Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The story of Orange Rug room

In a house in the city there is a small room. A room that could have lots of potential, despite it's size. 

A year and a half ago, we tore out the orange rug. Gross.

We tested some paint colours and played on the wall. We then sanded the floor. When I say "we" I mean I hired a friend to do it. Then I stained the floor (5/2010). When I say I, I actually mean I! And then I (I for real), put a coat of Minwax Fast-Drying polyurethane on it.


And then I painted (12/2010) it Peacock Blue, inspired by the yoga room at CNY yoga. When I say "I painted the room" I mean I hired out to finish the job. Good thing I did as there was a bouncy wall that needed to be anchored. This is not notable to the naked eye. One needs to be a Contract-Her to know such things. The paint job took an additional 8 hours due to prepping, anchoring the wall with screws & washers, sanding, filling cracks and taping. She still did it faster then it would have taken me. Faster and better.


Paint Colours: Glidden colors - Peacock blue & Gentle fawn, mixed in Behr paint.

I love the peacock blue. I should have stuck with white trim.

I haven't finished the floor as all the dust and plaster from the prep work on the walls ended up in the grooves on the floor. Remember, I had only put one coat of polyurethane on it, which didn't protect the floor from the plaster and dust. I could neither wipe, scrub or vacuum this stuff up. But that's OK, because the sanding job sucked. Under the orange carpet existed a decent hardwood floor albeit stained with ... pre-owner animal presence.  The sanding guy tried to sand out the stains and smell and in doing so created welts and grooves in the hardwood in the corners of the room.  If you look closely into the 3rd picture above you can see the grooves. I had debated redoing the sanding part, but preferred moving forward. The staining didn't help, although I was really pleased with actual staining job.  After one coat of polyurethane I wanted to see if the painted walls would distract from the grooves. Well, the white plaster crap stuck in the grooves accentuated the problem and I decided to put this floor project on the back burner and see if the grooves disappear grow on me.


The room is small but has already morphed into many different uses; a storage room for the bathroom renovation (that was pre-update, w/ orange rug still intact), a guest room, a den/library and a few months ago, a storage room again.  Right now I am reclaiming it. The excess (bags of clothes, dresser w/ crafts and fabrics, blankets, vacuum, little piles of things - these 1910 homes lack storage space) has been cleared. The peacock room will become my creative space.







But why is it so hard for me to find a very simple and narrow table. I need this table to put my sewing machine on. And in a hurry as I have many things to make. Fleece hats, fleece poncho, something with ribbons, something with beads

2 comments:

  1. Hope you find your table. i did find a good one at a charity shop - not sure what you call them over there - Goodwill?
    I am sure the true character of the room will emerge, but i know how annoying it is when it doesn't quite work out. xx

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  2. I love the idea of a room for you to be creative in! I think thoughtful space is key to being creative. I love the peacock blue. But I also think I would have stuck with white trim.

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Another 100 year old house renovation

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