This is part 2 of the bedroom carpet removal saga. To see how I got this far, click here for part 1 of the tutorial.
Starting out, our bedroom had wall to wall carpeting. The people who lived in the house before us kept it in immaculate condition, but it just wasn’t practical to have a carpeted bedroom with three dogs and so I decided to rip it out. As a refresher, this is what it looked like before I got to work:
And this is what it looked like after I finished laying all the planks, with some help from Matt at the very end.
All of the boards were finally down, and I was ready to add the stain. Before I did, I vacuumed the floor really well, using the nozzle to suck up any sawdust or debris that had fallen between the cracks as we were working.
After testing out a few different colors, I settled on Minwax Pickled Oak as my stain of choice. I love the look of whitewashed flooring, but using paint seemed like it would defeat the purpose of all that sanding, so this stain was a good alternative. Keeping the floors light will help camouflage any dog hair or dust (I’m a dirtbag, who cares?) and give the room the coastal vibe I was going for. I also thought that if I had stained them darker, it would result in them looking more like plywood.
To apply the stain, I used a 7.5″ Shur-Line stain applicator and it worked really well! It went on smoothly and evenly, and took no time at all to cover the floor. I did inside the closet first, and then worked my way from one side of the room to the other, going towards the door so I didn’t box myself in. It was kind of hard on my eyes because the stain is so light and made it difficult to determine where I had already applied.
The difference was subtle initially, but definitely there. Now (one week after staining) the difference is much more prominent. The stain took down any remaining ‘yellow’ tone on the planks, leaving them a natural, sun-bleached hue. I think if I’d used a paint for the white-wash, too much of the wood grain would have been covered.
I let the stain dry for a full 24 hours before adding the first coat of finish. I used Minwax Ultimate Floor Finish, because it claims it will never amber over time, making it ideal over light stains. (I swear to God, if it turns my floors yellow, I will burn this house to the ground.) I used satin because I wanted a matte finish, but it comes in gloss and semi-gloss as well.
Aside from claiming it dries (and stays) crystal clear, some other perks of this finish are that it’s soap and water clean up, low odour, you can re-coat in two hours, and no sanding between coats is required. Also, the directions state if you’re applying the finish over stain, only two coats are necessary. (I did three just because I wanted the extra protection.) I applied the finish the same way I did the stain, using a fresh Shur-Line applicator, starting in the closet and then going from one side of the room to the other. It went on so nice and smooth, and was also really quick! There was virtually no smell, and it was dry to the touch in an hour. I did one coat after work, another the next morning before work, and then the final coat the following night. Less than three days to stain and clear coat a floor is pretty great, especially for someone as impatient as me.
Even though it’s not necessary, it does say you can sand before the last coat with a fine grit paper for maximum smoothness, which I did. I used 400 grit and lightly sanded the entire floor by hand (the knee pads come in handy here) to take down any rough spots that were a result of the stain raising the wood grain. It only took me about an hour, which I think was well worth it because the floors are now as smooth as hardwood! I vacuumed the dust and applied the final coat of finish, a little more thickly than the first two.
After the floors were finished, I painted the walls and trim a nice, fresh white (it’s called Polar Bear, by Behr). I decided to paint after laying the floors because of the amount of cutting and sanding we did in the room during installation. I didn’t want any dust or debris to stick into freshly painted walls, so I waited until after the floors were down and was just suuuuuuper careful, which is very uncharacteristic of me. I laid down drop cloths and everything.
It took three coats of paint to cover the mint green, which was torture because I hate painting almost as much as I hate zits on my chin (honestly, why am I still getting zits anyways I am 32 years old ffs). Matt put all the baseboards back on for me when I was finished painting the walls, because he was super eager to get moved back into our bedroom. And also because he is a nice guy.
After a week and a half of hard work (plus a month of sanding!) the room is finally finished and I could not be happier with how it turned out. The floors ended up costing us about $1.27 per square foot, including the stain and finish. Under $400 for new bedroom floors? Yup, I’m pretty much tooting the shit out of my own horn right now. I honestly cannot believe what a difference there is in this room; it just feels so much bigger and brighter. I am happy as hell and can’t wait to finish the rest of the upstairs!
Even though I used satin finish, there is still a bit of a sheen to the floors when the light hits it, so I’m glad I didn’t use gloss or semi-gloss.
