I fell in love with decorative painting from a magazine photo many years ago. It left such an impression that I promised myself that someday I would have something similar in my own home. The image was a bit of a joke—an unexpected, crumpled piece of paper in an entry hall of a formal New York townhouse. I thought the idea was brilliant because it was so unexpected!

When I moved to my current home, I had the entry floors stained in a faux parquet pattern. Just behind the curve of the stairway, we painted a crumpled $100 bill with Ben Franklin peeking out. I’ve lost count of the number of visitors who have tried to pick up the bill, some surreptitiously, or those who don’t know me well, saying, “You have money on the floor.”

Floor painting or staining is a creative and inspiring way to enhance small or large spaces and further define them. Here are some of my favorite floor painting techniques:

• Paint or stain diamonds in a narrow space, creating a faux parquet floor
• Paint an amusing object or anything that might strike your fancy, such as a set of keys
• Paint a pattern on the dining room floor instead of purchasing an area rug
• Paint a border on the entry hall floor using a motif from a piece of furniture

A number of years ago I worked with Frank Figueroa of the renowned Painted Decoration Studio. He created a “rug” for my client’s formal dining room in a classic Russian motif.

He supplied a scale drawing and color samples of the stains and paints that would be used. It’s still my favorite floor and still the most beautiful.

[images: Judith Cohen]