Pinspired and In Production #13 {first full room makeover begins}{23}
Well, now I’m starting to feel like a real blogger. Everyone is always showing off their “full room reveals”. . . I get a little jealous. We’ve never done one of those around here. A full room makeover. BUT, that is about to change (I hate talking about things before they happen). I feel like I had to throw that in as a little disclaimer. I really do feel like talking about this bathroom re-do before we even begin will cause some kind of jinx or something but, here goes nothing! (what the heck does that mean, anyway??)
I don’t have a finished project to show you this week but I have this big pending project to talk about. Really what I need is some advice. We have decided to go ahead and redo one of our bathrooms. There are three of them and this one – on the first floor – gets a lot of use. It is the bathroom that you would use if you came to my house. . . but you’d better call first. You couldn’t really call it a “guest bath” though. I mean, if I say, “guest bath” to you, don’t you imagine something kind of nice-ish? With maybe some soaps in a dish and some pretty hand towels? Check out the toilet and the sink (in this imaginary guest bath) are they at least the same color?? In my real life downstairs bathroom (that’s what we call it – the downstairs bathroom) the almond colored toilet sits right next to the white sink. That is just one in a long line of problems in this room, but I’m not giving you the whole list today. I’ll save that for another post. A loooong post. Today I just want to talk about the floor.
I was on PInterest (of course) looking for different styles of wainscoting for the walls and I was immediately distracted by pictures of painted wood floors. We have decided to paint the bathroom floor. This house has original w i d e plank floors and I really do love them. All of the floors are fine with me – even though they show the wear of over 160 years of various families and their feet. All of the floors except the bathroom. What? You want to see the bathroom? Hmmm. . . I’ve never really shared pictures of my house before. I’m a little nervous.
Do you like the look of painted wood floors? Are you a purist and are you canceling your subscription to my blog now? Reserve judgment till you see what we’re working with.
are you wondering what those spots are? do you think the floor is just really dirty and i never clean it?
This is the kind of thing that happens to the floors of very old houses at the hands of plumbers. Those marks on the floor are actually wood fill. When we bought our house in 1998, there were FIVE bathrooms!! A bunch of silly bathrooms had been added to make the house into a bed and breakfast – and you’re looking at the result of reckless plumbing. . .
I will own up to the fact that we made those terrible patches ourselves. The holes go all the way through the floor and into the basement. The patches? They seemed like a good temporary fix at the time. . .
How long ago was that? Uh. . .
8 Years?
So, while we could go with tile in there – we are going for paint. {we will tile the 2 upstairs bathrooms – someday} It seems a lot less involved and less expensive. And there is also the bonus of those bad patches instantly becoming great prep work. And I really do LOVE the look of a painted wooden floor.
So, what I need to know is – have you painted a wood floor? Do you have advice on paints or techniques? This is a high traffic room. . .
I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE it if you would send me pictures of your painted floors!! That would make my DAY! You can post liks here in the comments if you have a blog or you can email me a pic through the “contact” button at the top of the blog. I’m NOT joking here! I want to see them!
Jul 20, 2012 @ 12:45:45
My sister painted a floor in a bathroom in her house they moved into this year. And she loves it! And I loved it! It had even more problems than yours and they painted as a quick temporary fix but she told me she likes it well enough she really doesn’t care how long temporary is! I will tell her to send you some pics!
Jul 20, 2012 @ 19:52:54
Nice! I’d love to see them. We did a little shopping for the new project tonight. How exciting!
Jul 20, 2012 @ 13:04:25
I have a white painted floor that you might want to look at…. maybe this weekend? I even have two gallons of the amazing polyurethane paint (Benjamin Moore) that I used there.
Jul 20, 2012 @ 19:53:37
hmmmm…..interesting.
Jul 20, 2012 @ 13:44:09
I’m sorry that I cannot give you any *floor* painting advice. My experience has only been with staining & sealing (and almost setting my new home on fire) new pine floors. But, having said that, the one thing I know is any painting job is only as good as the preparation. Prepare well and you will be thrilled. I love the look of a painted floor….and when it’s done, if you’re feeling more confident…do a little stenciling. It’s a big first step and it WILL be fabulous!!!
Jul 20, 2012 @ 19:55:48
yep – i don’t think the floor will get done first. . . there is a bunch of demolition to be done – a couple of walls need fixing. we will have to figure out the right moment – (i know it will be before the baseboards go back in!) and yes, i would love to do some stenciling – thinking maybe a border around the edge of the room. . . who knows!