I put this project in the win column 100%, and will report back in a few months on how it’s wearing for my six loyal readers. You can see our entire bedroom makeover here. What do you think? Would you ever try plywood as a budget friendly flooring solution?
UPDATE: If you’re curious about how these floors are holding up a year later, visit my post here.
Floor looks amazing!!! I wish you had these tutorials up when we did renos a few years back 🙂
Looking forward to a follow-up on this one!
Thanks J Mac! I’m pretty pumped — soon I’ll hang the elephant and make all your dreams come true! 🙂
u nailed it!!! nice work.
It’s absolutely beautiful…..love the look of it. Good job Allison!
Thanks Suzanne! <3
Are you available for hire? Another amazing job, Allison!
Thanks Marg! 🙂
Hi there… I am quite interested in using the plywood planks idea in a current renovation. I found your dialog in part 1 and 2 both informative and enjoyable.
Thanks Diane! 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions once you get going on your floors!
Is it easy to clean/keep clean? Want to do in my kitchen. Also, I currently have tile and wanted to glue plywood on top of the tile. What do you think?
Hi Sonya — yes! If you check out my post on how the floors are holding up, I detail how I keep them clean. What kind of tile do you have?
First of all – you are freeking funny. Like, make me laugh so hard I almost woke up my husband, funny. Secondly – GREAT job on the floor. It looks amazing!!!! Thumbs up all the way around! We’re going to attempt this at our house soon. Thanks for the great tutorial and helpful tips!!! 🙂
Connie — what in the world are you doing up at 3am looking at home reno tutorials?! I thought I was the only one who did that! (We must be soul mates.) Thank you for the lovely compliment and I am so glad you like the floors! I’d love to see how yours turn out, and if you run into any issues or have any questions as you’re working on them let me know!
Very nice work! I have one question. I’ve been researching a lot of the diy plank floors, but I haven’t found any that talk about or show what happens with the transition from rooms. Since you only did you bedroom, what kind of transition piece did you use for your door into the hallway, next room, whatever?
Hi Farrah! Thanks for visiting the blog. I have done nothing (as of yet) to transition between rooms because very soon I plan on continuing the floors out into the hallway and into the other two rooms upstairs. (Currently there is just an ugly gap between the plywood floors in the bedroom and the laminate in the hallway.) However, I will have to figure out a solution for this when I do the hallway because the bathroom is Luxury Vinyl Tile. I was thinking about putting down a piece of finished pine over the seam where the two floors meet, thin enough that the bathroom door can still close and stained the same color as the plywood planks. What materials would you be transitioning between, and how big of an area: just a doorway, or?
Super job Allison! You are amazing – I LOVE your tutorials!
Thanks very much Sandra! I’m glad you enjoy the blog. 🙂
I have been reading blogs about plywood planks for almost a year! I love how they turn out looking more rustic and farmhouse (Plus you had me <$1 sqft). You did a fabulous job! The lighter stain on yours does give it more of a beachy vibe! Well done! My question is… now that you have had them for a few months, what do you think? I don't have pets but I have 3 kids so I'm curious how the cracks look with everyday wear and tear and pet debris:) Are they easy to clean? Our plan is also to start in our master bedroom and see how we like them and then transition the rest of the house. Thanks so much for sharing your tutorial!
Thank you, Kate! I was in the same boat. I pondered and researched and checked out a ton of other blogs before finally taking the plunge and going for the plywood floors myself and I can honestly say I am so glad I did. It is one of my favorite improvements to date when considering the cost, impact, and practicality. The things I worried most about prior to installation were getting splinters in bare feet or the floor feeling rough (which it doesn’t at all) and if it would look nice, which I think it does! If you have no dogs, you are golden. My dogs are seriously so hard on this floor, and there are some scratches and marks from their nails (it is pine after all) but because I stained them a really light color, you can’t tell unless you’re down on your knees really looking for them (I will post some pictures later). You can’t feel them when you’re walking on it, so you really don’t notice at all. The gaps are no big deal: I vacuum once a week (or twice if I’m really ambitious) and I don’t have any problems with dirt/pet hair getting stuck in there. I would say, though, since you do have kids I would paint the sub-floor underneath to give the added moisture protection in case of any spills. The beauty of these floors is that you won’t be scared for your kids to actually live on them, you know? They are cheap and beautiful (in my opinion) so you really can’t go wrong. I hope that helps! If you have any further questions I’d be happy to chat. Good luck!
