I am going to show you how I lay a wood floor board by board.
Then I will explain how I painted the leopard print on the floor.
I make a pattern from a brown paper bag.
I've got the width, now I am getting the two little niches on either side of the door.
I've got the pattern.
I am trying to get the pattern in the room box.
You can also fit the finished floor into the room box by slipping it in through the top.
Here's my wood. My husband brings up scrap from his shop that will work for flooring.
I am going to use yellow wood glue to glue the wood to the brown paper.
I apply the glue to the paper.
I would spread the glue out so that you don't have the glue seeping up through the seams.
I have the main portion done and it's weighted down with books.
Now to do the two little short parts.
The floor is finished.
It's important to weight this down while it's drying.
I left my floor to dry for a couple of days.
The books are off.
This is my pattern.
I will cut off the extra using my scroll saw.
I sanded my floor using a block of wood and started with 100 grit sandpaper. I graduated up to 150 and ended with 220 grit sandpaper.
Wrapping the sandpaper around the wood block keeps your sanding even and level.
I've trimmed the floor.
The sanding is done. I started with 100 grit sandpaper and ended with 220 grit sandpaper.
If you have a palm sander that works very well, too. (That's in the shop and it's into the 90's today, I'm staying here and hand sanding this.)
I've stained the pine floor with Minwax Golden Pecan.
I think that looks good.
You can put on a satin or gloss finish right now and you're done.
It's in the room box.
I really like painted floors so I am going to try and paint a leopard print on this floor.
I looked up on-line for instructions on how to paint a leopard print.
Looks easy.
I am using craft paint. I have white, yellow ochre, a color called Moon Yellow, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and black.
My paints are old, so that Moon Yellow may not be available. I am using what I have, I did not match what the video suggested.
I am going to paint a rectangle 8 1/2" by 6 1/4" on my floor.
I cut out a piece of card stock to practice on.
You use the white, yellow ochre and the moon yellow first for the base.
I used a glazing medium to keep the paint wet so that I can blend the colors.
My paints are also old and I need to loosen them up a bit, too.
From the video I used a flat or Filbert brush and began with the yellow ochre. I picked up the white and then the moon yellow and blended their edges together. I repeated this pattern across the paper.
It should look a little stripey.
I really worked at getting this blended. I really didn't need to because when you get all of the spots on you can't tell that the background is gradated. If I were to do this again, I would show more gradation.
For the spots I used a 20/0 round brush.
Trying out different size spots and trying out a small Filbert brush for the spots.
I decided on the round brush.
The video said to use irregular shapes. Use two colors of dark brown, her two colors of dark brown were very close to each other.
Then you are supposed to outline the spots with black.
Don't outline all the way around all of the spots.
Then add some small spots in between with no outlining.
I'm committed.
I've taped off the floor. I would tape off the whole floor, paint has a way of getting places where you don't want it to go.
I then painted the rectangle white. You know how I am about painting and sanding until you have a smooth surface. I sanded this coat and painted again. I applied a third coat and sanded with 220 grit sandpaper.
(I sanded with 220 grit for all the coats.)
I painted my gradated yellow floor and let this dry.
I am painting my spots, alternating between the two browns.
After the spots are on I will outline with the black paint.
I used the glazing medium to keep the black flowing for me.
The spots are all done. I want a border of brown around the print.
I was afraid that the tape would lift off the acrylic paint so I sprayed a couple of coats of gloss Krylon. I get this at Walmart.
I measured a 1/8" and put on my tape and painted the border using the burnt umber color.
The tape did not lift off my paint!
I really like the floor!!
I sprayed a few coats of the gloss Krylon to get the floor nice and shiny.
I am glad I tried this out.
The attic is coming along. Maybe a few of you noticed that the outside corners were not finished. I neglected to mention that I will be putting corners on. The corners are made from card stock. This will look just like real siding when were done.
I am going to cut foam core to fit inside to room box for the wallpaper. I am going to wallpaper this foam core piece first. I will then glue the form core into the room box piece by piece. I've never done this. The only thing that I really need to do is to get good adhesion between the layers of the foam core.
I will run any electricity between the walls. This is my plan, we'll see how this goes over the course of the blog!
I have a light that I want to make for next time.
Have fun, Expand on it, Make it better,
Just Keep Making Minis!
TTUL Kris
