I know I said never again... but...

I am kind-of debating doing THIS to my stairs. I know, I know, enough with the painted wood.  But I can't help it, I just love it.  AND I am a glutton for punishment :) Here are some fun ideas I have run across, we will see what I can talk the hubs into :)

 I LOVE this!

 Gray would be cool

 we know how I LOVE this pattern :), although probably a little much on the stairs

 Again, LOVE

So fun and different! 

More ideas HERE

up close and personal

Sooo... we underestimated the amount of floorboards we needed for the red floor by about 6 pieces.  Guess what I did at 10 last night and 6 am this morning?  Sanded, painted, and distressed those babies.  Yep, that makes a grand total of 88 pieces.  Just for the RED floor, let's not count the white floor.  But I am done painting, and I have seen most of the red floor installed (minus the shorted pieces), and it's AWESOME!  I will take pictures today, my phone was dead and my regular point and shoot camera was MIA when I was at the house :)  WHILE I was sanding at 6 am, I thought I would give you a closer look at the floors (full tutorial coming).  I wanted a really distressed look in this room.  You don't have to distress them at all, or you could lightly distress the edges (like I did in the white room). 

(above) not distressed

(above) edges distressed

(above) heavily distressed (I did the whole red floor like this)

And because I get impatient (and my kids have the stomache flu so I am stuck at home and unable to go take a real photo at the house) here is a photo the hubs texted me of the flooring installed.  This is before glazing and sealing (and ignore all of the drywall dust), but it's just fabulous!  And best of all, Little Man LOVES his new bedroom floor :)

red DISTRESSED (as in REALLY distressed) painted wood floors

are ready to be installed!  Here they are, all lined up and ready to be loaded (all. 82. freaking. pieces.).  I am pretty sure I have like 10 lbs of red sawdust in my lungs.  Just sayin.  But enough whining, they are done. 

They look kind-of pinkish mauve here, but they are red in person :)

I am going to distress them with glazing after they are installed (I want the glaze to sink into all of the crevices between the planks, making them very cool and distressed looking).  The top of the this board is glazed, middle is just sealed with poly, bottom is just raw sanded.  It was my test board, I wanted to make sure I liked my finished product before I put it on the floor.  And guess what?  I LOOOOVVVVE it!

pAiNteD wOoD fLoOrS sNeAk PeEk :)

Again, I aplogize for the photo quality, but I get a little impatient and can't wait to post photos, and they are usually on my phone :)  Here is the white painted distressed wood floor in Miss Priss's room.  It looks SOOO cool!  I promise once the  sawdust :) settles, I will post real photos from the real camera, with details, closeups, tutorials, and much more info, just give me some time!  Enjoy your sneak peek anyway... and if you need me, I will be back in the POD painting the red floor for the Little Man's room... there is no rest for the DIY homeowner :)

I'm FLOORED

(pun intended) at how the office flooring turned out! My husband is amazing! He did the flooring for our entire main floor in this gorgeous rustic quartersawn oak (with planks varying in width from 4-6 inches). I LOVE the look of this flooring, it has the look and feel of an old country store.  My favorite part is that it has no shine to the finish (won't show every little speck of dirt and smudge on it), and it naturally has flaws in it, so the dents and scuffs that my kids add to it will just blend it (I took my stained sample home and hacked at it with steak knives, just to see what it will look like after my kids live on it, and it still looked great!).  Anyway, Big Daddy has never done hardwood before, and I am seriously impressed with his skills! When he got to the office, we decided it would be fun to change it up a bit with a fun pattern, and this is how it turned out. I. Am. In. LOVE.

PS - excuse the pathetic phone photo, believe me, the picture doesn't do it justice, in person it's even more amazing!)

Putting up a front

Our crews have been working hard, now the Hardi paneling is almost done! It still needs to be painted (dark gray with bright white trim), but it's coming along. I can't WAIT to see the finished product come together!

Tooth Fairy Door?!? Why didn't I think of that!

Seriously, there are some ridiculously creative people out there. This idea is AWESOME! I am totally doing one in Miss Priss's room... you see the tooth fairy HAS been complaining that it's hard to get under her pillow while she's asleep without waking her for the big magical tooth/money exchange. Her own magical door NOT under a pillow would be a welcome improvement... just sayin'... I'm trying to make HER life easier :) See the link for a detailed how-to, but the basically it's a dollhouse wood door (from your local craft store), painted cute and sprinkled with magic fairy glitter (if you so choose), and attached to the wall with Command strips (removable adhesive, found at WalMart in the picture hanging aisle). Attach a pouch or pocket of some sort to the wall behind the door or to the inside of the door for the tooth, and there ya go. The Tooth Fairy has her own little private space to go about her business. So cute!