors of tissue paper decoupaged in. Now I we all have put our heads together this is fantastical
@@christened7425 I love the slate idea too, I would practice on a large piece of cardboard or cut up some boxes to lay flat and practice on those first. :)
A girl I know owns a nail salon in town. She did this to her floor. It looks great and it wears really well. Once in a great while she has to patch a small area near the door and heavy traffic area. Really nice look.
Awesome! Yes, we've been really surprised by how well it holds up - and how easy it is to fix areas.
Beautiful job. Love this! I have also seen someone just screw up the paper pieces and dip them into the glue mixture. Squeeze it out, straighten it directly onto the floor and smooth with your hands. It went a lot faster.
Thank you! Yes, it's just super messy on your hands and I'm not sure it is faster than painting the glue...
Would be really great if you could dye the paper and do an "inlaid" geometric design or a compass, or even paint the design into the floors and add gold touches like a kintsugi style floor. Has a lot of potential.
A fun option is to save interesting paper bags and display them on the floor. You can top a finished floor with scrapbook paper, or a story; just glue and refinish.
We got some critical judge-MENTAL people on this planet!good hubby for doin his part & mom/carpenter money saver multitasker I luv ur life girl.i challenge any person at any skill level social level ect to make over a floor that has potential of lasting a real long time WITH KIDS(5years is an eternity)under a hundred freakin bux( that is a mind blower i sware it just blows my wig off)lol I think it looks FAB U LOUS.U R E GENIUS GIRLY,the type of person who's family would get threw any disaster the world has to throw at them,I can tell the mind set,I'm a grandma,lost my daughter 3 years ago(car accident only child😔) to shed light I have my son & son in law & HIS NEW FAMILY(she has 3 girls)so I'm always desperate to find inexpensive,not CHEAP,ways to save the condition of my frkn home,4person add on is just insane so TYTYTY I'm going to try this like pronto n I'll keep u posted,SORRY SO LONG COULDNT HELP MY SELF
Sorry for the loss of your daughter, my heart goes out to you.
Your enthusiasm is a parade, and I am with you, I too want to try this it looks like fun and not costly. Hope everything turns out well for you.
All the best!
colored construction paper in my kids room would look way cool! just shared this with the wife who has been crying about flooring in the family room. I am willing to bet she will start on this tomorrow whole I'm at work! looks alot easier than laying wood or linoleum. Thanks guys.
I saw Christopher Lowell do this once with latex paint on the paper for color. He used a couple-three colors and it came out beautifully. I did it on a wall without the paper in two shades of red and deep raspberry, and it looked like red suede. It was so beautiful that Im planning a floor with two shades of dark green and turquoise for my bedroom.
I wish you'd show more of the finished product. Most of it was covered by furniture and the lighting made it hard to see what it actually looked like.
We show a few more close-ups in the "4 years later" video, Cathy - maybe that will give you a clearer view!
Cathy Finn-Derecki I was just asking that...4 years later. Lol..I should have looked thru the comments first..
Cathy fin d-hater
They showed several seconds of film on how the finished floor looked before the furniture was placed. Start at 9:36.
Pool
LoL! This happen to me while watching this video lol. I wanted to know if this was going to look good so I paused the video and jumped forward to see if the end result was any good before watching the video in its intiraty and after a quick tap on the progress bar I ended up randomly on 8:10 but had to keep the video on pause and place my cell down on the table to run out and let my Cats inside. My better half asked me what I was watching and I told her I was going to build her something that I know she would love and would be a nice addition to our bedroom (she had been asking about wooden floors for our bedroom for sometime) I told her I wanted it to be a surprise and I was watching a video tutorial a young lady had uploaded on UA-cam on a affordable way to do this project. She said she wanted to see what it was and I said no it will ruin your present, but knowing she would look at it any way I walked out of the house to bring my cats in and to my surprise as I turned the door knob to comeback inside the Door was locked and she was MAD! something on the video got her mad and was letting me have it trough the door "OH I BET YOU WERE THINKING OF ME! MORE LIKE YOURSELF!" and I was like what is she talking about? Well we went back and forth and when I got back inside she handed me my phone and told me if I put that in our bedroom she would sleep on the couch! I couldn't belieave she would get this upset over paper wood floors I thought she would
Lo💘e the idea knowing how much she liked "do it yourself home decorations" and saving money but then I looked at my phone and it all became clear to me lol 8:10, I will let you go to 8:10 on the video to see what she was screaming about lol in the end though I was able to let her see the complete video and she understood the mix up lol and we had a good laugh out of it lol go to 8:10 and let me know if you see what she was thinking and what she thought I had in mind for her bedroom gift lol.
hahaha 😂
pole dancing! lol
I personally don't care for this look,but it is an interesting idea. It is your home,if you like it then that is what's important.
Yep! :)
Finally! I've been searching for this comment. So many people being so judgmental. I agree, it wasn't MY favorite, but I can totally see a ton of people loving the idea, and I always applaud someone doing what THEY love. Great video.
