Not long ago, ugly office #2 looked like this. This is an above ground basement room.
Nasty nasty BIG popcorn ceiling, bad wood moldings with some strange beams on the ceiling, awful brown doors with dog holes clawed through some. Nasty all around. It became a great place to store my dream hardwood flooring. And stayed like this for about 2 years.
Then help arrived and lots of it. Leaky woodstove out, and wonderful new wiring. Ceiling was toast at this point. So...
Bless these wonderful folks' hearts forever. They virtually saved my life. You can read more on the renos of my home on my reno blog HERE. This was before Funky Junk time.
New potlights, drywall, new windows and gorgeous ceiling! And where are we today?
This is what lurks behind those doors in ugly office #1. I don't blame my dog for staying put. Not one bit. This area is an amazing space that got put on the back burner because my passion was working upstairs. And now, it's time to play with the down.
More Ikea madness. And in my defense, this heap of whatever derived from moving things around. But yet again, I needed a good shot so I could sell the desk.
Better. MUCH better. I feel I can breathe! But it's still got the swedish edge I'm attempting to lose.
BTW, these are fabulous desks. Fully adjustable legs, pretty white tops, just not the ultimate style I'm attempting to achieve in these rooms.
One more look because I never see it like this! :) Ok, I'm good now.
Here's what's behind that desk. This is my work table for my signmaking equipment. It utilizes all that wonderful natural light that I love and is the home of many photoshoots you see here due to that amazing north facing window.
Nice little setup isn't it? Well, yeah, it is, except I needed a computer station big enough for 2 computers down here. So I'm trying out some new arrangements.
So after I gutted ugly office #1, I moved that big desk into office #2. But honestly? The desk arrangement ate up too much floor space, so it had to go sooner than later. I couldn't move.
So I spent some time dismanteling the works. That's what's wonderful about these desks. They collapse into nothingness in an instant.
All ready for a new owner!
And where does that leave me now? Ohhhh... it's not pretty.
I'm doing a trial run on a collapsable Costco table in front of that wonderful window. My ultimate plan will have a desk as wide as the glass. I vision 2 old white chippy doors covered in tempered glass, however we shall see what I can scrounge up.
But before that, trial time. It's gotta be functional first. That's my rule. So from Ikea to Costco we stand.
See my mattress spring bulletin board making a sneaky appearance? My first junk down there to help encourage and inspire me further! It's going to be a wonderful space one day.
And in other slightly sad news, my hope had been to remove this lovely like new teal carpet and just go cement. Yes, really. However upon pulling it back, there's some spongy goop stuck to it everywhere. Scraping will not cut it. So I'm stuck with this carpet, another carpet, or laminate I presume. I don't like any of those options. I don't even think I could tile it at this point. No budget for a new floor, so I'm stuck for now. Any ideas?
So, wonderful new creations are coming soon! But I must get to that year end first... I'm only up to June and my bookkeeper is coming Saturday! And we're out of groceries. And I need my hair done. And I need to work. Breathe... just breathe...
So, I'm leaning on you! I'd love some stylin' ideas on how you vision this room to turn out, knowing my style. I'm all ears!
I'l be linking up to Songbird's Gitter Done. Link party starts Friday.
Because this link party is now weekly, it's helping to keep me motivated to push forward. Whew... I'll keep trying!
And SNS's What is it? junk linkup starts Fri! See ya then!
Because this link party is now weekly, it's helping to keep me motivated to push forward. Whew... I'll keep trying!
And SNS's What is it? junk linkup starts Fri! See ya then!
OMG...my comment accidently deleted! ARGH You are making great strides. Love the plant, and it wasnt an ugly office..just needed some TLC. Go with your gut since you are the QUEEN of all-things-fabulous! For flooring- down the road...try home depot or lowes sales for beige berber carpet-great for home ofc & families w/pets! in the meantime...just throw down some braided circular rugs to cover the teal : ) Wonderfully progressing Ms Funky Junk-u r our hero
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see your new space. Two chippy doors would look great, but maybe think beyond the predictable sawhorses ... (sorry, no ideas come to mind). And did you try goop be gone on that sticky stuff...there's got to be something on the market to get rid of it! And, I know there's some cool techniques you can do with concrete.
ReplyDeleteHey, visit my blog...I have a call for help, too! And, I love your style...all about using what you have.
I too have a couple vinyl cutters, many many rolls of vinyl, transfer tape etc for my business. All put in a big UNFINISHED room in my basement. Very functional. Very ugly. Look forward to seeing how you make it pretty! I have ideas for mine - just need to finish the major reno in the main living space first ;) I'm currently buried in dry wall dust.
