Hallway

I know I've mentioned here and there about how much I would LOVE to have more property where I could take in and care for rescued farm animals. Truth is, as much as our family plans on and would like for this to happen, it will be a while before we're able to make a move like that.

In the mean time, we've decided (actually I decide, usually spur of the moment, and late at night) to make small changes along our way while we are in our home. For example, like ripping out the hallway carpet at 10pm several months ago. I knew we had wood floors underneath, I just didn't know what kind of wood and what condition. After spending the entire night ripping out and cleaning up the who-knows-how-old carpet, carpet padding, 60 or 70 year old cardboard/ sheep fiber-type glued on padding, we found fir flooring underneath. IT WAS DISGUSTING! There was so much dirt, muck and grim on that wood, I was horrified to know we had been living with and breathing it in our home for these many years. It felt so good to get it all out. We still have two rooms to go.

The wood seems to be some sort of sub flooring and needs to be sanded and finished. Until that happens, we chose to paint the floor white. Our hallway is a small and dark place and needed some lightening up, so white was a good decision. Although dirt and dust are a lot more visible than they were on the carpet, I'm confident in our decision to make our home more healthy.

We ventured down to EcoHaus in Seattle, which I highly recommend. We chose to use paints by American Pride, for several reasons. Zero VOC's for starters. We started with one layer of primer. For the top coat, I mixed a 50/50 ration of Interior Eggshell Pastel, in "Grace's Smile" by American Pride and Vermont Natural Wood Finish, in semi-gloss. After living with the finished floors for several months now, I plan to add one last coat of the Vermont Natural Finish.