Rutger Hopster Design

High gloss floor

Epoxy high gloss floor finishings are cheap and can be very effective in making darker spaces look lighter, especially if the angle of light into a space is high. Epoxy started off as a concrete floor treatment in industrial spaces and warehouses and is now slowly being picked up for residential use.

Here is a great example in a shop in Copenhagen: early sixties style colour off-set by the warm wood panelling.  

The fresh kitchen colour is toned down by the central storage rack in a dark-grey version of the same blue. The dimensions of the racks (like old windows) work well with the lamps and the polished floor: there is a feel of an old institutional corridor developing. The unusual ceiling shape on top of the storage space is a clever reminder that this is a trendy shop.  

Beautifully finished panelling and floor. I am normally allergic to quarter-rounds which builders plonk anywhere to hide shoddy work. But here it works very well: delicate and elegant, a shade darker than the panelling. It is a statement in itself. 

The photo below is another example of a shiny floor, this time in Brussels. 

And here is the address of the shop in Copenhagen; on a beautifully designed paper bag without handles (handles wouldn't be in keeping with the sixties style of the shop...).