ReplyDeleteAn ugly floor's best friend: an area rug (or several). Believe me, I know. My ugly floors thank me every day. ;-)
ReplyDelete#3 Single, I can so relate! For the shelving, I'm debating on more shelving like I have in my blog office with extenders rising to the ceiling. At least you can do what you desire to the pine wood which is cool. The costing would be just over $100 so not too bad for the amount you get. And fully adjustable too.
ReplyDeleteDonna
For the floor - what about those tiles that they use in schools? They are very inexpensive and come in every imaginable color. They are very easy to cut and lay down.
ReplyDeleteMan...never, in a million years, would I try to give one ounce of advice on what to do with a room to the QUEEN OF JUNK-PRETTY.
ReplyDeleteIt is gonna be so awesome when you finish it. I love the ceiling..(loved the olden stove, but...) and that teal floor wouldn't bother me a bit. If you come across area rugs cheap at thrift stores, they would look super, I think.
GOOD LUCK...and can't wait to see it all.
yep. you've got some work to do down there.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be fabulous.
For sure!
I think I linked this up at one point or another to one of your parties :)
ReplyDeletehttp://quarryorchard.blogspot.com/2010/12/plywood-to-plank-flooring-tutorial.html
We turned plywood into stained plank flooring. You could do something similar, but I envision something like your stairs when I think of it in your house :)! Good plywood (not chipboard) has a lot of potential and it is pretty cheap!
Just my 2 cents :)
Well, I'd go and talk to someone at the hardware store. Maybe they would know if you could use something to get that glue off.
ReplyDeleteWhen we pulled our carpet up, there was some of that, we just scraped it off with a putty/chisel knife. We needed the floors as even as possible before putting the wood flooring in.
I wish you sucess!
Have you ever played around with self leveling cement ? Idea: pour more cement on top of glue gunk, let dry / cure and then stain ??
ReplyDeleteLove your blog! Really loved the recent post with the photo of a bit of a mess and your comment that creative people are just messy! LOL! Do you want me to see what is there or what is GOING to be there ? Ha Ha.
~ Christie
My hair salon has plywood floors, painted black & poly'd - they're beautiful and have held up to heavy traffic for years - imagine this painted with diamond or checkerboard pattern. I LOVE decorative concrete floors...wonder if you could use a floor sander to get rid of the glue, cause no matter what you chose, you'd have to get rid of that (unless you re-carpet) right? Laminates get a bad rap sometimes-I have random-width on my family room slab floor-it's great and takes whatever you can dish out (so easy to clean too).
ReplyDeleteDonna,
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do it will be magic! Now get that paperwork done so you can dazzle us with your wonderful decorating skills!
I'd love to see a picture of the spongy goop under the carpet because I'm sure there is a way to remove it. We had some stuck on our concrete slab floor. It was actually carpet pad stuck to glue they used to keep the carpet pad down. We got it up and then painted the concrete floors. It was easy. I did a tutorial for it.
ReplyDeleteoh and forgot to mention I love the bed springs and the cute little red clock on the wall. The doors sound like a great idea for a desk. We have an old door we are going to make into a dining room table.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to see the basement coming along. Those are some great spaces with loads of potential. Why don't you visit a carpet store and see what remnants they have? You might be able to find something that has a natural/sisal sort of look to it. I can see that working with your style.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be one stylin' office when you're done! For the floor, I agree with either trying goo be gone or real plywood cut into planks, would be fabulously rustic!
ReplyDeleteI love your Blog office, you can't beat that shelving. You have such beautiful light for a basement office.
ReplyDeleteJo
Well I have a novel approach! Until you can do something permanent with the floor. Paint the carpet...I had a faux berber in my guest room and couldn't afford to do anything about it. So I took gessoe and a long handled roller and went to town. It took the gesso really well and it looked great!! Kind of a vintage berber look!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway...just a thought!!
Have fun...you have a really cool space to work with for sure.
Hugs
SueAnn
Hi there, You are pushing yourself too hard sometimes. Take a break and just sit in the space and invision how you want it to look. Research your ideas as to their workability in your space. Personally I like the idea of an old door with the knob removed for the opening for wiring to the computers. I was lucky to find one for $10. One side is the natural wood and the other side was painted white. Oh the patina is awesome. I intend to cover it with plexiglass due to the panels in the door. As for the floor, I would suggest doing a 3' section at a time and get the carpet out as you will not be satisfied leaving it in there it seems. Work out your agressions on that glue with the wide plaster spreader as you pull up on the carpet. If that doesn't work, I would suggest a work get together with the promise of a good meal afterward. Men love that. (the meal that is)You are so awesome at making things work I feel like you will come up with a solution very soon. Best Wishes for a done room.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see you paint the carpet. (maybe with some type of design or stencil) I've never tried it..you go first.
