HOME IMPROVEMENT: Home stretch for the rowhouse master bedroom
Here are a couple progress shots of the paper bag floor with the brown builder’s paper layers glued down over the old, rough, gouged softwood floor. There are some spots that need regluing, especially at the corners and edges, but trim molding will help with that along with making this look more like a finished space and less like a construction zone. It already feels better, and when it’s dry, it’s now safe to walk on without big stompy anti-splinter boots (the old floor was definitely not)!
Overall, it’s a vast improvement and did a great job of leveling and evening out the moonscape of old floor adhesive, splinters, and cracks that this floor was before. I was worried about how it would turn out and if it would even adhere since it was such a beat-up surface, but it’s working great so far. But wait… there’s more!
Look at the transformation after the stain goes on the paper bag floor!
Now, that’s more like it! With the stain down, the paper bag floor looks like burnished leather or stained and sealed concrete faux terrazzo (instead of like, uh, well we won’t talk anymore about how bad it was before because we have moved on and upwards).
Today I’ll start putting down the first coat of poly sealer over the stained paper bag floor, and by next week I could be moving in here! After the floor cures, and more importantly, the air clears.
Hopefully that will give me enough time to refinish this new/old bed frame from The Finder Things… Thanks Morgan! Got it sanded and wiped down yesterday… Going to paint it with a metallic bronze/brown , maybe thinned to a wash so the grain shows through, then use Rustoleum Java Brown glaze (both from the Oops paint bin, of course- the Ralph Lauren metallic was $9 for the gallon, and the glaze had a dented can, and was marked down- double score!) to antique it and add some depth to the finish. Poly that, then move on in!
If I like how the bed turns out, I’m going to refinish ‘Ol Piney to match… A solid-ish softwood dresser I’ve had since college, and that was from a friend’s childhood bedroom (he gave it to me when he moved back east and didn’t have room in the truck to bring it along). It’s been a very serviceable piece, but could use a facelift.
But first, the stove! My landlord/neighbor put a new valve on the gas line yesterday, so I’m one more pipefitting away from a working oven. Thanksgiving tomorrow means I am out of time to finish the wall first before roughing the replacement stove in. But to not keep brewing coffee on my little alcohol camping stove, I can deal with an ugly wall behind a working stove, for awhile.
I need this puppy cooking to bake the cast-iron cornbread for Granny’s dressing (I add fresh herbs and apples to her recipe) and broccoli cheesy rice casserole (which I have completely reinvented with bechamel, cheddar, and fresh broccoli, in lieu of cheese whiz, minute rice, and frozen green mush…) The recipes may differ, but the idea is the same, and they remind me of home, and family, and tradition.
Hope that you all have a wonderful holiday!
Read More about the Rowhouse Remodeling Work-Trade Project!