One Room Challenge ™, Spring 2020, Week 2: DIY Faux Beams & Limewash floors

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Welcome to week two homies! If you’re new here, Hey girl, hey! Thanks for the visit! Let me get you all caught up on my One Room Challenge ™ progress: Week 1 |

By the time this blog is published I will be piled into our Sequoia with a gaggle of kids bound for Oklahoma! We are going to visit my brother and his family and will be spending the next week camping on a lake. My goal in this post is to catch you up to speed on what’s been done up to today!

As I mentioned last week,, I got a bit of a head start on this room. Then ORC announced a 6 week postponement because of a virus named after a beer and suddenly we were all at home suffering massive toilet paper shortages and teaching our 5th graders about puberty and human reproduction. I Dunno; Things just got a little weird. So while it may seem like I’ve had A LOT of time to work on this space,I’ve been a little preoccupied and still have a really long way to go.

I’m really excited that we’ve all been encouraged by the One Room Challenge team to ‘use what we have’ this round. This theme bodes well for me and aligns with my design mission wholeheartedly which is this: You don’t need a lot to do a lot! In any space I create I try to use or repurpose what I already have first, thrift, trade or barter second, and only buy new as a last resort. Let’s see how it’s going thus far

You don’t need a lot to do a lot!

Paint it White

It took two coats of primer and two coats of paint to turn that ceiling from Farrow & Ball Railings (a favorite blueish black I had color matched using Sherwin-Williams Ovation) to my go to white, Benjamin Moore White Dove. Y’all, painting a ceiling is for the birds. Painting it four times is capital punishment; Even for a girl (me) who really loves to paint. Admittedly, I was sad to see that dark and moody ceiling go, but what’s not to love about a freshie coat of bright white paint in a basement bedroom? Bonus: Both the paint and the primer were already in my stash making this a Zero Dollar Update. Cost: $0

The Painted vinyl window trim

One of my favorite decor hacks is spray painting white vinyl interior window trim black. I’ve done this a handful of times now in rooms around my house and it really packs a punch for no more than the cost of one can of spray paint. In this case I already had the spray paint on hand because, like the Stones, “I want it painted black.” I really love Rust-Oleum Matte Paint & Primer in One in Farmhouse Black. But really, any spray paint formulated for plastic and metal will do. And if you live in a place that reaches triple digits, I’d recommend going with a ‘high heat’ option like Rust-Oleum High Heat Paint in Flat Black. Cost: $0

The Built-Ins

This room already had really great built-ins to the left of the closet. Kudos to the previous owners of our home who had the wherewithal to make such great use of otherwise wasted space. They’re solid, sturdy and in great shape, but lacked any real style elements. I stumbled upon this inspiration photo and knew that trimming out the shelf fronts would give their boring builder grade a custom upgrade for next to nothing. Cost $10.14

Here’ is what the shelves looked like before.

And here is the after:

The FLOORS

The very first thing I did in this room, like, even before I remembered to take ‘before’ photos, was rip out that gnarly, matted down shag carpeting. It was so gross. Also, I have an aversion to carpet because it’s where all the cooties and sloughed off skin live, but I’ve lamented about this before so I won’t beat a dead horse. Suffice to say you don’t build the Sistine Chapel on a landfill mmkay? Literally anything is an upgrade.

Floor Repair

But I would be lying if I told you that I felt relieved and inspired the first time I laid eyes on my bare subfloor in real life. On the contrary, I was instantly intimidated. It was riddled with cracks from a settling foundation, holes where carpet tack was once pounded into place, unsightly gashes and a bunch of overspray, splattered paint and carpet glue. What the hell was I going to do with these?

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To preface, I went into this project knowing I wanted a super cost effective way to zhuzh up a concrete slab as a temporary solution until we had enough dough saved to replace all the basement flooring.

But first, I’d have to get this subfloor cleaned up and repaired. I have never worked with cement before and this cement would need a LOT of work before it was even remotely presentable. I decided to simply patch the holes best I could (vs. pouring self leveling concrete) twice actually, with a bag of Sakrete Fast setting Repair Mortar. Why twice you ask? Because I didn’t read directions about scraping away excess mortar after it had settled a bit, and instead listened to my husband who assured me I could just sand it away the next day. Spoiler alert, you cannot. Instead you’ll spend no less than 10 hours busting up what you’ve just installed and redoing it. You will swear, pout and feel very sorry for yourself. This is why you ALWAYS read the directions. At any rate, If you’re into timelapse videos delivered by a girl in mostly pajamas, I’ve saved the readers digest version of the process in my Instagram highlights. Fortunately Frank redeems himself shortly after. Keep reading…you’ll see. Patch repair Cost: $14

Floor Finish

I really wanted to do something unique with these floors; I knew I did NOT want to simply paint them as I was hoping for more depth. More character. Something that felt perfectly aged (even a little old world European) rather than shiny and new. There had to be something I could come up with that could ‘wow’ without breaking the bank. I settled on Limewash and never looked back; I would work out the details later.

