This past summer we became for real empty nesters. In the span of a few weekends we delivered the rest of our two sons possessions to Portland where they squished them into a house they are renting together.
When we got home to our very slightly echoing house we had a bit of a melancholy moment remembering the versions those rooms had been through. From Nursery to big boy beds, scattered with Lego and plastic dinosaurs to SK8punk posters and rock bands and even a whiskey still hidden in the closet (don’t worry, his interest waned before he drank any of it) Yes, we had a moment to remember all that….And then I got to work because I had a Pinterest board waiting for the past year and it was finally time to pull the trigger!
I started by removing the desk we had built into the closet for my son during his school years.
Here’s a pic few pictures of what the desk/closet area looked like before:
Remember when I re-decorated the boys rooms?
First I repaired the walls and then painted, I kept the color but put a fresh coat up.
Next came the big job.
When we moved in the hardwood floor was damaged and we couldn’t afford to have it sanded and finished, so we painted it. This was during my HGTV period you see and it really was a cool decorating solution.
Fast forward 20 years later.
The painted floor was looking real shabby and worn down to the wood in several places, so it was time finally to see what could be done about restoring the original wood. As it turned out it was a fairly easy task.
I used Jasco paint striper and worked in sections.
Then came sanding. It was the toughest part and I would recommend getting a pair of good quality knee pads if you are doing it yourself like I did. I used a hand orbital sander that had a vacuum attachment to take care of the dust.
There were still a few traces of blue where the sander couldn’t reach but I thought the tiny veins of blue here and there looked cool.
It took two coats of semi gloss varnish that I applied with a paint pad.
It turned out so lovely! All that hard work really paid off!
Next up the big reveal!
Stay tuned!
Kathleen Rear 