DIY Paper Bag Floor: And So It Begins.....

From Erin's Pinterest Board @
http://pinterest.com/pin/49469295876914201/

About a year ago I learned of a low cost, attractive, easy-to-do-yourself floor treatment using paper bags or brown craft paper to cover the floor instead of gross carpeting or expensive tiles. I told my friend Erin (who you'll be seeing a lot of in these posts) about it as she owns her own home and can go wild with it. We found lots of great photos and instructions on line. The photo at the right was a great inspiration for us. The process is simple. You basically use a sticky substance to secure the ripped up paper bag to the floor and then coat it with polyurethane. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

We decided then and there to do one of her bedrooms. Two other friends, Norma and Sally, are also considering it. For months we talked about getting the floor done and were always sidetracked by life. Finally, we have put paper to floor and undertaken this great project.

Over the next few blog entries, I am going to post tips, instructions, descriptions and some of our process photos. I'll share our materials list, cost, experiences and eventually the final product. Today we got a lot done and by this time next week, I'll have some final photos and the next week you'll see the room with furniture all ready to go. The bulk of the work was done today and the rest just involves adding another coat of sealant and waiting for it to dry before the next. That is why it is going to be a whole week or more until it is completely done.

In brief, here are the 10 steps we took (or will take shortly):

1. Clean out the room- removing the old dust ridden, stained carpeting   DONE
2. Purchase all materials for the new floor    DONE
3. Prep the cement floor - clean and fill any holes     DONE
4. Sidetracked by painting the walls while waiting for the cement fill to dry     DONE
5. Prepare the paper bag materials     DONE
6. Apply polyurethane and ripped pieces of paper bag     DONE
7. Add layer with stain color
8. Add remaining coats (up to 7) of polyurethane
9. Wait to completely cure- one full week
10. Move all furniture back in and bask in the glory of a job well done.

Erin, the homeowner and very good friend has eluded to doing her bedroom next. Right now every muscle in my body aches from today's work so she best plan a great meal for me so that I will help again. The body can only take so many hours of sitting cross-legged on cement while painting on polyurethane.

The room we are doing is about 120 square feet. The floor is cement and she had already moved all the furniture and ripped out the awful carpeting. Erin is pictured here, removing the carpet tack strips from the cement. This managed to rip out chunks of cement which slowed down our progress just a bit. More in the next post....

Here is a Before shot of the room

Other posts:
Planning and Materials
What does it Cost?