Wow! I'm impressed! At first I thought oh my god what are they doing? But got to admit it looks really good! Cheap too!
Thank you, you seem to point out the things like the bubbles that would have worried me. I think I will try this using the strips and wood grain tool to get the effect I want. You really explained it well!
Omg you mod podged a whole floor! Effing brilliant!!!! 😲
This is amazing & also what I call really sticking to the man that keeps getting rich off us po folk!!!!! I'm gonna do this 1 day & thanks cause you guys are AWESOME!! I totally LUV the rigged paint brush! I have a bad back. I'll totally get stuck down on the floor till someone get's home..lol I'm sharing on FB.
Awesome !!! Video
Thank You, for the Great Simply
Instructions and detail.
I finally feel I can do this too!
Many Blessings
Hugs
My youngest daughter did this in her 110 year old New Orleans revival. It came out beautifully. Well worth the effort.
Love hearing this - thank you!
I visited a house where the owners had done this to their floors. It looked terrific. I was so surprised.
Everyone who saw ours - including buyers of two houses - loved it, too!
You kept it easy and informative. Thank you and well done!
Thanks!
This is amazing!!! I love it!! If and when I ever get the chance to create my dream home, I am definitely going to use this method of flooring! I will most likely tint it darker though!
comic strip floor
Cool idea!
yes !! good idea
I like the idea of book pages!
@@JustOneDress or sheet music!
...blueprints
You guys peaked my interest in this type of flooring especially since I have limited funds. I researched some more on paper bag flooring and decided to give it a try. Below is my journey and my icon is the result before the poly:
I finished applying paper bags to my guest bedroom floor Nov. 25, 2014. I did not use stain; instead I used 3 bottles of acrylic paint from JoAnn Fabric (Deco Art Americana; color- Antique Maroon). I had two buckets and two dollar store paint brushes. In the first bucket, I mixed 2 cups glue and 4 cups water and the second bucket I mixed a half bottle of the acrylic paint, 2 cups of glue and 4 cups of water. I applied the white glue/water mix on the bottom of the paper strips (I made strips instead of mosaics), flipped it over and laid it in place on the floor. I then took the acrylic paint/glue/ water mixture and applied it on top of paper bags. I applied 3 drops of the Antique Maroon to each paper bag strips while the strips were still wet and lightly swished the paint brush across the droplets. When the paper bags dried, it created a mahogany-color wood look which I let cure for 3 days before I started applying the water based polyurethane.
For most people, it takes 24-36 hours to lay paper bags/poly but because I am disabled, it took me 3 days to lay the paper bags on the floor. Poly took me one day because I didn't have to be on my hands and knees and I let each coat dry 2 hours (so that my back could stop screaming) before I applied the next coat. I took me 5 coats before the gallon of polyurethane was emptied. As I had never done any type of flooring before, applying the polyurethane thinly and trying not to overlap was kind of challenging. The end result was pretty good considering this was my first time doing anything like this.
Fantastic, Tammy!! It looks great and you came up with a creative way to add color without the extra step of staining. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Tammy Allen Hi Tammy. I have been wondering about using acrylic paint to make the floor look like a painting.
Judy McDonald You can see a picture here: anoregoncottage.com/brown-paper-floor-technique-faqs/ and I'll post more on that page, too.
Tammy Allen Hi Tammy. Will you send me some pictures of your floor with acrylic paint? Did you do anything other than paint the brown paper, like gesso etc? Also, did you use several layers of paint or simply roll on different colors? I have thought of making my stairs into abstract art using paper and acrylic.. thanks for posting
Hi Judy, I don't know how to photos on this site but I will add you as my Google+ friend and see if I can send you pictures that way. As for your other questions, my procedure went like this: I cut the brown paper (purchased at Lowes) every 16 inches and crumpled the paper. I un-crumpled papers 2 days later (option is really your choice on how long to leave paper crumpled). I had two $1 store buckets; in one, I mixed 2 cups glue & 4 cups water (mix well). In the other bucket, I mixed 1/2 bottle of Deco Art Americana (this was a 2 oz. bottle) along with the same ratio glue/water mix listed above. I had two dollar store paint brushes. One I used for the 1st bucket and the other for the 2nd bucket. I took one strip of paper and started in the corner wall. I brushed the glue/water mix from the first bucket on the paper and turned it over so that it will stick to the floor. I gently smoothed it out and then I used the second paint/glue/water mixture to brush the top of that paper. I laid down at least 3-4 strips before I proceeded to drop 3 droplets of the Deco Art Americana (color: Alizarin Crimson) on each sheet of paper and then I used the 2nd brush from the second bucket to lightly swish the drops. I must say that it came out very well. Some people who saw it thought it was wood flooring and some thought it was ceramic flooring. I also did the door to my bedroom using this same procedure although I haven't taken pictures of it yet. I too am planning on doing the steps in the hallway foyer.
