Mar 20, 2013

Craft Room Before and Painted Floor



Yesterday, I shared my new craft room.

Click here to see my craft room

Thank you so much for all the nice comments! You sure do know how to make a girl feel good.

Today, I'm sharing my craft room's "before" and its painted floor. 




Before this room was my craft room, my daughters took turns using it as a bedroom. The (terrible-have no idea what that green is) scan on the left is of my then three year-old's bedroom when this part of the house was still brand new. The trim hasn't even seen its first coat of paint yet. As you can (hopefully) see, she loved pink and white flowers. The center photo is from middle school, covered in bright blue and posters, and the one on the right is from high school with its toned-down softer blue and Urban Outfitters comforter. I always let my kids choose their own colors and decor to reflect their own tastes at every age (within my limited budget.)


Click here to see more of this sitting room on a shoe string.


This was my craft room right before I took it over. My daughter moved into the guest room to sleep, and we turned this one into her funky sitting room for her last semester of college. We had a lot of fun decorating it together on a shoestring since we knew she'd be using it for only a short time.



  

My little girl graduated from BSU in December, and I booted her out. 

 


Please don't feel too sorry for her, though. She only got booted out of her sitting room since she doesn't need it for studying anymore. 

She's still across the hall in this guest room while she works and saves money to travel in France this summer.  After that, we really are booting her out!
And that's my craft room's illustrious background. 

It didn't take me long to get to work.




And boy, did it need a lot of work! I started by taking down the high shelves and filling hundreds of little holes left from years of wall posters. My daughter scraped off the tiny glow-in-the-dark stars from the ceiling. Then we pulled up the ancient green carpet. 


We can't afford hardwood floors yet, and more carpet didn't seem practical for a work room. I've seen painted plywood subfloors on Pinterest and on other blogs, so I decided to give it a try. After all, it's a work room, not the Taj Mahal, right?

First, my husband taped himself into the room, put on a heavy duty mask, and sanded the floor. The dust was extreme! I decided not to bother filling holes and cracks since this is hopefully just a temporary fix until my dream hardwoods come through. After he was done, I washed the walls and floor really well with lots of hot water. (TSP isn't recommended on bare wood.) 

 
  

I thought it would be good to paint the walls first, so after agonizing over choosing the perfect tints of off-white,  I got to work painting.



Who knew choosing white is so difficult? It is! In fact, it's the hardest time I've ever had picking out colors. The ceiling is a flat neutral white paint that my Benjamin Moore dealer sells just for ceilings. 



 

The walls are two coats of BM satin Bone White. I only use Benjamin Moore paints because they go on like butter without drips and spatters, cover great (that's only one coat over that dark grey in the above photo), give a velvety finish, and seriously last forever. Every time I've been tempted to save money on less expensive paint brands, I've regretted it.


   

The trim is BM semigloss White Dove, which I've used throughout my house. I vacuumed the floor again after painting the walls and trim and washed it with hot water again very well, and then I painted it with two coats of stain blocking primer.




I followed the primer with two coats of BM floor paint in White Dove. (All the paints I used were latex, but the floor paint was still pretty stinky.) 


  

I forgot I would have to apply shoe molding to cover the gap left from the carpet. Boy, was I glad the floor and trim were both the same color as I painted that skinny little strip.


 

You can see from this close up that all the screw holes and cracks between the sheets of the subfloor plywood show under the paint.  I don't mind because this is my shop, and to me it just looks like a shop floor. If it was permanent, though, or meant for a bedroom, I'd definitely take the time to smooth it out and make it look nicer.



 
 I was tempted to paint a diamond pattern on the floor. I love the one Gail from My Repurposed Life did in her kitchen and the one KariAnne from Thistlewood Farm did in her bedroom. I even bought the second color of paint. But it's a ton of work, and before I started it I realized most of my floor would be covered by a rug. 

