Again I have been absent from you readers, but not without good reason. Our master bedroom has been the final frontier for a very long time. It suffered in silence with matted down builder beige, original carpet. Threaded through with dog hair and dust, we long ago gave up on it. Our other carpet we have replaced with hard wood or tile. We have wanted to get rid of it for so long but we have tightened our purse strings of late and so more hard wood is out of the question.
In the last few years more and more restaurants and retail outlets have been making use of stained concrete floors. They are attractive, durable and practical. We really like the look but never thought it was something we could do ourselves. Then someone told us about DC Surfaces in downtown Jacksonville. We called, then took a trip out to their showroom. Their salesperson, and a do it yourself customer with pictures of his last project on his phone, convinced us that we could do it. We picked up the materials, which cost less than $300 and headed home.
Honestly it wasn't totally goof proof. We mixed the overlay too thick, so we ran out Friday night and had to buy more. That slowed us down by a day which meant we couldn't seal it until tonight. The steps are basically, two layers of concrete overlay, two to four layers of spray on acid stain, neutralizer spray/scrub/vacuum then seal. All this is over about a three day period.
Applying the Overlay
After the Neutralizer
Applying Sealer The sealant brings out the color and richness
Ta da! The sealer has to cure for a few days before we can move furniture back in but we are essentially done. UberGeek and I love do it yourself projects and this was probably one of our favorites. Not a lot of money, big impact and relatively little time compared to putting in hard wood, which was AWFUL. I anticipate it will be a great surface for dogs and cats, although we will probably have to put down a throw rug or two for our tootsies in the winter.
We have surfaced from beneath the rock we have been hiding under, finally. Last night we were up until 1:30 AM putting together furniture from that low cost, high style mecca, IKEA. I love their stuff, but there is a reason it is so cheap, you can buy something that is 8 foot by 8 foot and it comes is a 4 inch by 4 foot box. It will have 250 pieces, all including wooden dowels, screws and other insanity producing items. Together UberGeek and I groaned, sighed and extremitied our way to a fresh new office.
We started out by putting on a fresh coat of paint Friday night. I chose Valspar's Garden Path from the signature collection. It's a really springy green color I thought would make us feel energized and add some light to the room. A second coat was applied Saturday morning. We chose IKEA Expedit bookcases and desks that attached. I purchased a used Hon commercial quality lateral file cabinet from Craigslist as well. I wanted black, but the only one I could find at a cheap price was a putty color so I spray painted it, now it's perfect. We wanted to eliminate clutter on the desks as much as possible so I purchased a metal rack from IKEA made for the kitchen area for $1.97 and some coordinating plastic bins that hook over it to hold pens, scissors etc. There is also a hanging basket for sticky notes or mail. Less than $10.00 for the whole system. Above it I hung a cork board that I had covered in some inexpensive fabric, also from IKEA, to add some instant artwork and attractive storage for paper lying about.
Kristie's Spot
The best part is yet to come; my sister is a photographer and she has agreed to shoot pictures of cool green things for the wall, limes up close, etc. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. In the meantime the walls are a little bare, although we are in the process of finding frames for our diplomas. Neither of us have ever framed them, sadly enough. UberGeek also wants to frame and hang his Microsoft Industry Solutions Award which has been wrapped in plastic wrap in the garage for years now. I was happy to smell that the cat had not decided to pee on it. We even went outside and picked a couple daylilies, rosemary and society garlic to put in vases on our desks.
So now we finally have friendly work areas in the office for our work from home days or nights when we decide to put in a few extra hours, which for both of us is quite often. At least we will be able to sit near each other, although we always sit in silence when we are working. Usually our habit is for UberGeek to sit on the couch with his laptop and for me to sit in the office on the desktop. I wonder if we will be in closer proximity now?
We still have a little work to be done. We need to purchase a couple of office chairs, we ran out of time when we were in IKEA last time. Also, there are a few boxes and drawers to be assembled and curtains to be hung. Overall though, we have made a great start in our new space.
Tomorrow I am not going to work. My company, like many other healthcare companies in the current economy, is feeling the pinch. Staff have been asked to share in the burden by taking two mandatory paid days off in the next two pay periods. I don't pretend to know enough about finance to understand how this helps the bottom line but I'm excited not to have to go to work for a couple days. I am kind of worried since I have only been there for six months and this will put me in the negative for paid time off. I'm pretty sure that means when I go to take an actual vacation in June it will be unpaid. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to a luxurious day to myself tomorrow after dropping the kiddos at preschool. A trip to the new Whole Foods in town, lunch with a friend, making some baked goods, picking the kids up early and finally a nice six miler with some friends from my running group in the evening.
Today was a long day at work and I had to finish up a few things when five o'clock rolled around. This meant that my children would be waiting anxiously, possibly even sitting at the dinner table, for me when I arrived home. I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for dinner and so had UberGeek, so he suggested that I stop and get some takeout on the way home. Unfortunately, all afternoon I had been thinking of whole grain tortilla quesadillas with nice melty cheese and vegetables. I decided to stop by the grocery since I lacked the tortillas and the spinach. By the time I got home it was 6:10 and the kids were restless. I didn't bother changing out of my work clothes and got down to making dinner. Finally it was ready and we all sat down. Diva was complaining of a headache, this was not surprising since she usually feigns an illness of some sort unless the meal is hot dog, cheese, spaghetti or pancakes. We ignored her and told her she had to eat some food. Eddie Haskell decided that he too was not eating, a frequent refrain in our house since our children primarily eat breakfast and lunch with just a snack at dinner. I began to get that feeling of desperation I get soon after my relief and joy at arriving home to my children. It's like groundhog day each night. UberGeek plays with them, has fun, enjoys them and I am somehow relegated to taskmaster, chef and clean up crew. I don't like this role.
Diva began complaining more loudly of a headache and she did look flushed so we decided to give her some Motrin and send her to bed. She drank the Motrin and I picked her up to take her to bed. Then I heard a horrible sound, a sound I know well. The throw up sound. In the back of my mind I thought of my sweater, my beautiful chocolate brown natural fiber, soft, fuzzy sweater that fit just right and could not be laundered. Then I thought simultaneously how awful it was to have that thought when my poor, sweet daughter was sick. I aimed her to the side and she projectiled reminiscent of the throw up scene from Parenthood, one of my favorite movies of all time. Success, it all landed on tile.
We cleaned her up and put her in bed. By now I could feel my relaxing day off being slowly sucked away, replaced by a day full of throw up duty. UberGeek reminded me that I could have fun snuggling Diva at least. Taking Diva out to lunch, doing projects, going places is my idea of fun, holding her head and mopping up all day while she throws up is not necessarily on the fun list, but rather the duty list.
Once Diva was safely in bed I got a hold of myself, sucked it up and put on my big girl panties to deal with it. I smiled, poured a glass of inexpensive but tasty Penfolds Shiraz Cabernet and told Eddie Haskell that it was time for a bath. Then I cranked up the bathroom heater and planned my own mini vacation. Without Diva in the tub there was plenty of room for me and my Penfolds. Before you leave a comment about how yucky it is for a grown woman to bathe with a kid A. he's 4 years old B. it's more a hot tub than a bathtub. Our bathtub could comfortably fit four people in it, really we could entertain in our master bathroom. It was our biggest expenditure in our bathroom remodeling process even though we purchased it at a substantial discount. We invested in this tub because I spend a large portion of my almost non-existent spare time in the tub and the relaxation it provides makes me an easier person to live with. Once settled in the tub Eddie Haskell got busy playing with the huge assortment of bath toys he and Diva stockpile there; I got busy relaxing and blowing bubbles for him. After about ten minutes of warm water, bubble bath and Penfolds I was ready to tackle whatever came next.
