I am floored.

 

The perfectly beautiful, totally imperfect ship lap flooring

 We are definitely movin' on up, not to the East side but to the North. The second story of our grain bin house is being laid as I blog and it feels wonderful; as if-maybe-we'll be able to move in here before the first Illinois blizzard hits. We've given up the idea that we will be in before the first frost, unless of course first frost is delayed past its usual date of Oct 15 and extended to Nov. 15-but we're OK with that. It's easy to be OK with delays when the weather is sweet and the camper is not freezing. We'll see how positive our attitude remains when we have to break ice out of our coffee cups in the early am.

Our second floor is being built with reclaimed wood just like our floor beams and joists were. At a cost of roughly $500 we brought home Shiplap Flooring  from who knows where; old barns, old homes, old chicken coops even, through our "supplier" just down the road from us.  Each piece of wood is unique in its composition, size, amount of nail/screw damage etc. I'm painting the underneath portion of each board a flat white for deeply considered reasons; it was the cheapest at the hardware store.



To wash or not to wash that is the question

I am hopeful the flat of the white will pose a fine juxtaposition to the shimmer of the floor joists polyurethane. ("Juxtaposition" in a grain bin house--how pompass am I?)

Painting them proved a challenge as many were sporting decades of dirt. The first few boards I cleaned with a dry wire brush and then gave them two coats of paint. Then I got the bright idea that I should wash the boards. What a mistake. The more I washed the more dirt seemed to just ooze up through the grains. When I thought the boards were dry enough to paint after washing ...I did so but they held on to the water more than I thought and the dirt then melded in with the paint leaving rusty colored streaks. So those boards had to dry another few days and get another coat of paint.




Against the wall; the floor boards that were washed, then painted, a big mess.
 

I have to keep reminding myself, this is a recycled home with recycled materials. Nothing will or should look perfect.

It was indeed exciting to see Keith screw in the first floorboard. With son Jason helping to cut boards to length and then lift them up through the joists, it didn't take long to get about a third of the floor completed.


The first few boards of the second floor going down



Help from above...always good



View of ship lap floor boards from the first floor

Even more thrilling was walking up the steps, curved ones to the left of the landing, straight ones to the right and onto the actual second floor. It is now easier to visualize how the three small rooms up there might look. We've already decided to make our own bedroom smaller and the library area bigger.

We read more than we sleep.




Straight steps leading to the right of the landing




 

Curved steps to the left of the landing