Dear Suzy,
My 1931 house has classic oak flooring. I think it would be nice to have a
design stenciled on the wood. So could you hold forth with your expertise in
this area? And would it be better to stencil on the already refinished floor or
do it while the refinishing is being done? — C.W.
Dear C.W.,
Stenciled floors were very popular in early America, 19th-century England, and
Bellville, Texas in 1976 when a group of imaginative, but clueless high school
juniors tried to transform the school cafeteria into a Wizard of Oz wonderland the day before prom night. Their budget was fifty bucks. When they
discovered several gallons of bright yellow safety paint in the janitor’s
closet, left over from re-striping the parking lot, it was as if Glenda the
Good Fairy had waved her wand over their dismal decorating project. They spent
several hours carefully stenciling a brick path up the sidewalk, through the
front door of the school and all the way across the terrazo lobby to the
picture booth (which was gaily decorated with bushels of wilting wild grape
vines — infested with ticks — and Astroturf on loan from Etlinger’s Funeral
Parlor.) It was a magical atmosphere, especially with the lights dimmed and a
circulatory system filled with cherry vodka and 7-up.
The principal, however, wasn’t mesmerized by the transformation and he forced
the clueless students to spend the morning after prom night scraping and
stripping the bricks from the floor, at which time the prior evening’s cherry
vodka lost its enchanting effect.
This experience may have negatively influenced my acceptance of stenciled
floors, but unless they’re done extremely well (which means complex, subtle,
time consuming, and/or expensive) they have the long-lasting appeal of
mayonnaise left out in the heat or colored toilets. And if you even consider a
duck, goose, bunny, or pineapple motif, don’t ever bother to write me again.
Fortunately for you, this is a topic that how-to books and home improvement
magazines love to tackle so there’s no shortage of information out there if
you’re convinced to pursue this folly. Be forewarned, however: These are the
kinds of books and articles that revel in overstating the obvious, such as “The
more complex the pattern, the more time and skill it will require.”
They advise you to stencil onto a freshly stripped floor before sealing (I
suppose this is so the design will be almost impossible to remove once you
surely tire of it), use a chalk line to mark off grid patterns (“It’s easier if
two people hold the chalk line,” writes one author, who is apparently being
paid by the word), tape off your design, start with sections at the floor’s
center first, and begin with the lightest color first. They also say you should
make sure the paint isn’t diluted too thin or it could seep under the tape and
use a smaller brush to paint smaller areas. (Duh.)
I say, join the decorating committee for the prom at your area high school,
work this stencil-thing out of your system, and make sure you’re long gone when
the principal gets a good look at your handiwork. n
This article appears in June 28 • 1996 and June 28 • 1996 (Cover).