Jul 20, 2012 @ 17:39:13
We recently moved and did some work before we moved in. The bathrooms had carpet in them, which I HATE!!! We pulled it out and in my kids bathroom upstairs, we painted the floor. I really like it. Our old house was really, really old and did not have a nice bathroom floor, so anything was an improvement!
I think we used paint that was for porch flooring, if I remember correctly. It has held up well so far, not that we’ve used a long, long time, but we have used it a lot and had company that has used it. We used gray, but doing it over I think I would try white. Oh well, it is a small floor and I could repaint it easily sometime!
The very last picture in this link shows it a little bit and I can go take a few pics and send to you too, if you want! http://www.adelightfulglow.com/2012/03/getting-settled/
Jul 20, 2012 @ 19:57:46
deborah, I’m replying before i go and look at the link but THANK you so much! I’m really starting to get excited about this project!
breida
Jul 21, 2012 @ 00:09:38
well, I went and looked at the pictures. those are from March? Are you getting all settled in? I think I will LOVE the painted floor – I’m just worried that it’s going to make me want to pant MORE floors in this house. . . which would NOT go over well!!
oh, and by the way, carpet in the bathroom i do NOT understand!! who in their right mind thinks that’s a good idea?? gives me the shivers!
breida
Jul 24, 2012 @ 10:22:31
Yes, the pics are from March when we moved in. We are settled and it is definitely feeling like home.
Maybe you can slowly introduce the idea of another painted floor..
I so agree..I do not get carpet in bathrooms…don’t understand it at all…
Jul 25, 2012 @ 00:06:42
Jul 20, 2012 @ 21:06:36
http://instagram.com/p/KQPPVzTA8H/
Jul 20, 2012 @ 22:22:39
Hi there Katia! Thanks so much for your link – I’m thinking of putting some kind of border around the bathroom – probably in red. Did you tape that off with Frog Tape? You put in two links but the one that has the description “just a little frame around the dining table” was broken. I love the way this came out – I’m seriously in love with Black paint right now!
Thanks so much!
breida
Jul 20, 2012 @ 22:20:06
I definitely think you should go for it. I think they will be beautiful. And might I suggest that you go crazy and paint the boards several different complementary colors. Not a pattern, but just a gorgeous mix, as if the floors were salvaged from many different buildings — one yellow piece, one duck egg blue piece, and so forth.
Jul 20, 2012 @ 22:29:53
Well, Amy, I can definitely see that looking very beautiful – just maybe not in MY bathroom!!
Seriously, I love that repurposed look – but it’s not what I’m going for in this room. I WAS actually thinking of doing a pallet bench or table like that though.
breida
Jul 21, 2012 @ 00:11:15
Painted mine with Annie Sloan and used her varnish for floors… a LOT of varnish. BUT I can get it wet, walk on it with my heels, etc… this is the kids main bathroom and our guest bathroom if that tells you anything. It has seen some wear! We have not had the first chip. It cleans fantastic!! I painted it almost a year ago.
Jul 21, 2012 @ 00:13:34
that’s good to know Kelli – send me a picture! did you do anything fancy? colors? stripes? stencils? border?
Jul 21, 2012 @ 00:13:25
I do love painted floors too. We don’t have any in our house. I like that last pic very much and I think a nice white floor would look great. Are you tackling the remodel entirely, or hiring out some work?
Jul 21, 2012 @ 00:15:33
we are hiring out the big stuff. mark and I have done our fair share of wall demolition in this house – we actually did somethings to this bathroom ourselves several years ago. now some of those things need doing by a professional!
(hi tim!)
Jul 21, 2012 @ 08:10:14
I think the poly you use on it is more important than the type of paint you use. I do think there is a poly they use on the bottom of boats that seals water…you might ask at your local lowes? I am sure it will be fabulous. I just am working on a living room makeover…you can check it out if you want to! Dianntha
Jul 21, 2012 @ 09:56:20
Thanks, Dianntha! I hope you’ll follow the blog so you can see my progress. I’m heading over to check on yours now!
breida
Jul 22, 2012 @ 08:22:40
Hi Breida!I don’t have any pics to share but I painted, stenciled and sealed my entry floor in my first house. I loved it. I stenciled a simple border and it was so easy and fast. Back then, probably 20 years ago, there wasn’t the choice of primer/paint combos. But we sealed it with I think 3 coats of poly and it held up great. I say definitely go for it. Your blog is a delight. Happy Sunday!
Jul 22, 2012 @ 09:13:47
Great information, Ann! And welcome – so nice to see you here. I really hadn’t thought that I would have to use a sealer. . . I guess I’ve got a little homework to do!
breida