NO MORE Latex-Backed Rugs!

A few months ago, I put a latex-backed rug on the screened porch deck, right by the door.    I moved everything off the porch earlier this week for the deck to be pressure washed.  The hardest thing to move was a stupid rug.  It had a rubber backing, which had stuck like super glue to the porch.  I tried scraping the latex off and it wouldn't budge.  I crossed my fingers that the pressure washing would be able to remove it.  Nope.  It didn't do a thing.  ^%$#@!     I need to get all that mess off within the next week because all my porches are scheduled for staining and painting.

Booth 188

It's official.  Martie, Beth (Martie's daughter), and I are booth renters at Rockin' B Antiques in Newnan.

My blog name, First a Dream, was chosen with a good deal of thought. Today, it feels so appropriate.  I have dreamed and dreamed and dreamed about selling second hand furniture and home things for ages.  Ages and ages.  Now finally, I'll be doing it.  That's in no small part due to my friend Martie.  Without her, I might still be dreaming.

We had our choice of a single booth or this double booth:

We nervously signed on for the double booth (#188) on Thursday morning.  Will we sell enough to warrant it?  Oh, honey, I hope so!

The booth color was a golden yellow.  Not as bad as it appears in the photo above, but still, we wanted to go a bit more neutral. Thursday afternoon we started painting. 

At first, it was just Martie and I.  But then Martie's hubby, Bob, came to finish up for us.  Bob is a sweetie!  Plus, he's a painter extraordinaire.  We were all able to finish the wall and floor in a couple of hours and plenty of that was spent chatting.

Yesterday I went back to put the finishing touch on the floor.  Martie likes my painted floors.  Her favorite design was the swirls, so she requested that I do that to our booth floor.

I started in a corner.  This design is easy, but I swear, how you are feeling while painting shows up in the design.  There's a rhythm to making the swirls.  You need to be loose and relaxed to make them flow.  I do best with a little music, but since I didn't have any, I hummed to myself.  I got stuck on a Cyndi Lauper song - Time After Time.  Don't ask me why.  I like her just fine, but it's not like I'm a huge fan.  That song popped into my head and I couldn't get it out.  I hummed the dang thing all day.  But I'm forever grateful to Cyndi, because the rhythm of that song was just what I needed to keep my swirls loose!

The painting part was no big challenge, but doing it on a hard concrete floor was rough.  By the time I finished, I felt like a stiff, feeblem 100 year old woman.  I was so happy to finish and put out my wet paint signs.

Click here 

to see the basic steps 

for painting sub-floors.

On a funny note, while painting I managed to sit on a wet paint can lid.  I ended up with white circles on the fanny of my shorts.  It reminded me of that commercial where people's behinds resemble cinnamon rolls.  It was attractive and let's just say that's not a section of my body that I need to draw attention to.

So here is how the floor looked as of about 3pm yesterday.  Today, we are taking a few things over to set up.  It's going to take some time before we have it looking nice, but Lorraine, the owner, encouraged us to jump right in with a few things.  She said the weekend crowd is generally pretty good and even if we only had time to put two or three things in, that would be fine.

I am so excited.  It's not about the money, though I do hope to make a profit.  It's something I love.  This venture speaks to my heart.  And finally, the dream is a reality.

I have joined the following link parties:

Favorite Things Friday at A Few of My Favorite Things

Flaunt it Fridays at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Look at Me Party at It's Fun to Craft

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch 

Southern Living Idea House - Family Room and More

This is the sixth and final post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.

I sure did find lots of good ideas and inspiration from this house tour.

Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



Today I am posting about the basement, which is made up of the Family Room, garage, and lower terrace.  Don't be put off.  Let's just say this isn't a typical basement.  Take a look.  

On the way down to the basement, I noticed the stairs had a painted faux runner.  Even though the design appears pretty simple, I know a lot of work went into it.  I wasn't bowled over by it, but then, I have learned a lot about painted floors - all the floors in my house are painted!  Most everyone else loved it and assumed I would, too, since I love painted floors.

Faux stairs lead down to the basement.

 I think something similar to this stair treatment from Donna at Funky Junk Interiors would have looked much better.

Clever Storage Under the Stairs

Equestrian look Coat Hooks

Pet station - dog bed, treats, toys

Brick Floor in the Family Room - loved it.  Love the coffee table, too.

Fabulous Sliding Doors - We have been looking for hardware like this!

Very Cool - Bulletin Board Calendar

Lower Terrace

Recycling Bins

 

A few more details

So that's it.   I hope to go back 2 or 3 months after they've decorated for Christmas. 

