Monday, July 2, 2012

The Floor Is Done (Mostly) and a Checkerboard Floor Tutorial (The Easy Way)

Had to take a break on the Girls' Clubhouse project for a few days.  I needed to finish organizing everything (and I do mean everything) in my classroom so I can really enjoy my summer break.  Whew - it's all done.  Worked until Saturday at 6:00, but I'm finished!  YEAH!

Okay, so bringing us back to the floor of the clubhouse.

I knew I wanted a big sponge to make this as simple as possible and so Baby Bee could do a lot of this project herself.  Of course I couldn't find a square sponge, but Worker Bee did find a nice big dense sponge at our local Ace Hardware.  However, it was a rectangle.

So here's how I made it a square:
 1.  I measured across several times and marked it so I could connect the marks to make a nice edge.  Then I took a sharpie (Can you believe the only color I could find was brown?  Who can only find a brown sharpie??? Me I guess!) and connected those marks so I would cut a straight line.
(photo by Worker Bee)
2.  Then I used my exacto knife to get a crisp clean edge.  Below that edge I didn't care how raggedy it looked. 
(photo by Worker Bee)
 3.  Then I labeled the WRONG SIDE (in brown still) so we wouldn't load any paint on that jaggedy side.
 4.  See?  At the top there is a nice straight edge, but down the side it's just a jumbled, raggedy, jaggedy mess.

Now to proceed to the painting.  It's just the clubhouse and the floor isn't level, it's plywood, etc., etc., so I knew there was no way it was ever going to be perfect, but we could still make it look pretty good.


1.  First thing we did was find the middle of the floor from side to side.  The floor in this case was 63 1/2 inches wide so we drew marks every 31 3/4 inches down the center of the floor.  Then Worker Bee had to come out to help us draw the line (we couldn't hold the tape measure and draw at the same time) and he connected all those marks and we had a line going down the middle of the floor.  Hope that all makes sense.
2.  I knew I wanted to paint these on the diagonal so we placed the first one with the top and bottom point centered on that line.  I continued following that line down the center of the floor. 
(Baby Bee and I both loved how imperfect it looked but we still had the brightness on the floor we were looking for.)

 3.  I thought about drawing lines across, but we decided to free hand it instead.  So I then stamped my square sponge all the way across the back, making sure the top point was right up next to the wall and that the side points lined up too.

 4.  Then we proceeded to move along matching point to point.  
 5.  The edges were a bit of a problem.  I didn't want to cut the sponge in half yet to do those so I tried making them right up against the edge of the wall with some cardboard protecting the white wall.  They turned out sort of okay, but not that great really.  They were of the squint variety - you know - you squint at it and it looks doggone good but quit squinting and you see how it didn't work.  So we decided to finish the rest of the floor, let it dry and then cut the sponge to finish. (More on that in a bit.)


 6.  It's getting hot and we're getting lazy so we decided that the floor looked perfectly fine without it going all the way to the edge of the walls.  Look at the left side to get a better idea of what I mean and then look at the right side to see those messy half triangles.  So I think we're going to just go in and paint back over the 4 half triangles in our white base coat and be done with it.  (Unless I hear a howl of protests from you guys - be sure to let me know if you think we really should go all the way to the edge - but I might not listen anyway 'cause it's hot and it's summer and we want this done!)
7.  Voila!  Red and white checkerboard floor.  Took about 1 hour for the first base coat (cause it needed three coats of the white), about 15 minutes to prep the materials, and about 30-45 minutes to paint the floor (that's total time - we had to take a break to let a bit of paint dry before we could do the section right up by the door).  Oh yes, better add 15 more minutes for base coat touch ups (especially since I - yes me, not Baby Bee - stepped in wet paint and there are partial footprints on that floor too).

Still don't have fabric - didn't have a chance to get any in the big city - but we'll be back up there tomorrow.  
Please click here if you want to see some of the other things we've been working on for our clubhouse!

Thanks for buzzing along with us as we work on this project.  Can't wait to have it done.  I think we'll be done with all the big projects by 4th of July and then it will just be some sewing projects to finish it off.

It sure was a treat to see you today!
(I'm making a dark chocolate iced mocha to enjoy this afternoon - care to join me?)


P.S. Linking up to
Cedar Hill Ranch
for
and
Rednesday over at It's a Very Cherry World!




26 comments:

  1. I think it is adorable. I want a playhouse....for me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The floor looks great!!! Love the red!! Well done!!

    chris

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is really cute! I love the floor. Can't wait to see the whole finished thing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The floor is so cute! You girls did a great job! Thank you for the lesson, I know I'll want to do this some time down the road.
    Hope you have time for an ICED latte today!!
    hehe Erica :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That iced mocha sounds great right now. We're having a heat wave. Was 110 here 2 days ago! So unusual. Your checked floor is da bomb!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Way too cute. Love the checkerboard floor.
    darling.
    blessing to you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The little house is going to be adorable! I love the floor and all the decor you are going to use. I can't wait to see it finished!
    Hugs,
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can't imagine doing that in the heat of summer! The floor looks terrific, and I can already tell that this little clubhouse is going to be packed full of charm!

    ReplyDelete
  9. a great tutorial with excellent outcome..love the "wrong side" funny!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a fun floor, I like your spirit of adventure! =)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Such a creative idea for the checkerboard! Love it!! What a fun space you are going to have!! A dark chocolate mocha? Oh my, doesn't that sounds yummy! Happy Monday! xo Heather

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a cute idea for decorating flooring.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awesomeblossom...this looks SO good! Love it! I like checkered floors, and the red and white are cheery. Thx for buzzing by my blog. Happy & safe 4th to you and yours :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I would have loved to have a cool clubhouse like this growing up, mine were all made from cardboard boxes! Thank you for visiting my blog, and yes I live in Turlock. I love it here. We live in an old farm house that sits right in the middle of town! Have a wonderful 4th of July!
    Marcia

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think you are an absolute genius!! I am LOVING the clubhouse floor -- can't wait to see all the fun things you've been working on finally in there! BTW, I think you are a pretty fun Mom :)

    Are you working on your fair entries yet? Happy 4th!

    Blessings!
    Gail
    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  16. It looks fabulous! What a wonderful way to do the floor... I would have probably tried to tape off 8 million squares only to realize you can't do it all in one "sitting" with tape :/ The sponge idea is fabulous! I'm anxious to see the finished project... and when you get done perhaps with all that time on your hands you could head up this way... I've got a project or twenty you and Baby Bee could help with :)

    ~Chris

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh my goodness, I LOVE the checkerboard floor. I was going to paint the floor in my new studio, but since it was kinda echoey I opted for some carpeting. Now I'm kinda wishing I had painted it since your's is so cute!
    Thanks so much for the very nice comment. Knowing others are happy for me really makes it so much better. I appreciate it!!
    Hugs,
    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  18. Love it! And I love how you did it!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks great! The previous owner of our house did something like that with a rectangular sponge on the cement floor and steps of the patio....and it looked like bricks!
    Til someone working on the house powerwashed most of it off.....
    Now I plan to clean, stain and seal the cement floor.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Love your floor, so darling! We've been lucky, we're near the coast and the cloud cover has kept the heat away so far. Hope you guys had plenty of lemonade to get you through.

    Happy 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  21. This little clubhouse is going to be too cute! I love the floor and I love that the worker bees were able to get in on the fun! Wish I had that dark chocolate iced mocha about now! Happy 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love your floor. The footprints in the paint is what makes it special. Happy 4th of July.
    Hugs
    donna

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love it, you did a great job and it looks super! Happy 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  24. thanks for the tutorial...I might just have to try it. It looks wonderful.
    gail

    ReplyDelete
  25. Love how you did that checkerboard! The sponge leaves a great impression - almost worn looking. Can't wait to see the finished club house. Love the fabrics that you picked. It is gonna be so cute! Very Cath Kidson!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for buzzing by and taking time to leave me a little note. I always enjoy hearing from my friends.