I saw another video where she tore the paper in yet smaller pieces, stained them and then glued. The effect was beautiful. I like yours too, just would prefer a darker color. I had friends that did this on the walls under a chair rail in the dining room, it was amazing, looked like leather.
It would probably be worth staining a large section off the role, let it dry then tear into pieces.
instead of ripping the paper random why not cut it so it looks like planks then it really would look like wood
That's what I was thinking
wow love that idea !!
totally agree
Would take forever!
@@Mofo0101
Watching from the UK and I love that it isn't organised into plank shapes. Love the free flowing feel.
When you tear out carpet, make sure to wear a good dust mask, at least. The dust from those old carpets is nasty stuff.
Mumpy....even more nasty when I can see black mold around the borders!
@Dirk Digler I would even screw down the subfloor while you have it exposed to eliminate creeks in the floor . . .
LOL good edvice but too late it's done
I live in germany,and I never ever heard of it! interesting!
I am up to sealing the floor and it is very wrinkled. Thought is was a failure. Thank you for your upload. I feel so much better now and will keep going. Cheers!
We did this several years ago... it started out nice but over time ripped and became an eyesore. Going from carpet to Bpb flooring cost us in electric bills from the lack of insulation. I completely understand the investment in tools etc can make other options cost prohibitive. I worked with a home renovation ministry twice and was given hardwood floor projects both times and learned the tips and tricks and just completed 450 sq feet of hardwood in a long day over the weekend including furnature moving.
.59c a sq foot and my vapor barrier is a billboard tarp for $20.
I am not saying it is a bad option.... if you have the time and not the experience with power tools this is a great option.
Looks more like flagstone than hardwood floors. Nice job
This is for Tracey - for some reason there is not a 'reply' under your comment! :( I've had the floor seem like a lot of wrinkles, but then it relaxed after about a week - did yours? Sometimes if the paper was a heavier weight it will wrinkle more - then you need to use smaller pieces. If it's still too wrinkled, use a putty knife to tear up the wrinkles only to flatten it and add more paper over those areas, but this time just using the poly to 'glue' it down.
People are seeing this for the first time.. As I, and this is 4yrs old 😉 new posts are offering lots of ideas. So cool to read the different imaginative variations of your project.
If thicker paper might wrinkle then would newspaper be ok or is that too thin!? Maybe, a couple layers of newspaper? What are your thoughts? Such a great project!
The reason the paper “bubbles” is the glue on the top is exposed to air so the clue on one side is drying fast then the glue on the backside.
I used brown paper bags, with a mix of thinned clear elmers glue to basically make an axe handle for my sons fireman costume, and it looked like real wood or leather, very cool.
Nice! That's the cool look the floor has - it's hard to capture in video.
So much better now that the FAQ page is fixed :). I was able to read how to repair and found out I don't use the glue for the repair step, just the poly, and guess what, THIS WORKED!! my walls are now perfect!!! Thanks so much.
I happend to watch this video. I´m a sewer. So i have the idea to use fabric scraps insteed of paper. I´ll keep it in my mind.
I have done this on walls, but used watered down house paint in two colors close to the paper color was a wash. Then do scrubbed dry brush highlights with metallic acrylic paint, followed by a fine splatter of metallic paint. It looks like weathered leather on the walls. Skip the sealer, the acrylic paint washes takes care of that. It's very dramatic!
You're a lucky guy to have such a smart wife.
Wow THIS HAS SUCH GREAT POTENTIAL! I appreciate you showing every step of this technique with your tips on how to manage certain aspects of the paper and putting on the top coat. I think I would like this treatment with a little forethought of grain of the paper (direction of the wrinkles) and placement of the pieces - and with consideration of the shapes and sizes. in fact with a bit more preparation of the pieces, you could indeed make this look like wooden planks. - it would look great if you did wide strips to imitate the wider floor planks that were typical in old turn-of-the-century farm houses. And in case you didn't know, they often painted the floorboards brown throughout the house to make it easier to mop and clean the floor. Now that I think of it, you could also imitate vintage linoleum flooring by putting the grain down in desired direction and then painting the vintage patterns onto the floor leaving a margin of floorboards around the edge, and treating the linoleum rug like it is a large area rug. That's what they were called - "linoleum rugs" and they had geometric designs that presented a boarder pattern that was different from the rest of the area/middle of the rug. My grandmother had them in several of the rooms of her house. Gosh! for that matter, I bet you could imitate stone and tile by using the right painting techniques (trump l'oeil). But unless you want the grain of the stone to be random, I think you need to work in the same direction with the grain of the paper.
Lots of creative ideas! I did have one viewer/blog reader send pictures of how she imitated wood planks with the paper, so that can be done for sure.
I feel like this would look good also if the paper was ripped into long strips, almost like hardwood floors are laid out, or if you mixed a bit of white paint with glue and water for the top layer of the paper. Super cool!
Sure, people have taken this idea and done a lot of variations.