Gorgeous Hand Painted Designer Floors by Billet Collins

Do you remember this cover of Veranda January/February 2009? The sitting room features a stunning painted floor by Washington, DC's most influential decorative painting studios, Billet Collins.

Billet Collins is known for their innovative hand painted finishes and dramatic patterns as shown in the dining room above and previously featured in Designer Dining Rooms and Decorating Tips.

In addition to painting gorgeous murals and textiles, Billet Collins loves to create painted floors and it's one of their specialties. Kellie Hodges of Billet Collins explains, "The layout is extremely important to us so we use a lot of math and geometry to make it layout, and to make it perfect we practice a little illusion!" The foyer above is a beautiful example of one of Billet Collins' geometric painted floors.

They do not use stains, but use custom tinted glazes to coordinate with the wood tones that give the artists better control. This allows for the grain to still come through and a natural progression of colors.

In this foyer, Billet Collins painted the wood floor in vibrant colors that are also either sheer colors or opaque for a more painted effect.

The process is easy. First the floors are first "screened" {a light sanding} to provide some tooth. The the floors receive one coat of sealant to keep the glazes from running into the actual wood, which keeps the colors from bleeding and the pattern crisp. Next the pattern is applied {usually a couple of days} and then the top coats go on. Billet Collins also likes to use a water based urethane so our colors don't yellow.

I am loving this look. How about you?

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