Work with what you GOT-Painted Kitchen Floors

FLOOR UPDATE:  (4/15/2015)
I know you have all asked for update pictures and I have FINALLY gotten around to snapping some iPhone pictures to share.  The floors are now 3 years old and while they are dirty in these pictures (sorry), they are still holding up really really well.  I am very pleased with their duration of numerous gatherings and 3 toddlers constantly running, playing and dragging toys along them all day long.  I would still recommend this method and am pleased with them each time I look down.  

We have an update in the ever evolving kitchen.  I recently painted the linoleum kitchen floors (another Pinterest inspiration) with regular old house paint.  It was a fun process and not one that I was sure was going to "stick" but it did and I am so happy.  Before I go into detail about the "how to" here are some kitchen evolution shots...

Picture 1:  How the kitchen looked when we moved in

 Picture 2:  How the kitchen looked after we painted the kitchen cabinets white and installed new Ikea counter tops, added a white subway tile backsplash, and painted the walls.

  Picture 3:  How it looks now, after the painted floor project

I am so in love it with it.

So now for the HOW TO...

Let me start with saying that painting linoleum is not for all linoleum.  Peel and stick or slick linoleum will not work for this process.  We had old, worn linoleum that was installed in one big sheet.  My sister-in-law tried to paint her peel and stick bathroom linoleum and the paint is just peeling right off.

Here is the process:
Step 1:  clean floors really well and let them completely dry (I used a degreaser and mopped the floors)

Step 2:  Paint the floors with the Base/Bottom color.  I used Behr Paint and Primer In One-FLAT.  Here is a picture of the paint cans. 

 

Step 3:  Stencil the design.  I bought a Martha Stewart stencil from Michaels and used the same Behr paint in a different color. I used a small foam roller to keep the paint even, make sure you don't load the roller with too much paint or it will bleed under the stencil and make a mess.  As far as the placement goes, the old linoleum had squares in it so I just used them as a guide and did every other square.

Step 4:  Let paint dry and then apply poly urethane.  I used a water based poly and followed the instructions on application.  I applied 4 coats of poly just to be safe.

Let dry for 2 days to be absolutely sure its cured and DONE!!!  We have had these floors painted for about 2 months and they still look absolutely gorgeous.  

In case you are wondering about paint colors, the colors are:

Base:  Glidden GLN40-Wood Smoke, I had it color matched so that I could use the Behr prime/paint

Stencil:  GLC13-Crisp Linen White, also color matched to Behr Prime/Paint 

Color Codes:

Here are a couple more shots of the floor taken just this morning.

Please email me or leave a comment if you have any questions about technique or process.  And leave a link if you did this yourself, I would love to see others work.

:)

A ceiling RE-Vamp

Back in the summer of 2010 my wonderful sister and I were hanging out at my house because she had a pinched nerve in her back and couldn't go to work.  She was lounging at my house watching movies and taking it easy when she looked up at my ceiling (see picture below) and said..."lets take those tiles down".

"Okay" I thought and I started pulling them down...one by one they came down and I was so excited to finally be getting rid of the hospital/office looking ceiling tiles.  Only after they were all down we were left with this. 

...and it was much worse.  After the big reveal, she said..."man that's gonna be hard to fix!...thanks sister, you were not so "wonderful" at that point :).

Those dots you see are actually some kind of black glue from who knows what led infested year, and they are rock solid.  The only way they were coming down was with a high power sander that I feared would spray lead dust everywhere.  Well, we lived with those dots for a good year while I looked and looked for a solution to the dot dilemma.  I just didn't know how we were going to get rid of them;  I thought about painting them but decided you would still be able to see the outline of them and that would just be tacky.  Finally I found these styrofoam ceiling tiles online and knew they were the answer.  Especially since they were only about $3.50 per tile as opposed to $15+ for metal ones.  A click of a button and 5 days later they were on my doorstep.

Now came problem #2, getting them up.  It wasn't that hard but it was labor intensive since our hands were up over our heads and we had a little over 100 to install, oh and by this time I was in my late 2nd/early 3rd trimester of pregnancy so I wasn't much help.  Luckily my wonderful husband plus brother-in-law and sister-in-law came to the rescue and put them up.  We applied them with a thin coat of tile mortar and the result is this...

 

It looks so so much more better than those horrible hospital grade tiles and so so so much better than those black tar dots.

Here is a side by side before/after view...

Kitchen Paint is Done!

But first lets start (as always) with a before shot...

And now for a completely re-done (minus the floors) KITCHEN...

