Floor paint

• Paint - the essential guide
• Choosing the right type of paint
• Floor paint
• Water-based or oil-based paints
• Exterior, masonry and woodwork paint
• Eco-friendly paints
• Paint glossary
• Paint directory

If you have a timber floor that's not particularly attractive or is made from a patchwork of old and new wood, paint makes the perfect disguise. There are plenty of choices – all the colours from Farrow & Ball are available as floor paint and Nordic Style offers an elegant selection, too.

Alternatively, a timber floor in good condition can be treated to a natural or tinted stain, which allows the grain to show through. Eva Johnson's Scandinavian woodcare oils will take the yellow edge off pine, and Osmo makes a range of opaque semi-gloss woodwax finishes, which can be mixed to create attractive, muted tones.

If you are grappling with the problem of choosing a woodwork colour to go with neutral walls, check out Architectural Colours by David Oliver, the founder of Paint & Paper Library. He arranged his off-whites for ceilings, cornices, walls and woodwork in chromatical groups and the concept has been so well received that chromatically arranged colours, such as soft greys, greens and pinks, have been introduced. For a scheme that demands dark woodwork colours, take a look at the excellent Flemish Colours range by Siecle, or the Cotswold collection by Ecos.

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