The "After" and another "Before and After"

Remember how the stairs looked before I pulled the carpet up and refinished them?  Well, here is how they look now! 

I am so pleased with the results!  (By the way, I'll have to tell you about the round black finial on the newel post.  I'll save that for another day. :)    I was so happy, that I did the stairs to the basement too!

Now, the same day I ripped up the carpet on the stairs, I decided to keep on going and rip it off the upstairs landing also!  The only problem was, there was the ugly plywood subfloor underneath the carpet there, instead of beautiful pine.  I decided I would make the plywood work somehow, -and if it didn't work, I was sure it would be better than the old white (ish) carpet that was there.  I did some research on painting subfloors and people are soooo divided on the subject.  Some people said it would look awful, while others said they had painted all of their subfloors!  Here is what mine looked like after I pulled the carpet up...

After pulling out all of the nails and staples, I swept.  Then I filled in the seams and holes (and gouges) with would filler.  After it dried, I sanded and swept again.  I swept a lot.  I primed the entire surface with a good primer (recommended by the home depot guy).  Then I painted the floors the same "simply white" pottery barn color from Benjamin Moore that I used on the walls  (to give an old cottage wood plank floor look). I used a heavy duty PORCH  paint.  I did a couple of coats, being sure to sweep well inbetween each coat.  Finally I put a couple coats of polyeurethane on (the oil based made the paint turn yellow and I had to sand and paint again.  I would recommend a water based polyeurethane if you paint the floor white). 

 I like it and I'm glad I did it.  However, I don't recommend it in high traffic areas with shoes (especially if you paint white.  If you painted a dark color I think it would work great.)  It is durable, but shows scuffs, so occasionally I have to wipe it down with soft scrub.  I would do it again, but probably not throughout the house-unless I did a darker color.  I had to buy new wood transition pieces and paint them white to place where the plywood meets the carpets in the bedrooms.

click to enlarge

Guess where the area rug came from?  Walmart!!!  Can you believe it?  It's a "Better Homes and Gardens" one.