Guest Cottage Makeover Review

Sometimes in the midst of a daunting project it helps to look back on how far you've already come. Please remember to take before pictures of your projects! Later you'll be so happy you did! I love a good hideous before pic.

If you have been reading along with me for a while then you are familiar with the amount of whining and procrastination involved in my trying to decide what to do about the floor in the kitchen and living area of the guest cottage. I just couldn't face pulling up the carpet and linoleum myself even though I did that in our entire house twenty years ago. We paid someone to do that part and I was left with an ugly concrete floor. Or as I saw it, a blank canvas.

 For full insight to my procrastinating ways Read The Concrete Floor Chronicles. 

Last year I had ordered a giant brick stencil because I have always wanted to paint a floor. Weird. I know. And plus I really do love the whimsy of a faux finish. This space where I overwinter plants and sling honey and process beeswax is the perfect place for painted and sealed concrete. This is a workspace for me, so a practical durable floor was the main goal.

Nothing about this photo says "Yes, carpet is a great idea for this space!"

In an upcoming post I'll be sharing about the floor how to and reveal but first let's look back on how far I've come with this space.

Here is the before before. You know, the before, before this before.

Read about the real beginning of this project here. 

I wish I had taken a picture of the carpet and linoleum but it looked so bad that as you can see in every picture I'm working hard not to show it. Anyway here is the before. The before after the before above and before the before in the coming reveal. That's clear, right? Anyway, at some point in the process, it looked like this!

Read about how I dealt with pink countertops: Pink Countertops Aren't just for Barbie. 

I did find this one photo with some of the carpet in it. I know it doesn't look that bad but this side of the room was the cleaner one.

This was before I painted the hutch. Read How I Gave My Hutch a Vintage Update.  As you read it notice how cleverly I avoid the carpet in every photo.

Here's a pic to give you a sense of the size of the stencil I'll be using. I've had this stencil for a year. That's how scared I was of this project. 

Here are some more photos of the floor sans carpet and linoleum.

This is the part of every project where I think "What have I done?" You can't go back and moving forward is scary. It's just part of the process! Do not be intimidated by the ugliness.

In the case of this project, I'm actually going to be using that ugliness to my benefit.

Stay tuned...