(I used Behr Premium Plus (Low VOC) semi-gloss paint, the color is Indulgent Mocha)

This little laundry area definitely needs some help but aside from buying the new front loaders and building a cabinet, I don't know how to help it out.  Table skirt?  Wicker baskets/bins?


As far as my little curtains go, I wanted to make something that matched for the areas that don't have cabinet doors.  Off to Target I went looking for something that would work and ended up buying the cutest shower curtain that I cut up and made into these three curtains.

I am contemplating getting 2 more to use as the curtains at the back door but I am thinking that it may be too much, what do you think?

For now I am pretty much done, kinda, I will be on the look out for some cute prints to place here and there on the walls but other than that and the flooring, I am DONE!!!

Well I still want to paint that wallpaper on the wall behind the stove but I am to nervous to move the stove and mess with the gas line.  Here is where it will go when I do it...

Ok, so maybe I'm NOT done but I am close :).

Remember the kitchen project...

that I started last May?  Well I am just now putting the final touches on it, practically a year later.  I re-did the counter tops and added a back splash with the help of my friend Jessica in June but nothing has really happened since then.  Wedding season came and I got so busy and just never had time to paint or finish things off.  Soooooo, bottom line is I am currently in the process of painting the kitchen walls a really pretty taupe color and I hope to add this design to the area behind the stove as a little accent.  Then all I need is new flooring in there and voila, I'll be done.  Well at least until I find something else to tweak or change.  I have been really reconsidering our washer/dryer situation, especially with a new baby and all.  We currently have an apartment style stack-able washer/dryer unit but the washer barrel is TINY, and I do mean TINY.

 I am really longing to get some front loaders and build a cabinet/counter top around it.  Similar to this...

Yes, I would be going back to the problem I had before with the big machines in the middle of the kitchen but they would be concealed in a cabinet and it would create extra counter space, really a WIN WIN.  I could even buy mismatch machines on craigslist or on clearance from a discount store because they would be in the cabinet!  (I literally thought of that this instant, now I am even more excited to start looking for new machines) 

Painted kitchen pics soon, probably next week since I have a wedding this weekend that I will start prepping for tomorrow so I won't finish the paint job till Sunday afternoon.

P.S.  can you tell I am getting my energy back?!?!?!

New Exquisite Blooms post...

I have been blogging like crazy over on my flower blog (sorry I haven't had much on here lately) so come check it out...

here is a picture from my latest post.

In other life news, not much going on.  Jeremiah and I are going to Big Bear next weekend on a little couple weekend with my sister and brother-in-law and with our good friend Rachel and her husband Richie.  We are really looking forward to a fun weekend away from work and even though we probably won't snowboard like we usually do, we are the only couple that snowboards, we are still looking forward to all the fun.


I am trying to get the motivation to finally finish up the kitchen by painting the walls and putting those last details so all that can be finished and one more thing checked off my house "to-do" list.  Looking forward to sharing those pictures soon.

Next Project...bedroom

I know that I said I was going to move on to the outdoors but I really need to get our bedroom finished, well actually I need to start it, so that we can have a calm and comfy room when we are tired from working outside. I bought this headboard on Target.com yesterday and it will be the 1st piece to start this room transformation.

These are some inspiration photos that are helping me design the bedroom of my dreams :).

This one (above) is from Young House Love and we already have the shelves next to our bed so all I need is to attach a curtain to them to hide the books and voila, instant calm.  Well almost, I still have to paint and do a few other things but then it will be calm and serene.  The only problem is that I have my home office in the same room but I am trying to come up with inventive ways to hide the office or at least make a soft separation between the 2.

A little Before & After

Yeah, yeah, yeah...it's been a long time!!! I haven't been blogging for a couple reasons, 1. I've been busy with events and the holidays, 2. My camera broke (thanks sister) and I hate blogging without pictures. Lame I know. I did however get a Blackberry that takes pretty good photos so that is what I am working with these days.

I have a few before and after shots of our living room!!! I FINALLY painted and started to put the baseboards down so I am finally proud and ecstatic to sit in our living room, now if we could only get a flat panel TV for the wall the room would be PERFECT! (oh and maybe some wall decor would spruce it up even more)

Here is the BEFORE...

From Sally's Blog-A Warm Conversation

The DURING...

From Sally's Blog-A Warm Conversation

and (drum roll please) the AFTER...

From Sally's Blog-A Warm Conversation

I love love love it and here are a few more pics of the house...

From Sally's Blog-A Warm Conversation

Our cute little mini dining room with our wedding chandelier...

From Sally's Blog-A Warm Conversation

That's all for now, I am off to Texas till the 17th so see you then!!!