need help on my wood flooring please!!!!!

[EssexGirl]

hi there,
i have a wooden floor in my flat about 9 by 3 foot. only a small bit in the kitchen area.
anyway, i believe it has been painted and not stained with a brown paint and varnished also.
my bf has tried to sand it with a hand sander but does not seem to do the trick very well and would be a massive job, also tried paint stripper with the same effect.
we want the floor a dark brown again and would like to know the best way to do it, do we need to remove the old stuff or paint straight onto it? what paint do i use etc.
thanks in advance for any help!

[{Dakota}]

Do you want it to look like stained wooden boards again?

If you do, then hire a floor sander (usually about �30 or so for a weekend). After that, sweep, mop, stain and then use clear floor farnish to protect it. I've done this to a few of my homes and the results were good. The sander is a bit scary at first as it tries to pull you but you soon get into the way of controlling it.

If you don't want to bring it back to its natural boards, then just make sure that you've sanded back the old paint/varnish so that there are no flakes or anything and then paint on whatever colour you wish on top. You can get floor paint from any good DIY store.