ReplyDeleteI love this quote since I just about 'live' at Costco "It's gotta be functional first. That's my rule. So from Ikea to Costco we stand" ... and I firmly believe that function comes first. So this statement might sound mean, but I think you're spoiled if you think you have to get rid of that carpet! It doesn't even look teal to me, looks more gray - very neutral. Maybe find a seagrass rug or runner to use somewhere, the colors would complement and maybe you'd notice the seagrass and not the other.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm going to tell you that I used to sell carpet back in the beginning phases of my business. Afraid that's common practice to glue down the carpet - the carpet probably even has the rubber pad attached, right? So when you rip it off - the rubber pad is going to stick to the glue and you'll have to rip really hard. My Dad and a couple of my kids and I helped my parents get their glue strips (with rubber pad stuck on) off by using a heavy duty and sharp metal garden shovel and we SCRAPED. We had a trash bag or can nearby and a shop vac for the dust and my Mom had the broom and a dust pan. It's really not too much different than what my son and I did to the driveway today when the packed down snow from the tire tracks then got snowed on again and then it turned to sleet & rain on top of that yesterday - then it decided to freeze overnight... so we had to use a combination of tools. Trial and error and that's what I recommend you do if you decide to go through with ripping it out. Probably scraping with that shovel though and you might have to give it some leverage by pushing it with your foot while scraping.
Good luck! Love your big picture window on level with the ground and that pretty view of your landscape - I'm SOOOOO jealous - I have no windows in my basement workroom :( But happy for you!
Michelle
www.newengland-style.com
First off, unless you've tweaked the saturation on your photos, I don't think that teal blue carpet is at all unattractive. Adds a nice bit of color, I think (and I don't like carpet). However, I LOVE the idea of exposed concrete. You can get that glue off. Our flooring guys used a tool (looked like a broom handle with a horizontal scraper on the end) and went to down. It was no easy task but it came off. They also used a hair dryer to get some of the really stuck on stuff loose. If you definitely don't want to go that route, how about cutting your own plywood planks? You can even "crate them up." Whatever you decide, you'll pull it off!
ReplyDeleteSo much potential! Love the big window. Sounds like you've gotten a lot of advice on how to get the carpet up. I've got a clean, but very uneven concrete floor in my some day craft room. I can't wait to see what you do with yours!
ReplyDeleteWe have done a couple of rooms in our home. Here's the easiest, simplest way to remove the glue. Rent a floor buffer from Home Depot or Lowes - buy several of the pads (they can show you which ones) and a bag of sand. Sprinkle the sand down and then go over it with the buffer. VERY easy and quick. I'm not sure of the dimensions of your area however you could probably get it done in just an hour or two. The first couple of pads you will go through quickly but then they go a little further. We then stained our floors with concrete stain and then sealed. I get so many compliments on them. If you try this, please let me know how it works for you. Good luck!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Donna! I asked my husband about your problem, since he is a remodeling contractor, and he thought maybe a vinyl scraper would work. It has a blade that goes back and forth. You could probably rent one at Home Depot or something. Otherwise...I don't know...maybe you could sand it off with a wood floor sander?! My basement has a floating wood floor, not laminate, that is put down over a pad and then the pieces fit together like tongue and groove. I really like it, but that is mostly because I'm not much of a carpet person. I'll be interested to see what you end up doing. Good luck :)
ReplyDeleteWell, since you are the queen of "fixin' up a room", not sure why you'd want my advice...but I absolutely LOVE the old doors with glass idea. It'd be Perfect in there! Maybe a sisal rug for the room? You will make it look wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteHey, I loved the old stove, too, just sayin :)
Becky C
We re-did a wood floor that had gunky glue on it. We used a heat gun and it scraped right up. We had started the project in the summer and it was scraping up. Then as the weather got cooler, it got harder and harder, so we just heated it back up.
ReplyDeleteWe had the black gunk on our concrete basement floors too. First we scraped it. They have shovel like scraper tools at Home Depot. Then my husband used our regular sander and sanded the rest off. Sanding does create a mess. Then we used concrete paint and painted the floors chocolate brown. We only used one coat and I will say that it does scratch easily - especially with rolling office chairs. Maybe we should have done two coats. A throw rug helps and I tell myself at least it is clean and the scratches add patina!
ReplyDeleteI have considered painting my berber carpet, but that's just it, considered. Then when the paint would wear, it would just look, you know... worn. And with your painting ability, you could even come up with some awesome design! I was just considering a solid color!
ReplyDeleteWe'll be waiting!
You sure have a lot of neat spaces down there that you have been hiding from us! I'm pretty sure that goop can up up too. The concrete would look very cool. But did you say it gets cold down there? That would make it more cold. I like the carpet tiles that you just lay down and you can make patterns if you want. Plus you just pull one up if it gets stained. FLOR makes some but you can find them other places too. I like the old door idea.
