Lesson #3
Instructor: Melissa Darnell
Email Melissa with marble floor
questions: [email protected]
Carpeting
Materials/Tools Needed:
1. Today's lesson is actually
rather simple to do. Begin by making a template of the floor in the room
you are decorating. This is most easily done by cutting a piece of
newspaper slightly larger than the room, then laying it into the room.
Use either your fingernail or a pencil to make creases in the newspaper along
the base of each wall. Then remove the newspaper from the room and trim
off the extra newspaper along the creases for a perfect template.
2. Lay
your template over the wrong side (plain cloth side) of a piece of velvet or
velveteen material.
3. Use a marker to trace
around the template onto the material, then set the
template aside.
4. Cut the material along the
lines you just traced, then immediately apply a thin bead of glue along the cut
edges to prevent them from fraying.
5. Apply a coat of glue across
the wrong side of the material, then press it onto the
posterboard or cardstock. Make sure to smooth
the material out to remove any bubbles, but try not to stretch the
material. Also try not to get any glue on the top side of the material or
it will leave a residue that will be hard to get out later on. Let the
glue dry.
6. Cut the posterboard
or cardstock along the edges of the material.
7. You can then either glue
the flooring into your room (posterboard side down)
for a permanent carpeted floor or use double-sided tape on the posterboard to temporarily attach it to your room's floor.
8. Carpeting looks extra nice
if you finish it off with baseboards of some type along the base of each
wall. You can make these using either thick pressed cardboard that has
been painted and then glued into place on the walls, wooden popsicle sticks
with their rounded ends cut off (be sure to sand the top side of the sticks
along the cut edges before painting them to ensure smooth baseboards), or you
can even use the plastic binders used on plastic folders. Look for
the type of folder that has a long plastic spine which slides on over the
folded part of the folder. You can then cut this plastic spine in half
lengthwise to make two long lengths of baseboard. To install it, use hot
glue on the inside of the plastic spine, then glue it to the bottom of the
walls with the folded edge up (this makes a nicely realistic "ledge"
like many thick baseboards have in real life!).
Lesson #4
Instructor: Melissa Darnell
Email Melissa with marble floor
questions: [email protected]
Real Wood Flooring
Materials/Tools Needed:
wooden popsicle sticks
· Dremel or small saw
· wood stain
· clear acrylic seal and
disposable foam brush
· newspaper
· pencil
· scissors
· wood glue
· fine grit sandpaper
· paper towels
1. Begin by making a newspaper template of your room. To do this, cut a piece of the newspaper to larger than the size of your room, insert it into the room, press it down onto the floor, hold it in position with one hand, and with the other hand make sharp creases along the base of each wall in the room. Then cut away the extra newspaper along the creases you made.
2. At this point, it’s time to decide which way you want your floorboards to run. To make a narrow room seem wider, run the floorboards horizontally. For a room without much depth, you’d want to run the floorboards vertically. Lay your newspaper template over your sheet of posterboard. Use a pencil to trace around the template. Remove the template.
3. Now use your cutting tool to cut the floor shape out.
4. Next use your Dremel or other cutting tool to cut off all the rounded ends of the popsicle sticks. Sand the cut edges smooth.
5. Now use the wood glue to glue the sticks to the posterboard in a staggered pattern. For now, don't worry about any ends that overhang off the edge of the posterboard. Cover the entire floor with the popsicle sticks and let the glue dry. Since wood can warp, it's a good idea to lay a heavy book over the top of the sticks while the glue dries to help hold them flat.
6. Now use your cutting tool to cut off any sticks that hang out over the edge of the posterboard. If needed, you can use a pencil to mark off where to make each cut on the sticks, then remove the sticks one at a time, cut off the extra wood, and glue the stick back in place. Doing this process for each stick one at a time will help you to remember which half of the stick to keep and which to discard, plus where each stick is to be reglued to the posterboard.
7. Finish the illusion of floorboards by drawing two small dots at the end of each floorboard to simulate nail heads.
8. Now it’s time to stain your floor. First position your floor over a work surface that has been well covered with newspaper. Then use the sponge brush to quickly brush on stain over the entire floor. Use the paper towels to rub off the excess stain, then let it dry.
9. Once your floor is dry, you can apply polish or floor seal over its surface. Apply several thin layers (letting each layer dry before applying the next one) until you’ve achieved the level of gloss that you want. Then let the final layer dry completely.
10. To install your new wood floor, test fit it in the room. If needed, sand off any areas to ensure a perfect fit. Then apply a generous amount of wood glue to the plain side of the floor, insert it into your room decorative side up, and press into place for a permanent wood floor. Or you can use double-sided sticky tape to temporarily attach the posterboard side of the floor to the floor in your room if you think you might like to change the flooring at a later date.
At this point, your new wood floor is done and your room is ready for wallpapering. Once your wallpapering is done, a nice finishing touch would be to add baseboards along the base of each wall to hide the edges of the flooring.