torley manor

After finding out that the varnish on our floor contained lead, we did a little research about the best way to handle getting rid of it. Emma hunted down a product called Franmar SOY-Gel that is carried by our local eco-friendly building supply store Artemis Environmental. So we picked up a small bottle of it and proceeded to do a test area. After initial results looked promising, we bought the larger gallon size of the stuff and moved forward with removing the rest of the cracking/chipping varnish from the middle room.

Of course, between the time we did the test area and the rest of the room, temperatures and humidity levels soared, making the process of using the SOY-Gel much more difficult. Ideally the stripper is to be left on several hours while it works its magic. Unfortunately, due to the higher temps, the stripper was drying out before it was given the opportunity to work completely. However, our main goal was to get rid of the cracking/chipping areas of the floor and to not be too concerned about the varnish was happily sticking to the wood. After several long and messy sessions, the middle room was complete.

After having gotten some floor painting advice from a couple different sources, we settled on using a Behr Porch and Floor paint. The color we decided on is called “Sunflower”, which is a pretty bright intense yellow. On Saturday I picked up the paint and supplies and got to work priming a test area (this whole project is beset with test areas as we want to make sure things work out before doing both downstairs rooms and the front hallway. Also, on July 11th we are having an event at the house, so figured we’d wait until after that to do any major sections of the floor.) Check it out…

This paint will extend throughout the two downstairs rooms that living room/dining room/band practice space combo, and our front hallway. We picked the yellow because we thought it would work well with the light yellow of the middle room, the blue of the front room, and the lime green of the hallway/stairway. We figured we have a bright oranged stained upstairs hallway, we might as well go a little wild on the downstairs floor as well.

The verdict is still out on whether or not we’ll incorporate any stencils or other graphics to the floor. Maybe a honeycomb design in the front hallway and leading up the stairs?

Anyway, stay tuned and we’ll post more photos in a few weeks when we complete more of the floor.