Thanks! I can’t wait to get started!
I LOVE the way these turned out! I was thinking of doing this in my bedroom. I have a dog, and she likes to pee on floors when she’s mad, and I’m just worried that I’ll come home one day and I will have to rip up all that work because of her. Any suggestions as to how I could seal it better? Or maybe putting them close together would help?
Hi Kayla: thanks for your comment! I did worry about this too, to be honest. My dogs aren’t spite pee’ers per se, but there is the odd accident. I think if you painted the sub-floor underneath and eliminated the gaps (I have seen other tutorials who did not gap their boards and had no issues with buckling) you would be ok. Also, using the liquid nails as well as nailing them to the floor might also lessen the chance that any accidents would seep underneath the actual boards. You could also use Waterlox sealer instead of the Minwax. I used it on my bathroom counters and I am telling you that stuff is impenetrable. A little more expensive, but worth it if you are really worried about your pup damaging the floors! Sorry I can’t be more helpful — good luck!
You are funny! Nice work!
Thanks, Lauren! Glad someone thinks so. 😉
BEAUTIFUL JOB!!!
What width and length was each pine wood?
I am hoping to do this in my guest room. Your tutorial made laugh and feel a tad more confident!
Thanks Fee!! You can totally do it — let me know if you have any questions along the way!
This is such a great post(s). My husband and I are buying our first home and one thing we want to change when we get in is the carpet. It’s got to go. We both really want hardwood floors, but the price is so high. So I’m really glad that I stumbled upon this as I will no be digging into some more research about plywood flooring. Thanks!
Thank you Alexandra! I am so happy people are finding this helpful. If you guys decide to tackle this project and have any questions along the way, let me know!
Your floors turned out beautifully. I have also been thinking of doing this myself, mainly due to the cost.
Did you cut some of the boards shorter, so the boards would not be lined up .together? I’m asking because your floors show them not meeting each other at all. Just the one place you pointed out.
You made me confident that I could do this myself as well as, making me laugh.
Great Job,
Christine
Hi Christine! Thanks so much for your comment. I did cut some boards shorter, but not until I was in the room laying them. After laying the first row, I started the second row staggering the seams, and just cut the end boards as needed when I hit the wall. Does that make sense? Let me know if you have any further questions and I would be happy to chat! You can definitely do this — it was so, SO easy and the most time consuming part was sanding the boards. Once you’re over that hill, it’s smooth sailing!
Beautiful!
OMG – Exactly the way I want mine to look. I have looked at so many vids on this my head has a headache! I want light flooring – I want that stain – I want that clear-coat. We have a manufactured home and my goal is to make it look cottage’y…sort of. So I have 1300 sq ft of floor to cover.
Thank you for the kind comment! If you have any questions once you get started, let me know! I can’t wait to start on the rest of the upstairs as well. The hall way and both “guest” bedrooms all have a different, mismatching laminate floor and I die a little inside every time I look at them. 😉 Good luck!
I was so excited when I saw your floor-do, I forgot to say it looks absolutely beautiful! Great job and I hope I can do nearly as well. Just beautiful! Yours is the one I am going to copy. And if I have any questions I will be sure and ask. Can’t wait to get started – unfortunately, it won’t be until Feb or Mar. I had already pulled carpet in my office last summer and am planking the walls before I put down plywood floor. So glad I found your project before I start. And you are the funniest!
And for God’s sake – could you please rip up those boards where they butt up to one another perfectly, it is driving me insane! 🙂
UGH OMG I KNOW!!!! My solution was to strategically place a big floor pillow for the dogs right over the unspeakable area. But I still know it’s under there…taunting me…
Im so happy to have stumbled upon your page.! Those floors are awesome. We planned on refinishing the oak floors in our new house, but just found some out some crazy bastard used concrete self leveling thin set on parts of it that were under laminate. The place can’t handle the weight of tile without dropping some major cash and time (we have neither). With that said Im sold on the plywood planks. Wondering how your floors holding up? Would you do anything different next time? Thank you!!!!!
