what can i do with a plywood floor in my dinning room being limited on money?

Question

i ripped up carpet and underneith is plywood, i'm SO limited on money, so what can i do to it to make it homey. I was thinking paint. but that can be pricey. any suggestions?

Answer 1

Nothing would be cheaper than paint. Do you know if the plywood is actually the sub-floor, or is it underlayment? Sometimes underlayment is put down to smooth out a rough floor before carpet and pad are installed.
Luauan plywood is the material of choice for that application. If you have luauan, painting it will cause it to deteriorate. The mahogany surface is soft and porous. It will not stand up to wear.
The easiest option would be to buy a carpet remnant about the size of the room. Have a border sewn on, and lay the rug down loosely.

Answer 2

If the plywood is regular plywood and not the kind that is glued together pices of wood, you can sand it and then have someone take a circular saw and cut grooves in it the same size as hardwood flooring or larger, your choice. You can then stain the parts between the grooves and then cover that with a clear coat. If it's done right it will look acceptable for area rugs.

Answer 3

you should have taken up a corner to see if ripping it out was the best idea at this time (no money). to paint it you will need a deck and floor paint anyways and you aren't likely to find that miss mixed for cheap. so the cheapest thing to do now is stain it. you'll probably need to sand the floor a little first, then vacuum real good. then in a bit, when you've saved up a little money, look for an area rug made from a remnant. they sell those at the home depot for cheap in the carpet section. good luck!

Answer 4

If you don't have the money for a couple of gallons of paint, you don't have a lot of choices, but I have a couple of ideas for you.

Start hitting the local rummage sales and thrift stores looking for an area rug in decent shape.

Go to your local paint and hardware stores and ask them if they have any paint on clearence. Some of them will have paint that has been returned because the color didn't match. Or they may have some paint that was mixed, but was never picked up.

If you can find a rug cheap, then you could paint around the edges to cover the rest of the floor.

Answer 5

how about going to your local carpet store, and asking if they have any remnants? some carpet stores will even bind the edges for you to make an area rug. or, you could go to a discount store (like tuesday morning, marshalls, tj max, garden ridge) and purchase a couple of smaller, lower priced area rugs, then over lap their edges to make a patchwork "wall to wall" rug. or, sand the floor as smooth as you can (you may need to put wood putty in some of the really bad groves first) and paint it to match your room. if you check out your local hardware and paint stores, they usually have an "oops" shelf with paints that other people returned because they didn't match, weren't the color they expected, etc... those cans are usually a lot cheaper than picking a brand new one. but for a small sized dining room you can probably get tinted porch & floor paint for about $20-$30 for a gallon and that should cover the floor. chip in the extra $16-$20 for a can of primer, and your real paint may even go on in one coat.

Answer 6

You might be able to find floor tiles on the cheap at a Habitat Restore or other building supply recycle store. Short of that maybe you can find some decent carpet remnants or a great rug at a thrift or second-hand or even yard sale.

Answer 7

You could mark the floor into two foot squares. Trace a geometric design in every other square. Wood burn around the design and stain the design in various wood stains. Makes it look like inlays of wood. A coat of polyurthane will help preserve it and give it a nice finished look. Time consuming but cheap.

Answer 8

Go to your local reuse area people throw all kinds of building supplies that are usually in good shape. I found a whole box of brand new hardwood flooring one time which I used to do a small area with. Best part is that it's free.

Answer 9

Put a few dollars a week on a lowes card and save for a laminate floor. It is not hard to do yourself or at least the cost of a six pack and a few guys.

Answer 10

you could stain and varnish the floor. it wouldnt cost you more than 50 bucks. a little sanding before you stain it wouldnt hurt either. your floor would be like hardwood floors, but it would be pine instead of oak.