Finished floors.

So, yesterday I showed ya’ll the first post of the priming, painting, and stenciling process we did to our faux brick vinyl flooring in our kitchen. Well, we’ve finished four coats of polycrylic on our kitchen floors, and in a very humble way, can I just say that I’m really proud of ‘em! I love how they turned out – SO much better than they were before! How about we start with the fancy before & after comparisons, since I’m so psyched about the results {for just $80.}

Can you believe that’s the same floor, just with a little {or 7 layers} of paint and poly? Crazy!

Okay, now on to our process.

We used this poly because it is water-based {meaning it supposedly won’t yellow like an oil-based.}

The saran wrap is a super helpful tip Eugene found online. If ya cover the lid with saran wrap then the dried bits of poly won’t fall into your fresh gallon of polycrylic.

Before each coat of poly, you have to sand the floor with a fine sand paper {we used 100 grit}, and then clean it all really well.

These two steps were by far the worst part of the whole process, although the hours stenciling weren’t really a blast either. But the sanding & cleaning left me with a battle wound…

My leg looks weird, but the point of the picture is to show you that I have a big red blister on my KNEE! Who the heck gets blisters on their knee? Well, I’m one of the few & proud I guess.

The first coat we did, we went the slow rookie rout – foam paint brushes. Then we got creative & bought four foam mops at the Dollar Tree. I simply dipped some Dixie cups into the poly, poured it on the floor, and mopped it around evenly. And surprisingly…it worked really well!

One nice factor is that the poly only has to dry 2 hours between coats. Here’s the poly drying – exciting stuff…

And here are some more pictures of the pretty shiny “new” floor we’re left with…

The picture below is pretty true to color…

We still need a metal strip to go between the two floor types & need to fill in the piece of wood floor where we opened up the half doorway.

And here are two in natural lighting without any of the ceiling lights on.

How’s that for an affordable solution to faux brick vinyl flooring?

I had to add $3 to the total from the first flooring post for the mops we bought…

Primer – $0 {already had, but it’s around $18 in the store}
Stencil – $3
Stencil brush – $1
Floor paint – $25
Poly Sealer – $45 {not used yet, but will be in a post coming soon. I hope.}
White paint – $0 {already had, but it’s around $25 in the store, but didn’t use more than a cup full}
Foam Mops – $3

I’m pretty darn happy with the results! The kitchen’s certainly come a long way from the bricks, apples, and checkered wallpaper days! {To see all the kitchen updates, click here.} :)

Project linked to:

http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/08/transformation-thursday.html
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/
http://lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Painting the kitchen floors.

Get pumped. I’ve finally written the first floor post. I know you’ve been checking your computer every other minute in anticipation…right? We’re still not quite finished with ‘em, but at least it’ll get ya caught up. ;)

Remember our faux brick flooring in the kitchen? Let me refresh your memory.

We knew we wanted to update it just a smidge {sense the sarcasm}, but our big purchases of the new windows & basement fix, we’re looking to minimize the spending. My solution? Paint the floor.

I saw examples all over Pinterest, but I took my own slightly different way {big surprise.} I painted behind the appliances first so as to not scrape the floor by moving them often.

Eugene & I first cleaned it really well. But it still looked dirty which was another motivating factor for painting the floor. Our next step was to lightly sand the floor, but it really didn’t make much of a difference honestly. Then we used our same go-to primer that we used to paint our bathroom tile: Zinsser Oil Based primer.

We just trimmed the edges with a brush & rolled the center area of the floor.

After one coat of primer and 24 hours to dry well, the next step was our paint. Using some other blogs’ recommendations, we went with a Porch & Floor paint. Glidden “Fossil Grey” was our choice of color.

The paint was pretty smelly & thinner than normal wall paint, but it covered well and seemed to adhere well to the primer. So far, so good.

We did two coats of the Fossil Grey with plenty of drying time between. Oh, and meanwhile, we’ve been eating dinner in the living room surrounded by piles of stuff. That’s convenient. At least we have two roses to make dinner romantic.

I digress. Okay, the next step was to stencil the design. I used a stencil I purchased for around $3 at my newest favorite fabric store, Hancock, where I purchased the fabric for our kitchen curtains. All the other stencils I looked at online were well over $40. Needless to say, I was a tad excited to find this much less expensive stencil. I picked up some stencil brushes at JoAnn’s for $0.99.

Here’s the stencil in detail…

From there it was just tape, dab, clean off the stencil occasionally and work from there. I lucked out and could use the indents from the bricks that showed through as my grid to align the pattern. I also had decided early on that I wanted an imperfect, aged look for the design, so I wasn’t shooting for perfectly crisp edges by any means.

PS the colors in all these pictures are off. I guess since I did it late at night, and early in the morning, the white balance is all thrown off. Plus the windows in the room are all shaded by trees, so I don’t get much natural light. The picture below is pretty true to color.

After at least eight long hours of stamping the stencil, lots of pandora music, and a marathon of 24 episodes, I finally finished all the stenciling. This brings us to what the kitchen looks like today.

We still have lots of poly to coat it with, but I think even before the shiny covering it already looks better. The color is slightly more tan and less gray than I anticipated, so I’m a bit worried that it all just blends in together with the white cabinets. I think once we have the bright green backsplash & butcher block counters it will look really nice. At the very least it blends much better than the faux brick with the kitchen changes we’ve made. It helps to remember that this is likely only a temporary fix for the flooring. So…whatcha think?