“… just found some out some crazy bastard used concrete self leveling thin set …” Hahahahahaha! I died when I read that! (I’m sorry to laugh at your misfortune but that description was on point!) Honestly, the floors hold up awesome and much better than I was hoping considering we have three dogs. There are some scratch marks and gouges where they jump from the end of the bed onto the floor (and launch themselves from the floor onto the bed) but you cannot even tell unless you’re down on your hands and knees inspecting it. I think it helps that we used a satin finish and a light stain. I’ll take some pictures this weekend and post an update! One thing I would do differently is to have Home Depot cut the planks for me, even if it did cost a little more. It was a kind of a pain in the ass trying to work with boards that weren’t perfectly cut (which mine weren’t) so I think that would save a lot of annoyance, especially if the variation in gaps would bother you.
I’ve seen plywood flooring but haven’t seen it ripped. Looks awesome and thanks for the tips.
Thanks Bill!
Just came across this blog. What a delight to read! I bow and scrape to your ingenuity. The floors are amazing! Tu m’encourage. I’m working up the correct frame of mind to begin here, but I’m old, very old…
Anne you are too kind! Let me know if you decide to take the plunge: I would love to see them!
This is gorgeous. Yes, I would absolutely do plywood and we’ve talked and talked for far too long about it. We just need to do it although I’m sure more excuses will come of it. We have carpeting everywhere but the kitchen. We remodeled it years ago and put real oak in. We must have had money then?? Now that we don’t have money, I want to go this route but, I have no idea if it will look ridiculous butted up against real wood. See, that’s an excuse! I absolutely adore your writing and you have a new follower right here!
Thank you Angie! Ahhh, the days when we all had money. I would LOVE to do oak upstairs (to match the floors downstairs) but holy hell, hardwood flooring is insanely expensive right?! So the plywood was a great option for us. I mean, I know it’s not the same, but you could cut a few planks and “finish” them as you would if you were doing the floors, and lay them next to the kitchen to see how you liked it? Or you could just rob a bank/mastermind a Ponzi scheme and do the rest of your house in oak as well. 😉
Hmmm, lemme think on that…OK, I’ll go with the test piece or two. Great idea 😀
OMG! You are absolutely a scream!! My husband and I want to move out of our expensive home that is sucking the very life out of us and into a little something out in the country that we can remodel ourselves. I teach first grade and I can’t imagine that I can keep on doing it when I am 65 because I would be walking down the school hallway poking the kiddies with my cane by then! Need to retire soon and remodel a cottage! We are pretty handy and have done a little remodeling in the past but we are not looking forward to the cost of a remodel. This flooring looks a little time consuming but easier than teaching first graders and I wouldn’t have to sell my little old mother into slavery to pay for it! Win, win! If we take the plunge and buy a little cottage, I’m definitely going to try this flooring. Thanks so much for the tutorial and may your pups (and your husband) never dribble on your floor! 🙂
Dee Anna, thank you! It’s amazing what money (or lack thereof!) will inspire us to do! 😉 And you are absolutely right: if you can teach first grade, you can absolutely do these floors. Also, I thought you’d be interested to know that there’s been zero dribblage (new word, you heard it here first) and we’re 9 months in. Win!
Hello Allison we are doing this same thing to our floors after seeing how yours turned out. We are in the process of putting the wood down in our kitchen but my husband had a question; did you use anything to fill in the cracks in the wood between the planks? He is worried about water being spilled on it since it is a kitchen floor or food or crumbs dropping between the cracks. Any suggestions?
Hi Kim! I did not use anything to fill in the gaps, since the floors are in our bedroom and I wasn’t worried about water, etc. There are a couple of things I have seen people do to protect against water: painting the subfloor with floor paint to seal it, and also using liquid nails as well as brad nails to really make sure the boards are stuck down hard on the floor (to help prevent any water from getting in between). As far as crumbs go, I have three (!!!) dogs, and I find once a week vacuuming does a really good job keeping dirt, crumbs, etc. out of the gaps. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful! Good luck and let me know if you have any further questions; I would love to see how they turn out!
I wonder if you could put some sort of vapor barrier between the subfloor and the planks.
Hmmmmm — that’s definitely something to consider! I know a lot of people choose to paint the subfloor with a heavy duty floor paint to seal it, which I probably should have done as well but man am I lazy. 🙂
THEY LOOK GREAT!!
