Painted canvas gives floors wall treatment

Local artist and craftswoman Marcia Esposito has a time-tested decorative solution for flooring, one that makes area rugs look like old news. It's a solution that's even older than old news.

Once a mainstay in the homes of sailors and reportedly a fixture in the homes of the nation's founding fathers, floorcloths – known as oilcloths in Britain—are large pieces of painted canvas, long ago topped in a layer of oil. Updating that technique, floorcloths are now preserved with polyurethane to lock designs in place.

Floorcloths were once made from sails brought home as souvenirs by sailors. Today Esposito said she can get her hands on almost any size of canvas and begin a work of floor art to virtually any specifications.

“Down at the beach, it’s like the perfect thing for renters,” she said. “It will protect your floors and add some color.”

A floorcloth can be painted in a variety of styles, Esposito said. In addition, said she can usually reproduce other paintings or designs as a floorcloth, saving hardwood floors from scuffs or adding a touch of color to a plain carpet or flooring. The cloths can also easily be folded up and put away.

“Anything that you can envision can be put on the floors, so if you have a Lilly Pulitzer print on your curtains it can be mimicked or enhanced,” she said. “Why just have your art on your walls when you can walk on it too?”

Because at least six layers of polyurethane lock her designs in place, the artist said floorcloths are resistant to normal wear from shoes and will last year after year. In fact, she recently did work on a floorcloth that had lasted 15 years, but its owner grew tired of the design.

“I think it is going to become a trend, not a fad, a trend because they last,” Esposito said. “They will stand the test of time for screened-in porches.”

Esposito said once she sanded off the old design, creating a “new” floorcloth was as easy as painting the new design and adding a few fresh layers of polyurethane.

The artist said she began painting floorcloths on heavy-duty canvas years ago at her old home in New Jersey to spruce up the decorations. Now that she brought her talents to the Cape Region, she is betting creative canvas floor coverings is an idea many homeowners will cozy up to.

In the past, Esposito said, her art has been compared to postcards, but these days, she loves to have a little fun, playing with perception and is always ready for a client who likes to have a little fun with their art as well.

“I love trompe l’oeil, to fool the eye,” she said. “You can paint a puddle – I did that in my son’s room in New Jersey and had fish swimming.”

Marcia Esposito is available for questions or estimates at 201-233-8052.