Saturday, September 1, 2012

Stencil Fun!

Inspired by Gertie's amazing sewing room floor, the Roommate & I decided we wanted to give it a try on our screened-in back porch...

Our floor is not smooth by any means.  The Roommate did some sanding, but we knew that it was not going to be like the hardwood floors inside our house.  

First we bought a big overall stencil (about the size of Gertie's, but not as detailed).  And it looked like heck, to say the least.  Besides proving very frustrating for the Roommate who was doing it on his summer vacation.  

Because the porch floor is 4" x 2" beams, each one is cupped.  Also, because it's 14' long, they bend a bit towards the center.  Which means paint, no matter how thick, just runs everywhere because you can't get the stencil to lie flat. 

So he painted over that stencil-work.  And I kept trying to figure out a way to conquer this non-flat floor.  

Finally about 2 weeks ago, it dawned on me!  Narrow stencils!  So we got online & started looking at the various stencil sites.  We never did find one we liked that was narrow, but we found the next best thing--a pattern that was narrow.  And surprise surprise, it's an Africa-inspired design!  I really wanted it to look like we have a carpet out there.  

If you check out the page for the stencil, you'll see that they used 3 colors--which looks amazing.  But we only did 2 (mostly because we were using up paint from other projects, like our kitchen walls & trim).  It took a lot of work (mostly because I hate sitting on the floor).  But we are extremely pleased!  

We have put one coat of sealant/varnish spray-on polyurethane on it, we'll do another tomorrow, and probably a 3rd before we feel it's safe to use.  Fortunately the weather is cooperating...dry & not as humid as usual.  Bella is the only one suffering--she couldn't go out to help & she hasn't been allowed on her porch for almost a week.  I hope the fancy floor will make up for her hardship.  

What do you think? 

UPDATE! Here's the Roommate enjoying coffee out there; it's done & looks amazing.  





3 comments:

  1. This is looking like quiet a feature.

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  2. Thanks!

    It took a lot of work (and we're still sealing it), but it's going to be great. The only thing I sort of did wrong was choose a much brighter green than I meant to. But oh, well, we'll live w/ it & it makes the blue & white really pop.

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