Here is a sneak peek...Scroll down to see the how-to and more pictures of the finished product!
My mission if I chose to accept it... turn a dirty, dingy, cluttered mess of a porch into a beautiful sitting room that reflects the style that we have throughout our house... As my sister would say...CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
Here is the before...I am ashamed to admit this was our back porch for over a year.
The concrete floor was painted by the previous owners and was scratched, chipped and permanently discolored. I hated it! I bleached and bleached and it never came clean!
I started by prepping the floor. I vacuumed, mopped and thoroughly dried the floor. I planned on epoxying over the whole thing so I opted for a
basic exterior porch/floor paint for a base. I let the paint cure for a couple of days while I planned out my pattern...yes, pattern! We wanted a rug but with two big dogs it is impossible to keep a rug clean and I didn't want to fight that uphill battle. With that in mind, I decided to paint a rug :-)
Using a ruler, chalk marker and painters tape (yes I went old school on this one. No fancy laser levels here.) I created a chevron patterned rug.
I then painted on my two other contrasting colors and pulled the tape....Slow and steady and at an angle worked best.
Ta-Da my new floor is born! I adore it!!!!!! To protect it, I used Valspar Clear Epoxy Garage Paint with non-slip grip. I am so glad I used the non-slip additive because when this stuff gets wet it is very slick!
I added some comfy outside furniture and romantic lighting and we have a new sitting room! The couch was my Christmas present from Andy. We found it on Craigslist for 80 bucks and I sanded it down stained it Kona and recovered the cushions with...you guessed it...painters drop cloth canvas!
The bench was my first reupholster job ever. It was left by the previous owners and was a terrible dark red and had chew mark where their dog had gnawed the legs. I filled the holes, stained and recovered with outdoor fabric. I works perfect as an ottoman.
We had the curtain rods from our old townhouse and I am so thankful I kept them. The curtains are just 6'x9' canvas drop cloth (that I use for everything) I just measured 5" folded over and ran a seam. I then tie them with regular ol' rope and enjoy the breeze.
The wood art over the door is the last remaining piece of the dead tangerine tree we cut down in back. (The rest we used inside and the stump we turned into a table for the fire pit seating area.) I hung it with rope from the ceiling with eye hooks.
We are really enjoying our new room even in the winter! We just close the curtains and pin them together to keep the frigid freezing cold chilly Florida air out ;-)
So in review....
Before After
Our Quaker, Oliver, is VERY happy now!
I know some of my how-to was not very detailed so if you have any questions about how, why or what color etc. feel free to ask! My next few posts will be all about garage organization and factory cart refurbishing!!!!! Please come back soon to see our progress! Until then ...wear eye protection ;-)