I always only buy what I call Tucker-proof rugs. That means they have to somewhat camouflage Tucker's black lab fur because I'm not one of those people who vacuum everyday. I found this Tucker-proof 5 x 7 rug at Bed, Bath, and Beyond on sale for $70. I love the Van Gogh artsy swirly hooked rug-looking fun design it has going on, and so far, it's been really easy to keep clean. 



And what about the white painted floor with my black dog? I have a lot of hardwood floor in my house, and I was so tired of fighting my big vacuum every few days to vacuum up Tucker's fur. One day while shopping in Lowes, I saw this thing on sale for $300. (That's a LOT of moola!) Frustration combined with impulse and before I knew it, I put it in the cart. My husband did one of those eye-rolling head shaking moves, and I said, "Don't even go there, I need this thing!" 

"This thing" is a Dyson battery powered hand held vacuum, and, ladies, it has changed my life! I can zip this baby around all the hard surface floors in my entire house in about five minutes. And it's fun! No cords, no fighting a big bulky vacuum, no hassles. I should work for Dyson, I love this thing so much. It was worth every single penny.

Whew, got a bit off track there, didn't I? :)

Anyway...  
  

 

That's the story of my craft room before it became my craft room and its painted floor

To see the rest of the completed room, click here


I'm so glad you stopped by today!
Come join me! I'm linking up with
Stone Gable 
My Repurposed Life
DIY Showoff 
   
 

13 comments:

  1. Very nice! Your 'shop' is luvly. I am thinking pretty soon I will have a new room to decorate as my eldest is buying a home of his own and will be moving out soon. Plus , he and his young lady are asking me to help with their new home! SWEET!!!
    I have a chocolate lab... so I can relate to the dog fur. Hardwood flooring and pattern rugs all the way!!!
    Hugs, Gee

    ReplyDelete
  2. so glad you finally spilled the beans on your painted floor! It looks great, love the rug... and that vacuum???? I WANT one! Mine kills my shoulder lugging it around. :(

    gail

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the rustic feel of your floor Laurel! It has so much character. And you know I love the rug. Now if I can just find a way to sneak that vacuum into my house!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Laurel! Outstanding job (and nice story/photos to share with us) because that PAINTED floor is so gutsy- I applaud you cuz it looks GREAT with that $70 rug! Touche- nice job!

    Thank you for sharing with the rest of us! Always great to see creative minds at work. :)

    Visiting from Catch As Catch Can @ My Repurposed Life linky party
    Smiles,
    Suz @MaytagNMom
    NW Illinois
    Link To My Party Project This Week

    ReplyDelete
  5. Laurel, I love your pretty rug. You did such a great job on the room. Lots of work, but so worth it! Love it!

    Jody

    ReplyDelete
  6. laurel, what a great idea painting your floors! They look amazing! As a matter of fact the whole room is just gorgeous! Great space to work!

    ReplyDelete
  7. All your work is beautiful! I would never know how to paint like you do. I like the idea of the light vacuum cleaner!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Quite the transformations that room has had. I think you did a phenomenal job on it. I'd love one of those vacuums! We have central-vac and it is a pain in the butt...the hose is heavy and awkward.
    Debbie :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love seeing how a room has many seasons. But I think the sitting room and the craft room are my favorite. The floors look great and if you hadn't shown us the upclose we would never know that there were some little flaws in the wood. Love the look!
    Kim@reposhture.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. How did I miss this post?! I love what you did with the floor in your craft room. I'm starting to wonder if I should use Benjamin Moore paint for the nursery. I wanted to for the whole house but I was worried about how costly it would be so I didn't... Congrats on being featured on Catch as Catch Can!! :) ~ Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  11. I LOOOOOVE painted floors, Laurel (we have 2 in our house as well). White is a great choice and looks perfect in your beautiful craft room!

    ReplyDelete
  12. To be honest, I didn't even look at the floor until these posts, I was too busy looking at the rug. The room looks great and I really like the shutters on the shelf. It all looks so neat and tidy. I think you must be hiding all the supplies in those metal cupboards or in the closet.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments. I love reading your thoughts! If you would like an answer to a specific question, please email me via the link on my sidebar. Thank you!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.