Want more?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House
Idea House floor plan

I have joined the following parties:

Friday Finding Beauty at Dippity Road
Inspired By at The Inspired Room
Show and Share Day at Just A Girl
Remodelaholic's Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
I'm Lovin' It at Tidy Mom
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Bath Time - More on Wood Look Tile

I had a request from Lori for more pictures showing our bathroom tile.  I have a couple of posts with some information about them.  The one in March probably has the most information.

I have added a few pieces to my master bathroom over the past year and never posted about them.  So... an updated bath post is in order.

The tile in the hall bath was my first choice.  I love the light color.  The tile width is  6 inches.  Hey - my shower curtain looks crooked!

The hall bath has a pedestal sink, beadboard with a ledge and a hanging cabinet that needs a makeover.  I love the shower curtain in this room.  It's made of hemp and requires no liner.  That's no issue - we don't use this shower.  I would love to use it in our master bathroom, but the color wouldn't work there right now.

The master bath has a similar look - same pedestal sinks and beadboard. Lots of white. I like the vintage look.    I don't like the light fixtures - particularly the globes.  I'd like them better with plain globes, but they have a special way to connect and I need to special order replacements.  That's been on the back burner for ages.

The vanity was purchased about a year ago.  I looked for ages and never found exactly what I wanted at a reasonable price.  I wanted more drawers.  This piece doesn't have the storage, but it looked nice, fit perfectly, and the price was right.  I have especially enjoyed the lift-up top.  Our kitties can't knock things off.

I love the flowers on the ledge.  Before taking these photos, I had some tidying to do.  I moved a bunch of bath products off the ledge.  It was looking pretty messy.  I found these bottles at a yard sale this past weekend and had just put them out in the kitchen.  They didn't look right there, but mmmmm... I love them here.  If not for Lori forcing me to stage my bathroom and pretend that it's always neat and tidy, I wouldn't have discovered that these vases BELONG right there.  Thanks Lori!

This silly rug obviously doesn't belong in a bathroom. In our quest for rugs all over the house (so our senior dog with bad hips can walk easier) we ended up with this rug and discovered it fit perfectly here.  I thought this was going to be temporary but until I find anything I like better, it's staying.  It doesn't match the yellow and blue things I had started pulling into this room, but oddly, I like it.  Plus, it's nice and cushy.

The cabinet under the window was purchased this year, too.  I like the beadboard in the door.  It provides extra storage.  The curtains are a make-do fix.  I had them from the previous house.  I still haven't decided how I want to go color-wise in this room, so for now, I'm just using what I have.

Here's a closer look at the master bathroom tile.  I went with the dark tile for more drama, but felt sure it would show dirt and floating fur.  I also felt sure I wouldn't like it as much as the light tile in the hall bath.  Wrong.  It hides dirt well and I love the dark look.

Here's a better look at the tile in the hall bath.  It's only shiny because I gave it a quick mop just before taking the photos.

I love both of the looks.  I highly recommend them both. They would look fabulous in any room.  The tile is Havana by Mediterranea.  The colors we used are Tobacco and Tropicana. There are more colors to choose from as well.  There are two widths -6 inch (which we used in the hall bath) and 12 inch (which we used in the master bath.  The tiles are 24 inches long, so they look like planks.  They truly look like planks - we have fooled lots of guests. We've had so many compliments on them.

I have linked to the following parties:
White Wednesday at Faded Charm Cottage
Show & Share Day at Just a Girl
Be Inspired at Room to Inspire

Tweakin' My Blog

Hey, hey, hey!  I'm so proud!  I have learned a few new blog tricks.

First, I made a blog button.  Now I don't know who would want to use this right now, but one day someone will and it will be there!  For now, I'll just pretend that there are loads of people out there who have been just dying to put my button on their blog.

Now, of course, I did not figure out how to make a blog button on my own.  I had help in the form of tutorials from Megan at Shabby Blogs and Grace from Sense and Simplicity.   Don't you just love that blog name - Sense and Simplicity?  Obviously, Grace is a creative person with a love of Jane Austen.

Then, since that turned out to be so much fun, I moved on to some tutorials from Donna at Funky Junk Interiors.  Thanks to Donna, I was able to center my blog buttons, combine several buttons in one gadget, and add a signature to my posts (as you'll see below).  She has a bunch of tutorials on improving your blog, which you can see here.

Donna is amazing. Her blog has become one of my very favorites.  Today, when I saw her post about her wooden crate staircase, I nearly hyperventilated.  I swear, she is me, only with way more energy, more talent, more drive, younger... OK she's not me, but I love everything she does and we could be best friends.  Check out these stairs and then, go read her post on them -

 And finally, the big reveal - my signature!  Simple, easy to read, with just a little bit of snazziness. Ta-dah! 

