House to Home: Far-out Ideas for Funky Floors
Salt Lake Tribune
By Debbie Travis

…Start with the floor, and think about choosing materials that until lately have not been decorating the home. Rubber, traditionally laid in hospitals, is hygienic, resilient and skid-proof, and is available in a range of patterns that have a modern, minimalist look. Linoleum has moved out of the schoolroom and kitchen, and can be laid in upbeat colors and designs customized to suit living-room styles from retro to refined. There's no need to cover up a concrete floor, and this basic building material is all the rage for tabletops as well.

I've had a lot of fun rebuilding and refinishing floors using all the materials listed above, as well as the new plank flooring alternatives. For a recent room, we came up with another option that really rocks with the teen theme - and this one we built from scratch. The large floor tiles were actually 2-feet by 4-feet rectangles cut from 1/2 inch medium-density fiberboard. The edges were beveled to give a realistic tile look. MDF does require sealing on both sides, as well as the edges, for this project to ensure no dampness seeps up through the basement floor. The tiles were painted in high-gloss white floor paint and then glued and screwed onto a plywood subfloor… More…

For further reading on teen room décor, try this search for "teen room decor."