Lofty expectations: The Before Shots (A PARA Paints Blog Crew project)

You could say that our loft makeover has been a work in progress for 12 years. When we moved into our house in 2001, it was an amazing but unfinished 500 sq ft empty space above the main floor. Electrical was roughed in, drywall was mudded & sanded, subfloor was installed… it was the one major undertaking that I wanted to start on right away. But stubborn hubby insisted that we wait till the mortgage was paid off. He’s very pragmatic and annoying that way ;-) I would have gone ahead and started working on it anyway, but there was one little obstacle in my way – no stairs.

See that rectangular opening in the ceiling? That opening taunted me for five years. I walked by it every day, and it laughed at me and mocked me and wouldn’t let me go through it. Mean hole!

I did go up into the loft a couple of times, after I perfected my levitation skills ;-) No, actually, it required putting a long extension ladder on a basement step and climbing up the ladder and through the hole. Not fun if you’re like me and don’t like heights.

This is what the naked loft looked like:

Totally sweet space – what a bummer that we couldn’t use it!

And then the magical day arrived in 2007: Stair day! Some guys showed up at our house with the staircase all made and ready to install. It was a surprisingly easy and fast job. Well, it looked easy to me, anyway – I’m sure carrying that sucker and then putting it into place wasn’t a whole lotta fun ;-) The stair guys must’ve thought I was loony, the way I was going on and on about how excited it all was!

Weeeeehooooo!!!! The staircase is in!!!!

Next came painting the loft (BM Stone House, but that was destined to change – more on that a little further down). Given the fact that the ceiling is vaulted and the big gaping hole was still there and that I’m a klutz, we hired a painter friend to paint it for us.

Hubby and I installed the floor over the Christmas holidays in 2007. It’s heritage grade walnut in 4” wide planks and random lengths. The hardest part was figuring out the layout of the planks. Because of the variety in grain and lengths, we had to be sure to spread them out equally. It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle – but with a great big power floor nailer! Here’s the unfinished floor:

After we installed the walnut, Luigi the flooring guy sanded the floor. The planks had micro-bevels that created small grooves. We wanted the grooves removed so the floor would be smooth. Poor Luigi had a LOT of sanding to do. He said he’ll never do anything like it again!

The walnut after being sanded and finished in a clear varathane to bring out the natural colour and grain:

Luigi also stained the oak staircase:

Looking down the stairs from the loft:

And now the reason why the wall colour needed to be changed… we bought a super-comfy sectional a year after the walls were painted. It’s the Charles by Silva. He came from the manufacturer’s warehouse in Toronto. I think whoever ordered him decided they didn’t like the fabric, so he became a reject. I just had to give him a new home :-)

Charles is a handsome guy, but with the tan walls and brown floor, the whole room was just too much of the same colour family. And as it turns out, Charles the Reject inspired the entire new colour scheme for the loft :-) I started with PARA Paints Designer Indulgence – a pretty teal, not too dark but not too light.

 Click here to read about the original plan.

And then after some colour suggestions from Kelly Berg at Story & Space and Dawna Jones at Dawna Jones Design, I moved towards darker blues.

Click here to read about the modified plan.

So what colour did I choose? Well, I’m going to leave you hanging! Come back tomorrow to find out… :-)

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