[DEAR DIARY] In Defense of White Floors & Doing What You Want
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 12:00AM | by Erica 
White floors RAWK!
BOOM!
There I said it....and I mean it. Like, for realz.
We bought our apt in Brooklyn two years ago. It's a fab place in a pre-war building with a killer layout, and almost zero wasted space. However, our apartment faces the building's courtyard and, therefore, doesn't get a whole lot of light.
I started pouring over design mags immeds, and every time I saw a place with white floors I was stopped in my tracks. I mean, jaw open, tongue wagging, it was all I could do to not actually start licking the pages of the fucking magazine. For some reason, I noticed that white floors were a dime a dozen in Europe (and in European/Australian design mags), but here not so much. Why?
I started researching and came across a few choice posts online about white floors on several different sites, and the basic takeaway was: YOU ARE A CRAZY FUCKING MORON FOR EVEN THINKING ABOUT DOING WHITE FLOORS! DON'T DO IT!! Well, at least that was the take away from all the annoying mofos in the comments, who probably know nothing about nothing when it comes to white floors, but needed to educate us all.
Recently I came acorss this post on AT which I totally dug: The Truth About White Floors.
I think there are some good points in there, fer sure (i.e. they are a bit harder to clean). But the bigger point for me, is this whole idea of doing what's expected...or what everyone else does when it comes to design is totally fucking infuriating to me. Don't do white floors, because it's impractical! It's wrong! It's just not done!
When we were deciding what to do with our floors we got a lot of this:
- You can't paint white floors! (uh, yes you can. In fact, they make paint SPECIFICALLY for floors).
- No one will want to buy your apartment with white floors (uh, well, we love our apartment...and if we walked in and it looked like it did now, we probably would have paid many thousands of dollars more for it).
Why do so many people subscribe to this idea that you shouldn't take chances? That you shouldn't try something new? I mean, yeah: maybe *most* people out there don't get white floors, but I sure as hell do. And I was brave enough to take the chance in my own apartment, and newsflash: IT LOOKS TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME, PPL!
Ok, so following AT's lead, here's my real deal scoop on white floors (keep in mind we have a dog...that sheds A LOT):
- They need to be vacuumed often. Ideally, I would love to do this every day, but I don't. We're at about once a week.
- A swiffer wet-jet does a decent job, but I find that I actually really do need to get down on my hands and knees in the high traffic areas (living room, kitchen). I typically use a wet rag and Clorox clean up for this. I have tried 1001 things and that is what works the best.
- We have matte white floors...I actually kind of wish they were glossy, despite the fact that those would be even harder to clean up. I still covet them and dream of switching it up one day.
- They will get scratched and worn a bit. I have no illusions that I will NEVER need to repaint them. After two years, we already have a spot or two that looks grungier than I would like.
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. It's honestly the one thing that I think totally makes our apt, and really looks killer.
So yeah: think different...and do whatever the fuck you want.
p.s. we have marble countertops in our kitchen too! TAKE THAT, HATERS!
And in the meantime, here's some more white floor inspiration.
Dear Diary, My apt | 2 Comments 
Reader Comments (2)
HA!!!! I have marble counters in my kitchen, thats number1. And every person i know tried to convince me out of it. LOSERS. #2, I did a post on white floors, they are hot. I called the post "insta sexy" because white floors are so hot.
Hmm... what else, i dont have white floors in my apt because i have nice new wood floors, BUT, painting parquet flooring is the best idea anyone ever had.
Your BALLER white floors make me wanna do a happy dance every time!