Painting hardwood floors checkerboard

We did a much smaller version of this in our kitchen pantry 2 months ago. And normally I would not suggest painting over beautiful hardwood floors, especially old heart pine floors if you have them. I'm a hopeless romantic for old hardwood. However, in the event that you 1.) want a fresh change in one room... kitchen maybe? 2.) have a small space to experiment like a bathroom, or 3.) are planning to redo the floors anyway, this can be a fun DIY project. Here is a great how-to that I found archived on Cottage Living online.

Another great idea instead of going traditional black & white is to try mixing up the colors... think light brown & cream, or robin's egg blue & black on a screened-in porch. Or, only paint one of the squares, and the leave the other your floor's natural or stained color, then polyurethane over everything for good durability.

(Image from Cottage Living)