Floored!

So when I bought my home, I was in love with everything. Not necessarily every detail and color, but with the incredible possibilities that I could instantly imagine! When I saw the floor of the third bedroom, which I fondly described as two shades of baby poo, I knew that it wasn't perfect, but that I could change that fact. But being crazy busy with teaching and learning, I saved this task for a summer DIY project!

If you know me, I sometimes (a lot) have impulsive ideas that require me to actually slow down and process them so that I don't make a bad or regrettable decision! I usually bounce such ridiculousness off my BFF Ali because I know she will either give me an honest response or jump on board the crazy train with me! Haha! So I bounced the CrAzY idea of painting my floor a neat color, specifically aqua, not just plain white like I always assumed I would. Ali sent me a super photo from a blog she follows on instagram. After seeing the picture, I knew for sure that I wanted to follow my idea and dive in with the project! Thanks for helping push that crazy idea Ali! 

For more awesomely awesome ideas, check out Beneath My Heart!

Of course I turned to my handy-dandy Pratt & Lambert paint fan, and compared colors to the image that Ali had sent. Although my color didn't match perfectly, I was excited when I encountered Cilantro 22-2 in the fan. 

My next move was to go straight to City Lumber, my locally owned and operated hardware store to talk to Dan the Paint Man. If you have a paint related question, he's sort of an expert. Thanks to Dan, I was able to avoid that massive project of sanding my floors, or having to use oil based paint which is stinky and takes longer than my impatient self likes to wait. Dan recommended that post cleaning, I prime the floor with Cover Stain, an oil-based primer that covers stains, oil or latex paint, and prevents stains from coming through. It's like a super strength version of Kilz Primer. 

I cut in around the edges and the door trim, then rolled the rest of the floor using a broom handle attached to the roller frame. The floor then dried overnight and throughout the following day. If your floor color is really dark to begin with, Cover Stain dries to second coat readiness in about 30 minutes so you don't have to wait a day. However, although my floor was an ugly color, the one coat of primer was sufficient. I then moved on to the actual floor color, the CILANTRO! 

Using Pratt & Lambert's Industrial Porch and Floor Paint. As I said before, I wasn't excited to use an oil-based paint, and Dan was able to offer this product in acrylic so it was more use friendly when it comes to smell, clean up, and dry time.

Again, I cut in and then rolled a total of two coats. Although not necessary, my first coat dried overnight and through most of the next day because I didn't start the first coat until 9:30 the night previous and had to work the next morning. I have to say that the final color on the floor turned out better than I anticipated and made me literally squeal with joy! 

The next step was to tackle the problem of the missing baseboards in the room, because there was about a 3/4" gap between the floor and the sheet rock of the wall. This is when I enlisted the help of my ever knowledgeable and helpful father. Although I have a large quantity of stray molding lengths in various storage areas of the house, there were not enough feet of one style to complete the entire room so instead I opted for simple one by four pine boards. This also was based on the fact that the neighboring bedroom had simple baseboards and I wanted to maintain some continuity. Like the floor, I used Cover Stain to prep the boards and then had interior latex in a satin, matched to the existing trim color throughout the house. 

My makeshift painting station on the basement floor. Ps: Keep that background table in your brain for later!

Once I had two coats of Cover Stain on, to help prevent any potential sap seepage, I did a coat of trim paint. My dad then kindly gave up part of his day to help remeasure the room lengths, cut the boards, and attach them to the wall. He did so using a pneumatic nail gun. The holes left were small and easily filled Spackle so that the boards could be touched up quickly with paint.

The final result is pretty wonderful, and I smile every time I walk into the room now! The floor goes perfectly with the yellow table that I snagged, after eyeing for months as a potential craft table, from Vintage Hardware! (GO FIGURE!!!) Now I need to finish moving the rest of the storage back into the room, get organized, and get crafting! Stay tuned for another craft room related project in the form of some furniture rehabilitation and TLC.

PS: Here's a typical Melissa side story for you! With summers off from teaching, I snagged a fun job working at Frite & Scoop (Follow them on Instagram and Facebook too!) Well as an ice cream lover. obsessor, and junky, I have to say that their Bubblegum flavor is by far one of my most favorite flavors. So one evening, after having finished all of the coats of paint on my happy floor, I sat down to a tasty treat of ice cream. While sitting on my couch, probably watching the latest episode of Rizzoli and Isles, I pulled the lid off of the pint container to dig into the bubblegum flavored deliciousness. As I looked down, I had a deja-vu moment and realized with great pleasure that I may have subconsciously made my love of F&S Bubblegum ice cream a permanent declaration in my house! Whoops! What's that hashtag? #sorrynotsorry! Cheers! 

melissagrotheThat one time that I discovered that I love @friteandscoop so much, I accidentally painted my floor to match my favorite bubble gum ice cream... Not sorry. #friteandscoop #paintandicecream