agreed with tomh you will see the edges of the plywood (edges).
a few years ago my mom hated the carpet in the bedroom. tore it up one day and then put about 10 to 12 coots of stains and paints and then a polyerathan (its that clear stuff) i think thats right been to long scince i got dragged into one of her paint experiments.
she sort of a artists in her own way and got it to look like a regular wood grain with the lines it took her a few non stop days to do it though.
nothing special about plywood it is just wood, that you can sand, dent, nick, and burn.