Christmas project-part one

BLEACHED, FADED PAINT FINISH

At last, some time to work on our house!!

Our kitchen and sitting room are on the first floor.

Not unusual in village houses here, but it limits flooring options when your room is thirty feet (9.14 mtrs) long and old and your floor flexes slightly!!

We had tried tiling this three metre square area; where we are building traditional, simple open cabinetry and installing our built in oven and induction hob as a concession to 21st century life.

Tiles did not work, as there is minor movement in this floor. They developed hairline cracks!

To the right of this space we are keeping the basic block built sink cabinet, but will be losing the vile Formica and wrapping in painted wood panelling.

Blocks will be built-up to tall human worktop height ( we are tall family!) Topped with recycled wooden worktops and a new, ceramic sink from Spain.

We took up the tiles and laid this two cm deep pine floor, running at right angles to rest of the wood floor in the room.

Most of our old wooden floors, with the exception of the tulip room floor, are pine.

Being a detail freak, I picked out pine with some interesting knots and colour variation and texture to keep things interesting.

Fixed down with steel screws.

A skinny, bevelled wooden trim was pinned on with air gun nailer to finish between the two floors.

1.First , I washed the floor with diluted paint/water, 75%/25% mix.
Applied evenly with smooth strokes.
I used a flat one inch brush.

Nocturnal, Nordic blue and Denim shades of Vintage chalk paint.

Do not be alarmed at this stage , this is only the base colour!!

2. Then I made up a 50/50 mix of diluted chalk paint in Cement colour.

I painted this on, starting at the edge of the boards, in sections approximately 30cm long at a time.
Then I quickly wiped off each section with kitchen paper, leaving a subtle wash of this neutralising light grey behind.

3. Once dry, I went over each section of board individually and, using the Cement shade, I washed certain areas of the boards again; concentrating on the ends, the edges, any knots, areas of texture , and where the colour variations of the original wood still show through.

As in stage 2, I wiped off most of the paint with paper as I moved along.

Stage 4 will be three coats of floor varnish.

Watch out for final result post here.

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