You will find out, if you read my blog for very long, that MPH (yes, my hubby's real initials) and I are notorious for buying old houses, remodeling a lot, and then selling them. Actually, we did that 4 times in the last two years. We have never called ourselves 'house flippers' but I guess we could.  

Last October we bought a house built in 1957 that was in foreclosure.  To say that it needed a little work would be a gross understatement.  So we lived in the unfinished basement while we remodeled the top ground level.

 Just to let you know, MPH is semi-retired and can do all of the electrical and plumbing himself.  He is a pretty handy guy to have around.  We didn't have to hire any professional help at all.

But the real reason for this blog is to tell you about my sewing room in the basement.  It had been a small bedroom that was just barely a finished room, and finished very badly.

So after we gutted that room and rebuilt it the way I wanted, the floor still had to be re-done.  At that point I told MPH that it was going to be MY project, that I didn't want his help.  After he put his nose back in joint he let me have it.

I had been researching alternative floor treatments and came across a picture on Pinterest of a floor that had been covered with paper.  If you look at the blog called "Tater Tots and Jello" you can see her pictures.  I took a little different direction but used the same procedure.

So here goes!!  My first tutorial!!

I had absolutely nothing to lose.  This old floor had been used and abused.  It was old asbestos tile and had to be totally sealed or totally removed.  I did check with a contractor about the safety issues and cost. Sealing it was cheaper and very safe.  

These are the materials I used:  All purpose white glue, water, brown paper.  But as you can see, my paper looks like wrapping paper.  It was, but it was craft paper with a design!   I really liked the little vine design and I got it for $1.00 a roll at the dollar Store!!  I bought 12 rolls.  I bought the glue at Ace hardware for $18.00, and used about two-thirds of it.  I also used Polyurethane, pictured further down.

First I tore the paper into pieces.  I tore it into roughly 8-10 inch pieces.  I separated the pieces with straight edges to use around the walls, then I crushed each piece of paper slightly.

I mixed the glue and water 1-1 in the bucket and stirred well.  Some sites say to soak the paper in the glue mixture, but that didn't work for me, probably because it was a lighter weight craft paper.  I had better luck rubbing the mixture very generously to each side of the paper. 

I immediately placed the paper on the floor, over-lapping the edges and smoothing it flat.  I started in a corner and worked both ways.  Make sure you don't paper yourself into a corner!!  As the Poly dries it will look wrinkled but it will flatten out.  Don't worry.

Here is the floor with half of the poly on.  I really love the way it is turning out.  I put on 4 coats of polyurethane with a foam roller, letting each coat dry overnight before applying another.

In the end, I still love the floor, BUT....
I wish I had paid more attention to the Poly specifics.  It has yellowed considerably and I didn't want that.  So if that is an issue for you, you might want to look more carefully at the label than I did.    I will use this technique again.  I'm thinking on my stairs...

And there it is... my first tutorial.   Let me know what you think.  There will be more to come!!