*UPDATE: Check out the definitive FAQ for the Paper Floor Technique where we answer all the many questions we get about this cool kraft paper floor solution to nasty carpet!*
*UPDATE #2: See our Brown Paper Floor Follow Up: How Do They Look 4 Years Later? video.*
Brian and I have created a video tutorial that shows all the steps needed to create a do-it-yourself floor using brown kraft paper and glue like the one we did for both our son’s room makeover and our daughter’s recent room makeover. It’s a great alternative to wood floors and creates a cool leather look.
We are unanimous in our love of wood flooring and our hatred disgust dislike of carpet. Bear with me a minute as I get on a little soap box about wall-to-wall carpet. Carpet is:
- expensive
- not an easy DIY project (more money for labor)
- hard to clean (pets? children?…hello?)
- “filter is full after 5 years” (exact quote from a carpet professional- translation: there’s no amount of cleaning that’s going to get it clean)
- dusty, dirty edges even with regular vacuuming
- an unchangeable color
- not great for certain allergies
- and, since we moved rurally, shows all of the dirt, mud and other dark things that routinely come in on people’s shoes…
OK, I’m down from the box and obviously you can guess where we stand. And while I know plenty of people who love their wall-to-wall, this video is for those like us who’d like to get rid of it, either because you can’t afford new or because you, too, don’t like carpet.
Needless to say, we are slowly getting rid of the carpet that came with the house we are living in and we are down to two rooms left: the master bedroom and the sunken living room. They will probably get some sort of wood, but for the kid’s rooms, we used this decoupage torn-paper technique that we’d used in our other house with great success.
This paper floor technique is easy, inexpensive and creates a (sort of) leather-look with minimal effort. It’s coated with polyurethane so it wears well, although I wouldn’t recommend it for high traffic areas. How inexpensive? A 12′ x 11′ room cost just $65 total, or about .50 a square foot, which is super for new flooring.
Here’s what it looks like in our daughter’s room:
I love seeing this from the hallway now instead of the brown, stained carpeting. It looks a lot airier, too, and makes the room seem bigger.
Now we can get any color of carpeting we like and when it’s old and stained we can just buy a new one (and since this was just $25, it’s not a huge investment).
Here you can better see what the floor looks like. The pieces of torn kraft paper all came from the same roll, but they dry light and dark (I don’t know why), which I think creates a more interesting look than if it was all one color.
The best part for a kids room? Nice and airy under the bed- no “cleaning up” by pushing everything under there!
Interested in replicating this flooring option in your house? This tutorial video shows you all the steps and tools you’ll need:
Click here to see video full size on YouTube.
And please let us know if you use the technique- we’d love to hear (and see!) how it turned out for you!
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Bill I says
July 3 at 2:56 pmWhen the people stained the floor after it was installed, prior to clear coating it, did they have a problem with the stain taking hold because of the glue that was used?
Jami says
July 5 at 5:55 pmI don’t think so, Bill. I have at least one of those linked in the FAQ page – have you seen it?
Fran says
June 1 at 10:31 amI am interested on trying this on a slate floor that is brown. The floor is uneven as the slate pieces were set in cement. Do you think this would work? Also I need a color paper(blue) to work with. Do you know where I might be able to find color paper? I did my stairs several years back with the brown paper and it still looks great.
Jami says
June 2 at 2:47 pmI don’t think it would look good on slate tiles, Fran. There are too many variations and you wouldn’t want movement in there at all. I’m not sure where you’d find color paper – I’d just start googling it to see what comes up!
Fa says
April 26 at 8:23 pmI plan to use this technique in my basement rooms that are rarely utilized. Concrete slab floor, of course. I recall.you mentoned the issues you had in your master bedroom were due to oil based sealant and heavier kraft paper. Do you recall the preferred paper weight? I have found various weights online – I hope to avoid the issues you endured.
Jami says
May 1 at 4:36 pmIf you’re doing this on concrete, then you’ll want to use the different technique I link to in the FAQ page. Unfortunately, I don’t know the pound weights, I just have gotten the “builders paper” they sell at Home Depot. It basically should feel like brown grocery bag weight.
Hope this makes your basement look amazing!
Gricelyz says
March 3 at 5:54 amHi
I want to do the paper floor in my home and just saw your YouTube video and update. Where you state is four years later. Can you tell me how long has it been since the update do you still have the floors and would you recommend for hallway or stairs???
Jami says
March 4 at 4:30 pmWe actually did this floor in our first house – a city bungalow – before blogging and it lasted for years, even on stairs! In low traffic areas, this will last 10 or more years. If the leg of a piece of furniture gouged it, it was easy to replace that area with new paper and poly (you “glue” it with the poly, though – no adding glue/water after the fact).
Vox DeVaux says
November 20 at 7:25 pmHi guys! I wish I’d seen your video on Kraft Paper Floors before I started this project – nice work! As it was, I got information from various sources on the internet and did a lot of experimentation. I decided to document the process on an Instructiable. Here’s a link:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Kraft-Paper-Floor/
I was like you, I HATED my crummy old wall-to-wall carpet but I wasn’t prepared to install hardwood at the time. Once I realized that it could be covered over, it was full steam ahead. I’m encouraged to hear that the buyers of your home liked the treatment as this is something I worried about. Three years later, though, I still love it and it’s holding up extremely well, even on the stairs which are the only entrance to my home.
Cheers!
Vox DeVaux
Jami says
November 21 at 10:53 amI looked at your project, Vox, and your floors look great! The circles were an interesting riff on the technique. It’s fun to see what others come up with – thanks for sharing!
Liz Rogers says
December 18 at 10:19 pmCould you do this technique over OSB board? If so, would you use the Elmers Glue All to put it down?
Jami says
December 20 at 3:54 pmI don’t see why not. I’d just use the glue like we do with particle board. You can do a test for sure. If it looks like it soaks up too much, you can glue it down with the poly like people do who put it on cement. It works just as good, just more expensive.
Lora embry says
April 17 at 1:32 pmInterested in doing this on stairs. Would you still use big pieces and wrap the stair and tread or would you use straight edge on both stair and tread?
Jami says
April 17 at 7:53 pmWhen I did the stairs in our Portland bungalow, I used the paper only on the tread (the top of each stair) and painted the risers white. I wrapped the paper around the rounded tread edges, with straight edges against the risers. I used medium sized papers, set the straight edge against the riser and wrapped it up and around the lip, finishing the whole tread with straight edges at the back riser.
Hopefully that makes sense!