I have to say your tutorial made me laugh out loud multiple times and spit pop on my keyboard…LOVE your sense of humor.
I will be using your tutorial.
Thanks so much!!
Tracy thank you so much for the lovely comment; I’m glad you found it entertaining (although I hope your keyboard isn’t fried)! 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions when you’re tackling your floors!
Hi Allison,
Thank you for the awesome step by step tutorial. You are very encouraging to someone that
might be hesitant to embark on such a project. The finished floor in my opinion looks like it was done by a professional.
The humorous approach that you take in your writing is so refreshing. That said, you might want to refrain from using vulgar words. You can still be funny without swearing.
Nancy
Hi Nancy! Thanks for the kind comments! I appreciate that some people don’t care for swears, but I swear in my real life and I swear on my blog — and I write it first and foremost for myself! 🙂 Thanks again for stopping by!
I love your floor, and your information was easy to understand! I’d love to do this, but we’ll be selling in a couple years, and I wonder how these would be for resale. We were planning to just put in a neutral carpeting, but your photos have me wondering.
Oooooh Rebecca I am so hesitant to weigh in on this one! Honestly, in my heart of hearts, I LOVE my floors and I think you probably would too — but if you know you’re going to sell and it’s not your forever home I’m not sure if I would do it or not! You should poll your friends and see if plywood flooring would be a dealbreaker for purchasing a house — how’s that for some seriously sophisticated market research? 😉
That’s a good idea. Thanks! We put in laminate and new carpet when we moved here in 2010. Now, we need to redo the carpet (doggie business, you know), so I wish we’d bit the bullet and got hardwoods then, and we wouldn’t be redoing anything now.
This by far was the best tutorial I’ve ever read on Pinterest. I have been toying with ideas from a pallet floor to linoleum to carpet for my newly added sunroom. I think I just made my mind up. Thank you, and your project looks amazing
Thanks Bill! I’d love to see the finished result when you’re done!
The floor looks wonderful. I wish I had learned about plywood floors before doing laminate in my house.
Thank you Sherri! I am sure your laminate looks wonderful too (and not nearly as much work! 😉
The floor looks absolutely fantastic! I’ve been looking for affordable options and had just about given up when I found the one-year update and then backtracked to parts 1 and 2. You’ve written very easy to follow steps and your light tone and sense of humor are quite refreshing. Thank you very much for giving me the confidence I needed to rip out our hideous carpeting.
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, Lee Ann! 🙂
Your project came out AWESOME ! Love your tutorial and sense of humor…my kind of person. Been working on turning my kitchen into a more country style. Getting to the floors and I am going to do this OR at least give it a try. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks for the lovely comment, Ruth! 🙂 I hope you’re able to transform your kitchen exactly how you want!
It’s always great to see what other people do. Thanks for sharing this.
I’m wondering if you could do the sanding after the installation like they do when refinishing hardwood floors. It’s messy, but it might be faster. Just a thought.
Hi Robert! I thought about that too, but then I would still have had to bevel the edges before laying the planks so I figured I’d just do it all at once. 🙂
I just found your post while looking through google images of “plywood flooring”. The “f my life” photo popped up and I aint going to lie… it click baited me 😉 I will be following you on pinterest now. We are definitely kindred spirits. Thanks for the great info… I will be using it!
Yay! I’m glad you found the tutorial useful Samantha! Let me know if you have any questions along the way — good luck with your floors!
Hi Allison, I loved this post! I AM a flooring expert, and I do LOVE carpeting (sorry- I live in Canada) ….and although I am in the business of selling pre-finished flooring…I am simply a sucker for DIY’s. I occasionally have clients who simply can’t afford to purchase new flooring, and this DIY is a great solution! Kudos on a great job! I love it! I accidentally stumbled on your post when I was doing some Pinterest homework…(competitor analysis) as I’m learning about blogging and pinning and Insta, and all the confusing social media’s for business. Glad I stumbled on to this!
Hi Kimberly!! Thank you so, so much! You know, I posted this tutorial on Hometalk awhile back and was getting a looooooot of flack from flooring professionals about what a terrible idea it was. It’s nice to hear the opposite! So far they are holding up amazingly well and will probably last until we can afford hardwoods or a high quality laminate. Good luck with the social media research — it can be hard to wrap your head around so I mostly ignore it. Ha!! 🙂