ONE ROOM CHALLENGE ™, Fall 2019, Week 4: DIY Geometric Plywood Floors (a la Vintage Revivals)

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Welcome back to the circus friends! If this is you’re first time here, HEY! Thanks for the visit! Let me catch you up on the One Room Challenge ™ weekly progress: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 |

Babes, here’s what you need to know. Things went down this week. And by ‘things’, I mean floors and I’m pretty stoked about it. But let me be frank with y’all; it has been a tedious and painstaking process. I’m so ready to move on to other parts of the room, but I still have to make 647,987465 more cuts to make and will do so, even if it does go against all my natural instincts to just call it good enough. Let’s just stare at them in their almost finished state for a quick sec though mmkay?

Here’s the quick and dirty y’all: We did not have a saw ‘big’ enough to make the cuts we had so we borrowed this Sliding Compound Miter Saw from a friend and knocked out all 245 triangles in two days. (More about that process in Week 3.)

We gave the saw back, prematurely as it were. I sanded all 6 edges (three top side and three bottom side) of all 245 pieces in the bright sun over two New Belgium beers (a local brewer for us lucky ducks) and Chainsmokers on Pandora. It was a good day despite the fact that I accumulated more splinters in my fingers than I have years on this earth.

I meticulously laid every cut triangle we had aaaaaaaaaaand then we ran out. (GIANT EYE ROLL) So we’re back to square one with a new sheet of plywood.

Here’s the thing: I knew this pattern would produce more waste than a standard plank floor, but it was impossible to know exactly how much (I added 25% above our room measurement). At $46/sheet I didn’t want to overbuy and end up with a gaggle of extra plywood triangles. So, am I glad I waited? Yes. Is it still SUUUUUUUUPER annoying and would I rather poke my eyes out with said perfectly pointed plywood triangle than go through this process all over again? Also, yes. BUT, in an effort to keep things on schedule (we have to wait for the weekend to borrow the saw again) I plan to move forward with cleaning and treating the floor anyway, even though it’s not fully installed.

How Exactly Do I Plan to Finish this Floor?

I’m so glad you asked! After lots and lots of collected research, educated guesses, and a v. strong opinion about how I want this floor to LOOK in the end, I’ve devised the following plan of action: I’m going to apply 1-2 coats of Miniwax Pickling Oak Stain in an effort to minimize the yellowing that happens when adding poly, and then follow up with 4-5 coats of a Miniwax Polycrylic Matte Water-based Polyurethane (the same I used for our painted stenciled tile floors) to protect the surface as much as possible from wear and tear. Will this work? Who knows. But I’m happy to be your guinea pig.

I am so-ho-ho ready to install baseboards and battens at this point, however until I finish all the tiny cuts around the room’s perimeter, this too is on hold. But, because I’m not a savage and I care about your feelings, I’ve set some baseboards and batten stiles in place for your viewing pleasure. Anyone else completely sick of progress shots and ready to see the real deal? Here you go. Kinda… It’s all smoke and mirrors friends.

Crown FREAKING Molding

I have been lamenting in stories about how nervous I was to install crown molding. A) Ive never done it, B) we have a weird slope in the ceiling and C) all the cuts are made upside down and backwards (or something like that) and apparently I’m a lot worse at geometry than I remember. Anyway, I watched and read ALL the things, chatted with a construction friend about technicalities of working on sloped ceilings and decided to give it a go. UGH! Crown FREAKING molding!!! So many incorrect cuts, so many swear words, so much tension building between a husband and wife inside a suddenly v. claustrophobic room. So I called said construction friend back and asked him if I could just pay him to finish it off figuring it’ll be way cheaper than eating Xanax for breakfast and divorce proceedings. He’s coming later this week.

Here’s Some Good News!

The light fixture is installed and I love it! You may catch glimpses of it in my stories, but I’m trying to save a few little mysteries and teasers for the final reveal. You know, just to keep things interesting.

I received the IKEA Rast Dresser this week and plan to dive into that project in the next couple of days. Unfortunately the construction of the piece has is so that the bottom of the drawer slides into place higher up the drawer face than I’d hoped. Essentially it means the portion that I planned to cut out to allow for caning material would have to be significantly reduced and that completely alters the look of it. So, I’m playing around with my options. Keep watch in stories to see what happens. Crossing my fingers I’ll have something pretty rad to share here next week!

So much still to do, so little time. Here’s where things stand today:

• Clear out room
• Patch drywall holes
• Remove baseboards
• Remove Carpet and pad
• Pull all carpet tacks and staples
• Color match fabric with paint
• Repaint ceiling
• Paint walls
• Paint closet (?)
• Spray Paint Window (?)
• Spray Paint Bed
• Install fabric wall treatment
• Install Crown Molding PENDING
• Install new light fixture
• Purchase lumber
• Install Board and Batten CLOSE ENOUGH
• Determine Plywood floor pattern
• Cut all flooring
• Sand all flooring
• Lay all flooring SO CLOSE
• Treat/Protect flooring
• Reinstall baseboards
• Rehang curtain rod
• Sew curtains (?)
• Resinstall sconce(s)
• DIY Ikea Rast Hack
• Accessorize

XOXO,

Visit each week of the One Room Challenge™ Here: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6