For example you may recall the filthy carpet that was hiding disgusting urine soaked subfloor? Well that made the floor next door which already had the carpet removed and didn't seem to be soaked with urine of any kind, seem really tidy.
I'm sure it wasn't. I'm sure it was really dirty and gross, it's just that sitting beside something really disgusting it didn't seem that bad. Kinda sad really but it's an optical, nay sensory, illusion that seems to be repeating over and over again in this house.
You see this house is/was a really gross dirty mess. It took me a good day to wash the kitchen floor the first week we took possession and by the time I was done the black rubber stair tread things were actually light grey. I kid you not, it was a happy surprise. Of course once I cleaned the floor the windows suddenly became really dirty and needed to be scrubbed. Then I was able to see the spider webs in the corners. We have been here for months and it just occurred to me the other day that the wooden screen door handle might be dirty and it was. The whole thing was so black and gross that it actually just looked like darker wood. It was so bad I could not believe I had lived with it for so long but let me tell you, I didn't see it. Not until something else was clean and something else was clean and so on until suddenly the handle became obvious.
I'm so far into this now that the bathroom vent fans are getting my attention. This is a good thing! It means I have cleaned so much that I'm started to look at things we don't touch on a regular basis.
So, back to this room with the exposed subfloor. I had decided at some point that painting the floor was important because it became obvious that we were not going to 'get' to the floor project for many moons. The kids have been enjoying the space and really started to need, not want, to clean the place properly.
Let me start by saying I love this room. I love this room so much it hurts. It's dark and it's rough and it's not super pretty but the bones are amazing. This is an actual teak bar. Can you not see a DJ in there? Cranking out the tunes? It also has a wood panelling ceiling and it's about 13 feet a the peak I think. It's abnout 10 feet at the base of the rise. So much fun. Beside the teak bar you can see the radio attached to the intercom system that is original to this 1979 classic. Let's tour.
Here is a shot of how dark and dreary this room in is the middle of the day. The lights are on and it's still gloomy as all heck. It's like living in a mine.
Ahhh. More wood. We actually call this room "the wood room" and the kids know what we are saying. Here is a good shot of the floor and the sun which is shining in the room next door.
A lot of what you are seeing is from them clear coating the panelling before they put it up. Still, gross.
More wood, This time in the form of a different kind of wood behind shelves with brick columns. I think this room has great texture. It's so interesting to be in here. It's also interesting to ponder what might be going on underfoot. More in a scientific kind of thinking than in a design kind of thinking.
So I love these panels. When I first walked in this room I declared that no one should enter unless they were wearing a silk smoking jacket and prepared to play a game of snooker. SCOTCH ME! Still, they have charm and they are real wood. Maybe a veneer inset but everything feels nice and solid.
Ok. So you can see patches of grey on the floor? Thinset from a past tile job that was then covered up by a real baby poop flavour of shag rug. A tan-brown thing. I was actually picturing more of a forrest green shag so the baby poop colour kinda threw my whole vibe for the room off. Anyway!
This is raw plywood subfloor, not treated with anything and it feels very rough under foot. I covered a good chunk of it with cheap carpets from ikea but it still made me uneasy. There were staples all over the place, this thinset stuff that feels like road rash in waiting, some carpet nails and a bunch of other stuff that made me wince when the kids ran through here like the little wild chimps they are.
1. We decided we want to try a pallet floor in this room. I'll have some inspiration pictures later but it's a big room and we can't afford to do hardwood in here.
2. So far we have collected 7 pallets which seems to be around 4 square feet? It's going to take a lot of time to get this situation under control,
3. My kids are not patient people.
I need something I can clean in the meantime and also something that makes me feel like it's still clean 10 minutes later.
I just cleared out the room and started painting with straight up latex paint/primer. It took a bit to get all the staples out and to scrape off the disgusting bits of old carpet underlay but so far it's making my brain sigh a huge exhale of relief, Can you see that really fun green colour?
This is the green with a coat of white primer/paint over it.
A nice unclose view of the nasty being white washed away.
Even closer!
Feeling better already. I have to give the walls a good sanding and there are lots of repairs to be done. This white wash does a good job of highlighting problem areas to be fixed for a decent paint job later.
What's this? Yes she is priming the wood panelling. I am not going to touch the ceiling just yet but that wood wall is getting neutralized. Hells yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment