The 2nd floor is finally done!
To remember the good-ole days, here is the 2nd floor when we moved in;
A shot of the awkward half wall during demo;
Here’s a link to what we were aiming for.
We removed a wall, ripped up carpet, dry walled over the paneling, built a $90 built-in, removed the popcorn ceiling texture, switched the ceiling lights, painted, built a railing, covered the concrete in paper-bag flooring, re-installed the crown molding, changed the electrical boxes, and painted some more.
And here it is:
The view from the basement (prior owners’);
And Current;
Here is the cost breakdown for our 280 sq. foot room:
Drywall: $145
Primer: $40
Paint: $60
Paper Bag Flooring: $80
Built-in: $90
Railing: $25
New Ceiling Lights: $75
New electrical: $30
Total: $545 (ouch, how did it add up to that!?)
Covering this room in $2 a sq foot hardwood would cost more than that, so we’re satisfied enough.
Then there was the great furniture shuffle.
For the first time, my books are no longer double-stacked on garage shelves. It’s awesome! It went from two of these…
To legitimate shelves!
Now I have room for more books 🙂
One of my favorite things is how well the Pink Floyd Canvas turned out in the room.
I also love the new view into the basement (better than a wall of paneling!)
There is still work to do, but it will happen later. The windows, interior doors, and 4 of the exterior doors will be replaced after the PMI is dead. That will include the fogged slider door, the garage door, and the window in this room.
Your days are numbered, 70s brown door with no trim :}
It looks great!
Can you cut the paper in strips versus into pieces
Definitely! It will look different, the edges will soak up more stain and be darker. You could grab a spare piece of plywood and practice both ways; I would glue it down and stain it before deciding.
Just wanted you to know that if you use a water based poly, it dries a lot faster. Seal your concrete floor with the poly before applying the paper and the paper will stick to the floor. The craft paper has a different look on each side. If you install it with the same side of the paper up, your floor will have the same look all over. Alternate sides and it gives the floor a different look, still good. If you really crinkle your paper before it’s put into the water glue mixture you will get a much more dramatic look. I actually used a pair of pliers to squeeze some of the pieces of brown paper. My hands started hurting and I could no longer use just them to get the look that I had wanted. Using a makeup sponge to apply the stain works wonderfully and there is no chance of getting too much on the paper. Wipe the stain off with a paper towel shortly after you apply it and it dries pretty quickly. You can sand the floor after it dries but before you apply the stain and poly. Also, those areas that lift up can be cut off with a razor blade. I cut up,a pretty big sheet of paper, crinkled it up into a big ball, put it on the floor and stepped all over it, dipped it, and applied it all in one sheet. I did this all over and then went back and put the torn up pieces over it, that way there were no missed spots and I could cut any imperfections out of the floor after it dried but before I applied the finish. I hope that this helps.