I painted the floors in the downstairs of my townhouse-- I did the dining room with the regular cement paint in white and when I started the living room I decided to put a "base" coat on first--well being cheap-I used some leftover tan paint I had painted the walls with--it looks so good I'm leaving it that color--I can't tell you how many people come in my house & comment on how good the floors look- the tan floor actually is better as far as maintenenace goes then the other floor painted with cement paint-however I will probably put some clear coat over it as for the table scratching the floor--how about putting clear "coasters" under each table leg