58 
PAINTING AND STAINING OF 
House & Garden 
THE 
FLOORS 
Either Left Bare or Partially Covered With Rugs, the Painted or Stained 
Floor Amply Merits Consideration 
CHARLES WOLFE 
B ARE floors need not look uninteresting; 
well kept and well polished, with good 
rugs about, they can look better covered 
and more interesting than many an arid stretch 
of carpet. Much can be said in their praise; 
the eye is satisfied, so also are the claims of 
hygiene; perhaps economy comes into it, too. 
But a bare floor demands the right treatment, 
otherwise it is much better left alone. 
Stain is one form of treat 
ment, paint is another; yet 
while few people ever con¬ 
sider the use of paint for 
their floors, all believe that 
they know about stain. 
Ready-mixed varnish stain 
is the usual medium em¬ 
ployed. This has a glaring 
shine when fresh, which 
soon wears off at the doors, 
and grows dull along the 
skirting, and since no 
amount of polishing can 
give it the right look, we 
can only apply a fresh coat 
of stain; and so it goes on 
till the grain of the wood 
is obliterated by a thick, 
opaque, greasy brown that 
has no charm. This is 
“staining” in its worst form. 
Proper Staining 
To begin at the begin¬ 
ning: The object of stain 
is to deepen or to alter the 
color of the wood, also to 
emphasize the beauty of the 
grain. Parts of the wood 
are softer and more porous 
than others, and absorb 
more color, so when stain 
is applied it will reveal 
lights and shades and vary¬ 
ing depths of tone which 
are scarcely perceptible in 
the raw wood. The colors 
used for a stain, then, must 
be transparent, and either 
oil or water may be used 
to mix the dry pigments. 
Certain dyes mix better in 
spirits of wine, methylated, or naptha, than 
with the other mediums. Otherwise “spirit- 
staining' is much the same as oil-staining. 
There are other processes, but for most floors 
one or other of these is generally the best. 
Oil stains, on the whole, are safest for wood 
that has already been treated. 
Water stains are the cheapest and easiest 
to make, but they have a tendency to roughen 
up the wood, which must be seen to. In such 
a case fine sand-paper rubbed along the grain 
(never against it) will be necessary to smooth 
the surface. For either medium the floor must 
be cleaned so that no trace of grease or wax 
remains. The stain should then be put on, 
evenly and fairly liquid, one or two coats, 
according to circumstances. 
The floor should now present a flat surface 
of color, through which the figure of the wood 
shows up clearly with all its contrasts of light 
The painting of floors is a much longer and more exacting process than staining. The 
floor may require three or four coats of paint followed by two coats of hard varnish. 
But the result more than justifies this trouble. Color schemes can be created to suit 
the furniture and the type of room. An interesting and original treatment in the room 
above consists of alternate boards painted deep blue and emerald green 
and shade so fully revealed, that in certain 
woods there is an appearance like watered silk. 
Having achieved this, the staining has done 
its work, and must on no account be repeated; 
regular polishing with wax or oil will do 
the rest. 
Both wax and oil tend to enrich and deepen 
the color, while they also act as a preservative. 
When signs of wear appear, a little of the 
dry color, Vandyke brown or indigo, etc., 
should be mixed with the polishing wax and 
rubbed well into the wood, then polished over 
with the rest till the worn spot disappears. Of 
these two—wax and oil—wax gives the 
brighter polish, and it is, on the whole, the 
most practical for floors. Oil is undoubtedly 
slower in effect, and more troublesome to use, 
but it certainly produces a beautiful soft shine 
and cjuality. Such a floor is an abiding joy: 
nothing can really spoil it, except prolonged 
neglect. 
With new boards the 
colorist may, if so minded, 
abandon nature and let 
himself go with strange hues 
and aniline dyes. They 
will not be garish; more 
often the trouble with a 
stain is to get the color vivid 
enough. For example, if 
the floor is to be stained 
cerise or violet, the wood 
should be “blued” first in 
order to neutralize its yel¬ 
lowness. This can be done 
with bluing applied boiling 
hot, and, while still flowing- 
wet, wiped off with rags; 
this gives a beautiful clear 
surface for the cerise. Two 
or more thin coats of any 
color must always be used 
in preference to one; by 
this we avoid streakiness 
and hardness, and ensure 
the right tone and the depth 
that you can “see through.” 
Other Colors 
For the subsequent pol¬ 
ishing of a cerise floor white 
wax is best; beeswax for 
a yellow floor, and so on. 
A little experimenting is 
advisable before embarking 
on these colors; aniline 
dyes are tricky sometimes 
to deal with, and the differ¬ 
ent kinds and qualities of 
wood give different results. 
Blue, on pitch-pine, gives 
really wonderful effects; 
green, over yellow deal, 
produces (especially by artificial light) a curi¬ 
ous metallic glitter when polished; a black- 
stained floor is not recommended, but if the 
wood is first stained a vivid green, and then 
given a thin glaze of black, the grain ought 
to show up clear with a very beautiful and 
unusual effect. 
Practically all colors for staining can be 
bought dry and mixed at home, or by the oil 
and paint dealer, according to recipes. Aniline 
dyes are sold in tubes and packages, or by 
