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The Day The Floor Was Purple

Yesterday I explained that I was trying to use up some of my excessive paint stash with this attic room project.  Once the walls were painted, I needed to figure out what to do with the floors.

Again, we were back to the whole “to paint or not to paint?” issue.

I personally love these old wood floors.

floor before

If this were one of those home decor shows, now would be the scene where someone walks in with a giant sander and in 30 seconds, the floor becomes drop dead gorgeous!…

But, let me give you a bit of history on this particular floor.

We’ve been told (by someone with good authority) that these floors aren’t hardwood floors like we think of today.  Instead, in 1927 when this room was built, these boards were actually the sub-floor.  Today, plywood is used for that.

Since it was just meant to be a subfloor, there are large gapes between the boards.

DSC_9998

The boards are also very rough.  Those facts, however, didn’t detour me from contemplating refinishing them anyway.

I didn’t contemplate for long.  My husband’s answer to that idea was a quick and firm negative.

In fact, he wanted to install plywood over it.  Yikes!!

Thankfully, a few well-placed screws seemed to fix a lot of squeaks and spongy spots in the floor and he agreed to giving it a paint treatment.   Remember how I mentioned how important it was not to substitute an old sheet instead of a dropcloth??  Here’s how I know…

splattered floor

My nightmarish painting the ceiling experience left the floor like this.  It had now gone from bad to worse.  I decided that I’d like to try to match the dark color of the original floor (like on the left of the picture).  I even had the perfect color ~ “Panther” from General Paint.  Again, however, I didn’t have enough to cover the whole floor twice.

So, I did something very, very scary.  I mixed some deep red and blue (colors from our other house).

DSC_0019

A quick computer search told me it would end up purple.  It did.  And it covered the poor spotted floor beautifully.

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Now don’t panic.  It doesn’t stay purple…  {I’ll tell the rest of the story tomorrow.}

But, I have to admit,

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I actually kind of liked it…

{And now, some “technical” information.  Some of the floor boards were completely raw wood.  I primed those with oil-based primer, since I already had it out.  The other boards had been stained with oil-based stain.  If there had been a shiny finish, it was already worn off.  The old stain had sealed and prepped the wood, so I just went over it all with the latex paint.  It worked wonderfully.}

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6 Comments

  1. OH Rita, it is going to be beautiful! I had to laugh when you mentioned purple… you see that is the color of the primer they gave us to use on a some dark walls (it was a mis-tint so they literally gave it to us…. with the purchase of some other stuff!)

    Have a wonderful day! It will be exciting to see what the floor looks like tomorrow. Have fun!

  2. You definitely keep stringing me along:) Every morning I finish devotions and check your blog for the reveal…….Nice work….I am learning patience!!!!haha Love what you have done so far. I haven’t really done anything with Jord’s room yet.hee hee

  3. What a great way to use leftover paint! I’m not sure I’d ever think of that.
    We had a previous Victorian home that had a wide plank subfloor in twin parlours. Although at the time I didn’t know that’s what they were. I had them refinished and although they turned out gorgeous, they had wider gaps then yours. And in hindsight I’m not sure I’d do that again. Lots of little things can get lost in there, not to mention dust and dirt.
    But I think your room will look great with a freshly painted floor!

  4. I can’t wait to see what the floors will look like tomorrow. You definitely have us coming back to take a look. You mentioned some time ago you would be willing to do a guest post for me. Since we’re in the midst of a huge move, I’d love your help. You could even use a post that you’ve posted yourself already. Just send me an email if you are still willing to do this. Thanks! Have a great day!

  5. What a project! This has been a lot of work, but it looks beautiful. If you had a little girl, wouldn’t the purple floors look great! The homemade purple made a great primer, can’t wait to see the finish!

    Hugs,
    Heather

  6. Pingback: Attic Room Details

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