My Bathroom Tile Looks Like Wood

I have had some questions about the tile floors in my bathroom.  I've mentioned them in a few other posts, but I've never devoted a post to them.  That's an oversight, because they are certainly worthy of a post!

Both tiles look like wood.  They are from the same line and same company -  (Havana by Mediterranea.  They are long like planks.  You can get them in two different widths and 5 different shades.  I love them!  We had planned to put this tile throughout our first floor, but have changed our minds.  I don't think I want to upkeep that much grout in our senior years!

We put the thinner width in Tropicana Gold in our hall bath.  On the Mediterranea site, the floor appears very yellow-y.  My pictures look a bit pinkish.  The color is something in between.  To me it looks like whitewashed wood. 

In the master bath, we used Tobacco Brown.  I thought the Gold was going to be my favorite color and that it would be the color to use throughout the house.  The tobacco brown was pretty but I thought it would be bad about showing dirt so it wouldn't be a good choice for other rooms in the house.  Wrong.  It's really good at hiding dirt!  It's very dramatic.

I love both floors.  There are many decisions I made about my house that I am now second guessing.  These tile floors are not one of my regrets.  I feel pretty sure I'll love them for a long, long time.

Note:  The photos I used were from just after our house was built. We hadn't even moved in yet.  There's still a little grout to be wiped up in places.  We now have mirrors and a vanity in the master bath.  As for the light fixtures in the master - those are one of my regrets.  I especially hate the globes - that tinted bit is really ugly and doesn't go with our bath at all.  I can't believe I haven't replaced them yet.  It turns out the globe has an odd shape where it fits into the fixture.  I can't find a replacement.  Eventually, I'd like to replace the whole fixture, but there are so many things ahead on the list.

Painted Sub Floors... Over a Year Later

Pink and Polka Dot wants to feature my painted floors on her blog. I'm thrilled and excited and... inspired to finally do an update. By the way, Pink and Polka Dot is having a slipcover link up on Friday. I love slipcovers and can't wait to see all the ideas.

My Loft - photo taken last year

When I first researched painted floors, I was curious to know what people thought of their floors a year or so down the road. I didn't see much on that at all. This post should help fill that gap.

I painted the plywood subfloor of our new house, upstairs and down, except for two tiled bathrooms. Here are my thoughts after almost a year and a half of living with them.

Would I recommend painted sub-floors? YES. Absolutely. No hesitation.

Would I do anything differently? YES. Absolutely. No hesitation.

The floors have held up very well. My husband and I are still impressed with how durable they have been.

Small Issues
In a couple of spots a bit of color bled through the primer. During the building phase, workers made marks and wrote notes in places with a Sharpie marker. I used Kilz primer over the entire surface and that did the trick for almost all of the marks. I would recommend putting an extra coat of primer over any stains, just to be safe.

This is the only prominent bleed through.
Luckily, it's in the upstairs bathroom behind the pedestal sink.

There are just a few areas with hairline cracks. The areas are where there were extra large spaces between boards. I had to put in tons of wood filler. I can't believe those spots have done as well as they have. The cracks are barely noticeable and I could easily repair them if I had a mind to - which I don't. They don't bother me and I have better things to do.

Update on the cracks: Creative Kristi commented: I found using paintable caulk instead of wood filler prevents a lot of cracks because it 'moves' with the floor...if that makes sense? My parents still have the floor I painted in checkerboard pattern about 15 years ago in my bedroom at their house. It has held up way better then I thought it would! Dogs, cats, me as a teenager lol I've done two rooms in my house too!

What a great idea! Since we are leaning towards continuing to lie with our painted floors a while longer, I may try this with a few of the cracks. Kristi, thank you so much for sharing this tip!

This a a closeup of a crack in the upstairs floor.

This a a closeup of a crack in the downstairs floor.

Normal wear and tear has not affected the floors at all. We have probably heaped more abuse on our floors than a typical family would. We have dogs and cats. We don't have a paved drive so we track in all sorts of debris. I don't sweep or vacuum as often as I should so dirt gets ground in. We drop things. Heavy dog bones bounce across the floor on a regular basis. We've moved a lot of furniture around. I made a couple of scratches here and there when I pulled something heavy across the floor. I know of no floor that wouldn't have shown some signs of that kind of abuse. It's easy to be nonchalant since this is just a temporary floor.

So what would I do differently? The things that bug me have to do with color and design.

