Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Living Room Floors - Stained Concrete

When we replaced the carpet in our home with stained concrete two years ago we did not do the living room.  The carpet in that room was newer than any other room in the house and we did not particularly want to deal with moving the entertainment center.  This week I was home from work for a week of vacation and we decided on the spur of the moment to remove the carpet and stain the concrete in the living room. 
 
Before
We began on Wednesday evening by moving most of the furniture into the breakfast area, cutting the carpet into strips and rolling it to remove it from the house.  We pulled the (filthy) carpet pad and then the tack strips.  From there the work was to scrape the paint off the floor.  Much of it could be washed away with warm water, a rag, and effort. The kids helped with that part and were fantastic helpers throughout the project. 
Asher & Chiara work to clean the paint off the floor
We managed to only move the entertainment center and book case briefly as we moved them, cleaned the concrete, stained the floor and then returned the furniture in a few hours.  That way our room wasn't too unorganized for too long and we didn't have tall/heavy furnture out of place. In the process, we shimmed the entertainment center backwards so that the doors close on their own.   We are waiting for the nice transition strips that will go between the fireplace tile and the floor and the breakfast area and the title.  Those will take a few weeks to come in the mail.
 
We've used slightly different color combinations in every room. In this room we used a Black Granite base and Augusta Green accent. 
 
The floor


The floor and entertainment center

Asher dances on the new floors

Both kids lounging after their hard work