Tuesday, September 3, 2013

New Floors.

When we found out in June that we'd be moving back to Salt Lake City, we pondered if we wanted to attempt living in our loft as a family of three. After we decided loft-living was for us, we started making a list of things we'd need to change to make it functional to live there. First thing on our list? Refinishing our floors.

Prior to the refinishing, our floors (see here) were covered in a dark brown acrylic-type of concrete sealant that sort of resembled marble. But it chipped easily, the color wore off in high traffic areas, and because of the clear coat they applied (or didn't apply), it never appeared clean. Always dark, dingy and flat.

Our initial plan for refinishing our floors was to grind off the acrylic layer and take them back to the original concrete. We met with a company willing to do the job but he was apprehensive as to what he would find under the acrylic as the building and much of its parts are over a hundred years old. Taking his apprehension into consideration, our interior designer called the contractor who gutted the building to convert it to lofts and asked him what he thought of our plan to take our floors back to the original concrete.

And he said under no circumstance should we do it.

Because we live on the top floor of the original building and then, during the renovation, the roof was taken off to add the penthouses above us, our concrete floors were exposed to the elements for almost a year as they finished building the 6th and 7th floors. So if we were to grind off the acrylic to reveal the original concrete, we could possibly end up with a crumbly and cracked mess which would be almost impossible to seal.

So we went with our second plan which was much less labor-intensive and significantly cheaper.

To get that concrete look we sought, they applied a few thin layers of a concrete-like mixture over our brown acrylic floors and then sealed it with a semi-gloss sealant. It took ten days longer than we were originally told it would take to finish the project but we love how the floors turned out so who cares.

One small problem, though. Our washing machine got stolen in the process.

I'll keep this short. Lee moved our appliances out of our loft to various secure places in the building such as our patio and the infrequently used common area outside our door while the guys did the refinishing. But then the project was delayed a bunch of days so Lee had to fly back to Boston and our appliances sat unattended and out of our loft over a weekend. Because we were across the country packing up to move, our interior designer took it upon herself to get the appliances back into our loft the following Monday.

And then, the day before we got on a plane to move here, she called us to say she couldn't find our washing machine. Who knows who took it but who cares. We've moved on. A new washing machine will arrive next Wednesday.

What a welcome home, right?

Next project? Paint. Or do you like the blue walls?!

 

6 comments:

  1. Normally, I would say that a re-paint is in order, but your walls match your cabinets fabulously. I love the industry-ness of your loft. And I'm totally envious of your gusto to move back in with a toddler. That stinks about your washer. When something gets stolen, I always try to quell my anger hoping that whoever took it needed it more than I did. Leah R.

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  2. Agh, I still can't believe someone stole your washing machine! Glad that you're taking it all in stride. Your place looks BEAUTIFUL! I like the blue walls, but I'd be curious to hear what other colors you're considering...

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  3. I love the floors! They look great with your kitchen colors. I can't decide if I like the blue of the wall or not. Did you go knocking on everyone's doors asking where your washer was? Someone in the building has to know where it is!

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  4. WTF, stole a washing machine? That is ballsey. I like the blue paint, and I love the loft! Very cool.

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  5. I love your new floors, they look great!

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  6. I think the floors turned out great. So sorry someone stole your washer. I'll come by and knock on everyone's door and ask them if I can check out their washer... we'll find it! :(

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