That's not a distressed floor. Distress floors will have texture to the entire floor. Includes: wire brushing, various scraping marks, saw marks, undulated surface etc.

The image shows finish peeling off and delaminating from the previous finish, that's unacceptable.

As Sophie has pointed out this floor is made to LOOK like an industrial floor that was planked wood (of no description because no one cared) painted multiple times while it was a factory. Then the "conversion" decided to leave the floors alone because of the lead based paint. Voila! Artistic floor!

You can take your valuable solid hardwood floors and have them painted white. Then have the team BEAT THEM UP with 50 lb CHAINS (think snow chains for cars). They will take a day to do that (at $50/hour).

Then they will paint that surface gray....repeat chain damage. Then they will paint the floor BLACK (several layers) and then add some high-gloss urethane. And they will then beat the SNOT out of that layer (again at $50/hr per person).

And there you have the 3 different colours of paint (plus a few coats of urethane floor finish for floor paint) and hundreds of man hours. As Sophie predicts this is going to have a massive price tag...I've heard of $25/sf JUST for a raw wood floor to receive the CHAIN BEATING. I'm not kidding.

If you do the chain beating for each colour, you could be at $75/sf without blinking.

And your solid wood floor underneath = completely useless for future use. It will need to be removed and replaced once this paint treatment has been achieved.

This is a finish you attempt ONLY AFTER the floor is RUINED. When paint is the ONLY OTHER OPTION....that's when you do something like this. Because you know it will be ripped out the next time a floor is "needed".

Good luck. Chicago is one of the cities that would have the guys who could achieve this. The price is going to be phenomenal.

I believe you can get sheet linoleum that has a visual like this. It will be less than 1/2 the price of the paint/beat it up/finish it floor.

I gotta ask - why does that floor pictured in the OP appeal to you? I just don't get it.

That's the BEFORE picture.

That's a floor that NEEDS refinishing.

We have done a floor with 7 layers of finish. It was a white and brown distressed finish. All Bona system, 1 jacobean, 2 mega, 2 sport paint, 2 HD. It had the distressed - hand sanded spots that shows layers of finish, no peeling.

This image shows a failed attempt at staining and top coat with those large peeling spots, which probably started with WLS, due to contamination or incompatible finish. I guess it works with the decor. I can now tell my clients they have an artisan distressed floor and it just needs recoating, when I find peeled finishes like this one.

What a silly finish for any floor , why would you want this hot mess.

Oh SNAP G & S! Love that idea! "No ma'am. It isn't a concern. Your floor is meant to be that ugly...er...artistic. Honestly. It's all the rage."

Way to see the silver lining. I lover positive thinkers!

Well, everyone is into all this ridiculous barn wood trend. I can’t wait for the whole house tentings that are going to need happen to eliminate the long term pests inhabiting all of that reclaimed stuff. Old wood borers anyone?

Lindsay, There is a proper way to achieve the look you want. It is a long process, every contractor has their methods of layering finishes and distressing it. Make sure you clearly communicate to them with your expectations. And make sure they are using compatible finishes. Keeping it, in the same brand will prevent adhesion issues.

I don't get it either. I agree that the photo looks like a "before". My reaction if I saw it IRL would not be "Oh, cool!", but "Oh, dear!"

I am obviously not an artist, just someone who loves hardwood floors.