My absolute favorite floors are the ones I sprinkled with Deco-Flakes. They look clean even when they are far from it! And they were soooo easy to add. I was a little put off by the price and nearly didn't get them. One jar was around $30. Well, that was the best $30 I spent! I still have some left and have been thinking about sprinkling them on our entry room and adding another coat of urethane.

The entry room was done in black and cream squares with a black border all around. It was really pretty. The black areas are great - I made a subtle cross hatch pattern in them. That was a good decision - dirt doesn't show up much there. The cream is solid. What in the world was I thinking? Big mistake. This is our most used entry. If I go to the trouble to add the decoflakes, I might also use a tinted urethane to give those cream squares more of a glazed/antiqued look.

Another mistake - my painted rugs. I loathe the one in the office. Yes, it looks sort of real. It fools the eye. I get compliments on it. But it's reeeeeeeally ugly. The one in the guest room is more subtle and not as ugly, but I wish it wasn't there. I like using real rugs and now it will only look right when I get a rug large enough to completely cover the painted one. The painted rugs limit my decorating freedom. I don't recommend them.

As for my wood-plank-look floors... they are fine, but I'm not real keen on my color choice. I was trying to make them look like the fabulous tile I was planning to use eventually throughout the house. That color has been really irritating while decorating. I now have a great appreciation for the varying tones of beige's and tans and how some look absolutely awful when anywhere near other shades of tan. I wish I had gone for a darker wood look. It would have been fabulous.

Another recommendation - use rugs. Real ones. Not because the floors need protection. Rugs help with sound quality. When we first moved in we didn't use any rugs. Upkeep was a breeze but sounds really carried around our house. Now that we have rugs (and curtains) it's much better. The rugs don't need to cover the whole floor.

Click here to see 

the basic steps 

for painting sub-floors.

Where did I get my inspiration?
Before anyone gets the idea that I'm terribly clever, let me set the record straight. I was primarily influenced by two fabulous bloggers.

My first inspiration was Susan at The T-Cozy. I saw her studio and nearly swooned. I immediately knew that I wanted a similar color scheme in my loft. The colors are not the same, but fairly close. When I realized her floors were painted, my life was changed. That's a tad dramatic, but it really was an answer to a prayer. Her blog is full of ideas. I've been visiting it for so long, that I almost feel like we're related.

Update, Mar 24th - Susan has a new post about her floors.  She's had them for two years now and still loves them!  I thought I knew everything about her floors, but was wrong.  I never realized that her floors were part of the design in her blog header.  That's so perfect! 

Susan's Studio

Kim at Twice Remembered was another blogger who really inspired me. I found her blog when I started searching for information about painted floors. She's a pro at painting floors. In fact, I don't think there's anything she can't do. The first post I read was about her daughter's room. Thanks to her I learned how to tape the squares. That's not all I've learned from her blog. I could go on and on. She's such an inspiration. Here's another post where she gives some details about the process.

Kim's Daughter's room

A newer project from Kim - her craft studio

Here are some more posts on painted floors:
Old House Web
Ask the Builder
Home Envy
Dave's Garden
Paint Yoga
E How
Web Shots
Home DZine - Faux Woodgraining

Our painted sub-floors are intended to be a temporary solution. We have just recently started discussing replacing them. Right now, we are leaning towards cork floors. I think we're going to hold off for awhile. Our painted floors are fine and they certainly give us the luxury of being able to postpone spending a huge chuck of money!

Swirly Floors and Another Try at a Hairstyle

First, some news I forgot to tell yesterday - I won a print from Little Red House! I love Mary's blog. Her house is amazing and the photos she takes are fabulous! If you haven't seen her blog before, go back through her archive - you'll love it. Do you want to see the photo I won? Click here. It's so pretty - tranquil, ethereal... just wonderful. I will always treasure it. Be sure to take a look at the quote under the photo, too. That quote really spoke to me the day I read Mary's blog. I have some dreams and am trying to take the steps to make them happen. I think winning the photo is another sign that I am on the right track. My photo win resulted in something else that's amazing. Mary mentioned me and my new blog on her blog. And just like that, I had people I've never met stopping here to visit. And some of them emailed me! Blogging is so much fun. Why did I wait to start?

On with the FLOOR show - Here's the last of the painted floor designs I used in my house. Most people ask if I used a stencil to do this. No. It's sooooo easy. Take a look. It's just a bunch of -S-'s with some swirls and leaves and curly-q things attached. The hardest part was deciding which paintbrush to use. I really enjoyed this technique. It was almost meditative. I used the same technique in my coat closet and loft closet.

