Stairway to heaven-ish

I thought I already posted about this, but I can't find it, so ignore it if it is a double post.  :)

When we pulled up the carpet on the stairs we found the character I wanted when buying an old house.  We haven't touched them and I don't honk we ever will!  

I love the pop of color they add to the living area!

We also decided to paint the dark panel walls and redo the ceiling with pallet wood we found in a throw away pile.  💙

Master bath and beyond

I updated the master bathroom again.  I wanted to make it look clean.  The walls hadn't been painted since we moved in and it was just time to give it an overall update.  

In the beginning...

Along the way...

And today...

The outside room needed some updating too.  I wanted the two rooms to be separate, which is hard since they are really just one room with a bi-fold door.  

Here is the work in progress...

Anyone up for some color?

I tried cleaning the office floor (originally painted white) and instead I ended up accidentally stripping the paint.  So I decided to try something with a little color. Since I taped off each individual plank, I could only do roughly twelve planks a night.  It took me about four week from beginning to end.  

At first I was afraid it was too much, and for some it probably is, but we love it.  It is unique and gives a pop of color that we need.  

I used regular acrylic craft paint and I sanded it to give it a distressed look.  To protect it, I covered it with a clear acrylic spray.  It has held up very well.

I might be a paint-aholic... as more hardwoods fall victim.

Unlike some other areas of the house, pulling up the carpet in the guest hallway did not reveal golden-brown heavenly hardwoods that had some ounce of potential.  This floor was bad.  No amount of TLC was going to bring this bad boy back to life.

As bad as this little bit of flooring was, I had lost all desire to mess with it.  So there it stayed, for more than two years, this filthy, uneven, mismatched, bowing, splinter-giving, collection of boards, formerly known as a floor.  It was like a wart on a nose, removing any chance for beauty from everything around it. 

I suppose that sometimes it just takes time, or in this case enough splinters.  I finally met my limit and decided I had to do something with it.  This was, by no means, a final solution, but it did cover the problem for the time being.

Paint is always a good idea, right?

I cleaned and sanded the boards (we're talking about a very light sanding here, I wasn't trying to find a reason to dust my entire house).  Then I filled in the large gaps with paint-able caulk and gave them several thick coats of plain white paint (the cheap stuff from the hardware store). 

As you can see, the white was a tiny bit on the bright side. I knew they could not stay this way.  Even if I wanted them to stay this way, the eight paws of our two butt-shaking behemoths wouldn't have allowed it.  I mean, really, it's almost as if they don't like clean floors.

So what's a better fix than a light brown wash to give a aged-wood look?  

 

For a quick fix, they turned out pretty decent.  I'm pleased with them for now.  I did go back a few days later and applied a light Minwax Polycrylic coat as a seal.  I was really happy with the final look that this gave the floor.

If I had the energy (and room to move out furniture) I would consider doing the entire guest bedroom floor this way.  But for now, shutting the door to that room works for me.