ReplyDeleteI know you are more of wood and iron kind of girl. But soften and warm up that desk by making drape for it. Part grain sack, part drop cloth type for you.
ReplyDeleteMy comment does not seem to have appeared. If this is a duplication, my apologies.
ReplyDeleteIf you dislike the carpet, you might be able to paint a design on it as a temporary fix. I know there are spray paints for fabric, don't know how they would be if used on synthetics. I was thinking like Cathy, checkerboard. And I agree with others that whatever your solution, it will be eye-popping good.
Desks drive me crazy! So I go to the local Habitat Restore and buy two hollow core panel doors, on wide, and one not so much, and put them on top of a couple wire/adjustable book shelves....not fancy, but infintily workable, and cheap...smiles.
ReplyDeleteCement floors!!! My very talented friend put cement floors in her basment and then did that acid etching technique thing on it (need REAL breathing mask etc for this stuff). It is beyond stunning!!! Get a sander and sand the crud away...if you need advise i am sure she would chat to you...the two of you would be soul mates for sure!!! I'll try to get a photo to you fo the floors if you are interested. (She is in NVan)
ReplyDeleteHmmm, not sure what to suggest about the floors. I hate problem floors. We've never run into that situation before.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what you do to this area!
I don't think there is anything wrong with the carpet. It doesn't stand out in the pictures. I would forget it and Gitter done. When you have a lot of time and patience, you can address it then. You won't notice it much because you will be working there, and when the room is fully loaded, no one will notice it because they will be so busy looking at all your fascinating doo dads. It will just disappear. When you stumble upon some interesting area rugs for cheap, you can throw those down. Ann
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the floors. Maybe carpet is the best on your feet if your working in there a lot. I'm loving that huge window you have though. Maybe move your computer station off to that corner a bit to allow more table space in front of the window? I'm hopelessly indecisive. Whatever you do...I'm sure it will look great!
ReplyDeletedonna in the end it sounds as tho you will never be happy with the carpet. i saw about 5 ideas on how to get rid of the glue/pad stuff and that will be the biggest job on this project i think. i have cement in our breeseway and painted a flagstone really turned out great. my husband was so impressed he actually thought it was uneven ;). but it is cold so for you in the end i like the plywood plank idea. i know that with your talent it will be fabulous ;). i think carpet in a work/craft room is a bad idea, just me tho.
ReplyDeleteBrown paper bag the floor! It's perfectly funky junky! Google it! And then give me credit for the idea!
ReplyDeleteCheap fix: Big sisal rug to cover the blue carpet. Better fix: painted plank flooring from plywood. Another better fix: floating faux wood flooring. Love the idea of doors for your table. My hubby made a coffee table from one for me many years ago which I laid a large piece of glass over. Love it! Have fun with your redo - and can hardly wait for the reveal! :)
ReplyDeletexoxo laurie
Hi Donna,
ReplyDeleteYou might want to consider this tile underlayment...it might open up some possibilities for you....if not on this project, in the future.
http://www.schluter.com/6_1_ditra.aspx
Whew...this kinda overwhelmed me lol! I can only imagine how you are feeling. I scanned through some of the other comments. I really love #35's idea. I have seen this look before and it is fantastic. You can incorporate your rustic and iron elements that you love. I can't wait to see it.
ReplyDeleteIf you want the carpet done lift it any lay vinyl tile flooring, it comes in wood effect or tile effect (ironic eh!). I had this issue in my porch when I removed carpet, it was gunk galore. The tiles worked a treat. I got self adhesive ones too so it was peel, stick and on to the next one. Best thing is if the tiles need cutting - you can do it with a large scissors!! But I know whatever you do it will be stunning, I only recently came across your blog and am hooked - I actually read back through the entire thing :D
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are done reading suggestions...and maybe this has already been "put out there", but in regards to the placement of the work table you want to use, have you thought about putting it vertically against the window? That way you still get the light, but you can work both sides of the table? I did that with my kitchen table and it really creates a great place to be, you can look more than straight ahead that way too! Good luck with your project!!
ReplyDeleteShelly
Ooooooooooooooooooh, I have an idea for table legs!!!!! How about using old tire rims for the legs, I think that would be great!!!
ReplyDeleteFor the rug, I like the idea of brown bagging the floors, or even painting the rug would be also great...
Oh the possibilities!!!
Can't wait to buy a house so I could do stuff, I don't think my landlord would like me doing stuff like that!
Wow you sure have a lot of office space in your home. Love this room too. Your rooms are so nice and big and light and airy.
ReplyDeleteSo start building something lady, you are wasting precious space.
The goop can be removed. We do this at work but it's tedious. You manually scrape with a large putty knife or similar scraper. Than get some solvent and soak it. Let it sit for awhile then scrape again to get it all off. There are some really cool finishes out for concrete. Whatever you decide will look great as usual!
ReplyDelete