HAIR-BRAINED --- Just yesterday, I posted about my new simple and natural haircut (that nobody liked). Now I'm experimenting with un-natural - the usual styling methods involving tools and concoctions which takes years to master. Here it is. So far, the reactions seem far more favorable. And speaking of simple and natural, I think it might be time to set up a brow waxing appointment. And to think, I like to think of myself as some kind of bohemian, free-spirited, hippie chick. What a fake! At least I have a sense of humor.

Guest Room Painted Rug

I wanted to make our guest room a little bit girl-y to encourage two sweet girls to come and stay - Sarah and Eiligh. I wanted a faux rug that would allow me to change the decor whenever I was in the mood. I have a number of quilts with completely different looks. They all have a bit of yellow in them, so the rug would be yellow and white.

I taped the sections. The photo below is a closeup of a taping trick we discovered while taping the loft floor. Putting a putty knife right where you want to cut the tape, makes for a perfect cut. Nancy, my fabulous sister-in-law, soon discovered that the knife wasn't even necessary - the tape tears perfectly straight against the putty knife!


I mixed the yellow paint with glaze - about half and half and painted all the sections. Then I used a stencil to randomly add flowers to the squares.
The rug seemed a bit too bright, so I whitewashed the whole thing. I mixed white paint with glaze and used a rag to wipe the paint across the whole rug. It toned it down and looked so much better.

I added the binding edge to give it a more 3 dimensional edge. I probably should have added some shadowing as well.


Here's the room today. It's still not just right - we are STILL moving stuff from the old house. I didn't know I had that much clutter. I'm thinking I should sign myself up for an HGTV intervention.
On a side note... I got my hair cut two days ago and everyone seems to be going out of their way NOT to comment. That can only mean one thing - it must be really bad. The photo below was taken indoors, immediately after styling, before going outside into the impossibly humid and windy conditions that seem to have taken over in Georgia for the last month. Naturally, no one sees me looking like that. As soon as I step out of the car to open our gate, my hair takes on a life of its own. You know those fabulous curls that some people have when their hair gets damp? Well, I don't have them. Do you remember Rosanne Rosanna Danna's frizzy hairstyle on Saturday Night Live? That should give you an idea of how my hair responds to humidity. When I was younger, a bad hair style would absolutely send me into the depths of depression. Now? No big deal. I like that with this "style" I don't have to try so hard. It stays out of my eyes and out of my way. The long hair was taking way too much time. I like simple and natural. I don't dye my hair. I actually like the gray. Now don't take all this to mean that I don't care how I look. I do. But I don't want to go to great lengths to try to look like somebody I'm not.

Faux Rug Nightmare

In previous posts I have explained how I painted our sub-floors to look like linoleum or a wood floor. At this point in the floor painting process, I was feeling pretty cocky. Everything was turning out better than expected and I was clearly an artistic genius. The round faux rug in the office would bring me right back down to earth with a thud.

Our finances are really tight at this point. The economy is awful. My husband's business had slowed down. Our office needed to be very conducive to bringing in money. I read in a fung shui decorating book that an office with 2 doors should have a round rug, preferably blue or black, to keep the energy from flowing in one door and right out the other. Our money had been going out faster than coming in, so I wasn't going to take any chances. Our office would have a round rug with both blue and black!

Before I painted the wood in the office, I taped off a large circle for the rug.

I painted the circle black, for the background. I decided to make the rug look like a braided rug and the "yarn" would be made of a lot of blues. I began painting and up close it looked pretty similar to the braids in a rug. I was feeling smug. Then I stood up to get a better look at the whole thing. It looked like a giant boob. That should have been my first clue that things weren't going to go well.
Ignoring my doubts, I kept plugging along. I added more and more blues and it wasn't looking good. Well maybe I needed more color. I added reds, then yellows and greens. Oh (insert your favorite cuss word here). It was horrible.

I decided that my luck was so bad for the day that I should just go home. We were still living in the old house at this point. We can't move into the new house until the floors are complete, so a setback like this was quite disheartening.

The next day I came back, retaped the circle, and happily painted over the awful rug. I looked at lots of design ideas. Plates are great inspiration for designs that are circular. There were many designs that would have been nicer, but I needed something fast - plaid fit the bill.
In the days that followed, I added lines.

I added fringe.
I added a black border to look like a bound edge and it really made a difference. It made the rug seem more 3-dimensional. The photo above does not have that border.

Here's a view of the office rug looking towards the coat room. It's not a great photo, but you can see that I also added black squares to tie it in with the coat room floor.

Even after the redo, this rug is my absolute least favorite faux floor treatment. It's not terrible. People often reach down and touch it to see if it's a real rug. I just know I could have done so much better if time hadn't been an issue.

My next post will show my other faux rug, which, thankfully, turned out much better.