For all you cost nerds out there, here’s my rough break down.

Primer – $0 {already had, but it’s around $18 in the store}
Stencil – $3
Stencil brush – $1
Floor paint – $25
Poly Sealer – $45 {not used yet, but will be in a post coming soon. I hope.}
White paint – $0 {already had, but it’s around $25 in the store, but didn’t use more than a cup full}

That brings me to a grand total of under $75 for the whole kit & caboodle, but I still have money as a credit to Home Depot from the fence items we returned, so it was only $4.00 out of pocket costs. I can handle that!

I’ll be sure to post the official “after” pictures once we get the poly finished, so stay tuned.

Linked to:

Remodelholic

Be Different Act Normal

Chipper.

I’m so busy with my new job, so this is going to be a short & sweet {well, probably just short} post. But I have big news to share very soon about our kitchen floor.

I promised I’d keep you updated on how well my spray painted sink held up. You’ve asked. I’m answering. Just yesterday, I noticed the first chips.

Bad pic, but you can see on the drain the gold’s making its way back into my life.

I’m happy to say that the drain is the only place that’s chipped so far. But I painted the thing way back in February, and we’ve been rough on the poor guy. I’ve been happy with the way the faucet & handles have held up – they aren’t chipping {yet}, and they’re easy to wipe down too.

Well, that was an exciting Wednesday update, huh. :/

I’m swamped with my new job, and it’s really difficult to find time to blog because I’m spending much more time driving to & from work. With that said, I may be cutting back on my blog posts, or maybe moving some posts to weekends. {Sad.} But oh well. I work with what I’ve got – so it’ll be fine.

Hope ya’ll have a nice mid week day!

Pictures of a legacy.

Eugene & I stopped by my grandma’s house last week. It was wonderful enjoying a sandwich with her, catching up, and sharing all the changes coming up in our lives too. One of my favorite things about visiting my grandma {other than the time with her} is looking at this huge collage of old pictures decopaged onto a frame hanging in her hallway. She’s had this massive frame forever {or as long as I can remember.}

And ever since I was little, I would spend countless hours just staring at each faded picture of my grandpa walking in the door from a days work, my mom and her sisters playing with doll babies {or better yet, with long beach blonde hair wearing a belly shirt in the 70s}, my beautiful grandma sunbathing in a foxy retro one-piece. I love to see old faded photos of my great grandmas – whom I’ve never met – and listen to my grandma share tales of who they were. I see & hear literal snapshots of the memories that made my mom’s family who they are today.

This is my all-time favorite picture. I think my grandpa looks so handsome & suave…

The red tinted picture in the middle below is my mom. She looks so happy there. :) And honestly, how cute is the picture of the three little girls with the wagon?!

Foxy grandma! {She’s probably gonna scold me for putting these pictures on my blog, but I really want to save them!}

My grandpa must have liked taking pictures of my grandma sunbathing, cause she’s in the one below too. With those beautiful long legs of hers, I don’t blame him!

I think the family picture below looks like a Hollywood picture. That or something from the
Brady Bunch. Love it.

My grandpa was so handsome. {I miss him.} The picture below is a great early family photo. I love looking at people’s family photos before their family was finished growing. Oh, and I love the drill team pose in the bottom right corner.

My grandma cooking. What a fun retro kitchen! I’ve got to get me one of those vintage style aprons, and this picture makes me {almost} wish I wore a dress everyday, even while doing dishes.

See, seriously handsome grandpa.

I love looking at old photographs. They tell such rich stories. Each scratch & fold on the photo, the faded colors, all serve to deepen the memory and sweeten the experience, passing it on to even someone who wasn’t born until fifty years later. There’s just something special about looking at your family {even those whom you’ve never met} through the eyes of a lens that was there that day – when it all happened. Makes you connect, feel a part of it, and long to be reunited with them someday to hear their savory stories.

I pray that this blog, and the pictures I’ve gathered and continue to amass, will someday be shared when I’m old and wrinkly. {Hopefully I look as good as my grandma does now!} I hope that there’s someone in my line interested in walking back to the days when I was younger, days before my life events folded into memories for me. I hope someone relishes old photographs and family legacies like I do. And I hope to look back at my times growing through life and in marriage and smile with joy at the scratches and fades in the photos.

Thank you, Grandma, for preserving bits of your life, bits of grandpa’s life, bits of my mom’s life and therefore my life. Catching and preserving memories and laughter in the shortest of moments so that I could relive other’s lives years – no, generations – later. How sweet it is to see glimpses of your legacy.

The S hook.

I picked an “S” hook up from Hobby Lobby a long time ago on clearance for $1.60. Similar to the chargers, I didn’t have a plan for the hook, but for I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find a spot for it.

Well, spot found.

I took down a towel bar back when I painted the pink tile white. So since then, we’ve really missed having a place to hang our towels so they’re within reach after showering.

Problem solved.

I like the simple white S next to my DIY ruffled curtains.

And it’s not a huge spot, so the smaller hook works much better than a long towel bar.

Nice solution for just a buck sixty. :)