Time To Paint The Floors Again

What I should be doing:  Perfecting my recipe for Thanksgiving stuffing.

What I am actually doing: Painting my wood floors.

Less than a year ago I painted my very scratched, ebony-stained wood floors...white. I'd wanted to do it for ages and they looked amazing.  

For a few weeks.

Then I let my kids roller-skate on them and that was that. They never looked the same. Once the seal is broken - the first scratch seal, that is - there's no turning back. Before you know it, you're carelessly dragging chairs and coffee tables, and this is what you get:

It wasn't pretty. It got to the point where it never looked clean. The dirt was ingrained in it. 

The thing is, I've seen painted wood floors that resisted dirt much better than mine did, so I felt like I'd done something wrong. Originally I used porch and floor paint with polyurethane over it. When I rolled on the poly, there were little bubbles in it that popped and looked like lots of mini craters all over the floor. Over time they became little dirt catchers.

(What did I do with all my furniture while I did this, I hear you ask?)

This, of course:

So this time around I did some more research and came across this paint I hadn't seen before called Breakthrough! (the exclamation point ! is part of the name, although I am excited to tell you about it!!)  It's supposed to be more resistant to scratching and scuffs. I had a gallon of the glossy kind tinted with Benjamin Moore half silver dollar. (I chose a light blue-grey this time). I got it from Jill's Paint, a specialty paint store in LA. It cost about $40.

It rolled on so smoothly I couldn't believe it.

 I thought I'd need to buy a second gallon, but I only used half a gallon in the end. Two coats did it. And it dried really fast. I highly recommend it and no-one paid me to say that. I did not put polyurethane on this time. I don't think it needs it with this paint.

Pretty good right?

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding. I will keep you posted as time passes and it gets walked on and lived in. However, I am definitely not letting anyone roller-skate in here.

If you're interested in seeing a full home tour of my place, it will be featured tomorrow Wednesday November 24th on Apartment Therapy.

OK, back to making that stuffing. Happy Thanksgiving!