I’ve recently been really pleased with the revitalization of concrete and cement floors – partially made popular again by the prevalence of urban lofts.  The creativity you can have with painted and patterened concrete is not really given its full glory…at least since the 1947 “House & Garden’s Complete Guide to Interior Decoration” book I have on my reference shelf.  Although the pictures are illustrated (photography was still quite expensive back in 1947), they provide excellent ideas of what we can do with our mid-century modern floors.

Starting from the top left of the “Modernism takes the floor” feature, the beautiful blue floor (which is my favorite), is simply a concrete, white cement floor that has been tinted with azure blue mineral oxide.  The stripes are made with aluminum strips, and the central medallions are also made with matching aluminum.  How creative!  However, I wonder how “safe” the aluminum would be for bare feet…and I think that painting the stripes in a white or silver would suffice.

Below the blue floor is the brown square geometric floor, which is apparently an entrance hall that is simply made of contrasting rubber.  I’ve never seen rubber floors in person, but it sounds practical if you have kids or want to soundproof your stilettos.

The red, ivory, and blue floor is made of linoleum (yuck), and the brown and tan flooring is cut carpet made in the Adam design.

On the right, the black, white, and gray floor is made of tiles, while the pink and beige ombre pattern is again carpet…which I think would fit well in any of today’s modern aesthetic, a pattern I have seen frequently in today’s rug designers.  And the bottom right green and brown flooring is simply split colored linoelum…and the color and pattern look great with the white mid-century modern that was quite prevalent in this design era.

My favorite is indeed the blue flooring, which I think adds character, but is not too busy, nor conflicts with any furnishings you may have.  This really makes me want to move into a loft with a cement floor!  It’s really nice to see true mid-century modern designers in 1947 thinking outside of the box, er floor