I settled on Limewash and never looked back; I would work out the details later.

Remodelista describes a Limewash finish as “mottled and matte with a chalky texture like suede.” Um, sold. I’ll take the suede floors in soft white please. I immediately took Pinterest and the internet looking for tips and was flooded with inspiration.but came up virtually empty handed on viable tips. There are plenty of projects using Limewash; even on cement. But absolutely NOTHING about it’s use on flooring; Specifically a raw cement subfloor.

I reached out to a few reputable companies that are suppliers of Limewash paint products (up top Romabio Paints for being both responsive and super helpful) but everything I read and heard pointed to a less than positive conclusion: It probably wouldn’t work. Limewash is meant to patina over time. It would likely wear away really quickly. And given that it’s mineral based, be next to impossible to clean with traditional cleaning methods.

However the more I researched alternative options, (which, for concrete subfloors are both limited and shockingly expensive) the more sold I was on giving Limewash a shot. I did a lot of research and had really high hopes, but to be honest, my expectations were pretty low.

Without going into too many details on the process – totally saving the good stuff for another tutorial – I am absolutely THRILLED to say the results are blowing my mind! I can’t wait to share the whole shebang with you. This finish turned out EXACTLY as I had hoped; I’m still pinching myself. Cost: $68 (though I bought way more Limewash than needed and could have saved an additional $17)

The Beams

I really wanted some sort of architectural detail on the ceiling to draw the eye up, and make the room feel taller and less like a drywall box. My original plan was shallow white beams made from inexpensive plywood or MDF.

I preferred the look of wood from the beginning, though cost being a major factor in the design decisions and I wanted to save the cash for other things. But when the ‘Stay at Home’ orders came out and we began digging through our stash, my husband Frank totally redeemed the patch flub by digging up 12 rough sawn aspen planks from a stack of wood scraps in our garage.

It took me posting on Instagram and the onslaught of random messages that followed to realize it sounds completely ridiculous that we just have a dozen aspen planks lying around in our garage! To explain, we purchased 40ish boards for $200 from a local lumber yard over three years ago for our fireplace. We used most of them for that project but had some random pieces leftover and I couldn’t believe our luck that they were just the right size AND we had exactly as many as we needed. It was just meant to be!

I promise to provide a tutorial on how we built and installed our faux beams; in the interim, here are some photos of their construction. Cost $0

The light fixture

Good news, bad news. The good news is the light fixture is here and it is STUNNING! The bad news is that it is missing some parts and others are incorrect. I guess that’s the downside of purchasing the super bargain version of your dream light fixture on eBay. Fortunately the sellers have been extremely responsive and are planning to rectify the problem immediately, but it’s still going to be a couple of weeks before we FINALLY get to see this beauty installed. Cost: $252.81

THE PROJECT LIST:

• Repaint the entire room in ‘Benjamin Moore White Dove’
• Spray paint window vinyl black
• Trim out built-in shelves
• Closet build out (extra shelves, shoe storage)
• Remove and replace all trim & baseboards
• Remove carpet, pad, and tacks
• Fill tack holes with cement patch
• DIY Limewash cement floors
• Poly coat cement floors
• DIY faux ceiling beams
• Refinish rustic bench
• Clean out and wash window well
• DIY Artifact Uprising Acrylic frame Dupe & Parabola’s Press photo grid sponsored by Parabo Press
• DIY Barn Door and installation
• DIY Art Project
• Bed deconstruction and reconstruction
• Replace light fixture
• Sew and install curtains
• Dye Headboard Canvas
• DIY Desk/Vanity

THE BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Here’s what’s been purchased thus far: 

• Trim (Includes Built-ins, Closet shelving & header, door trim and baseboards): $121.58 
• Window Sill Wood & Spray Paint: $13.72
• Cement Floors (includes patch, Limewash, acrylic binder & brush): $82
• Ceiling Beams – $0 (We ended up using 12 ft rough sawn aspen boards we had left over from another project.)
• Amazeballs West Elm Light Fixture found on eBay $252.81 (retails $599)
• RUNNING TOTAL – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – $470.11

Sources

Wall Paint: Benjamin Moore White Dove

Light Fixture: West Elm Staggard Glass Chandelier, I bought it on eBay.

PARTNERS

I am tickled pink to be partnering with some seriously amazing companies during this year’s One Room Challenge including: 

That’s all she wrote folks! I’ll be off the grid for most of the week but my plan is to bring you SOMETHING for week 3! I’ll see y’all right here next week!

Meet me in Instagram stories to follow the day to day progress, help me make design decisions and keep me from filling this minimalist room with my maximalist tendencies! 

Wanna see what everyone else in this challenge is up to at One Room Challenge™?