See the moonlight shining in through the windows?

I took these pictures last night after a long day of measuring and remeasuring and taping and painting.

Sometimes DIY is not for the faint of heart.

We are in the middle of reworking the bedroom and making the front part of the room (that used to be the sitting room) into a closet/getting ready/dressing area. We filled in the hole in the center of the wall and now there will be a wall of closets along the wall on the right and a dressing table on the left and the cutest rug in the center and a chandelier in the center. The bed will be on the back wall with a dresser in the alcove and a bench (maybe a set of slipper chairs).

The entire makeover started with painting the plywood floor.

I wanted a checkerboard pattern like we had in our bedroom in the farmhouse.

So we painted the floor white and then we taped it off and painted the checkerboard on the floor with Front Porch SW 7651. When the first coat went down I was ecstatic.

It was prettier than I imagined.

Beautiful.

The perfect color combination.

I grabbed my phone to take a picture so I could show all of you.

And then?

This happened.

It all started with the hours that it took to measure because I wanted all the squares to fit perfectly. In my mind when I imagined the floor, the points of the squares touched the walls without half a square or a fourth of a square left over.

So much easier said than done.

That is a lot of math for an awkward layout in an awkward room.

Good thing I’m married to a spreadsheet.

We made mini marks on the floor and lined up the tape and measured it off and made sure the edges of the tape on each square lined up exactly to make perfectly perfect squares.

Next, every square was painted.

Painstakingly.

Carefully.

Precisely.

When the last square was finished, I tiptoed on the white squares to get a view of the room.

Ahhhhh.

SERIOUSLY.

Could it be more amazing?

I jumped up and down on a single square with the happiest of hops.

And someone heard it.

Someone who had been patiently waiting.

Waiting through the measuring. Waiting through the taping. Waiting for someone to take him out for a walk. He heard the jumping and the hopping and the ecstatic cries of joy and decided he had waited long enough.

Buddy, our golden retriever, opened the door with his nose and burst into the room.

RIGHT ON TOP OF THE WET SQUARES OF PAINT.

“BUDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. OHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO,” I screeched.

He came to a complete standstill right in the middle of the painted floor.

I looked at him.

He looked at me.

Then he cocked his ears and raised his eyebrows and turned tail and left the room.

Taking himself and his gray paint-covered paws with him across the wood floors as he went.

I wish I had taken pictures.

Truth?

It never occurred to me. Between wiping down the floors and wiping down his paws and checking to make sure he was okay and hugging him because I screeched and repainting the squares, there was a whole lot of busy going on.

Buddy is fine. He’s busy with a bone.

The floors are fine. They are waiting for a topcoat.

Me?

I’m fine now.

But just between us? I needed a movie and sushi to recover. 🙂

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Comments

  1. Image for Tammy Tammy

    Oh my goodness, KarAnne. My Piper and Chloe have done the same thing. We were busy scrambling to clean up paw prints. I can imagine you running to get it off his paws and getting it off the floors. The floors are looking amazing, friend. I cannot wait to see your finished closet. Love your dressing table too. I have an old vintage dressing table in my master bedroom. I painted it and she looks so beautiful with my tall mirror behind her. So much fun redoing a room. I cannot wait for your photos!

  2. Image for Kris Kris

    Frustrating in the moment but funny later on! My daughter was painting a picture a few weeks ago and had a similar experience with our cat. She said that the tufts of fur between his toes are less cute when they are covered in paint.

  3. Image for Do Dodson Do Dodson

    I giggled a little more than I should. The floor will be beautiful no doubt and Buddy will be forgiven. It’s a dogs life. 🙂 I can’t wait to see the reveal.

  4. Image for Juliet Juliet

    Oh my goodness! Buddy! Poor you. Poor him. Glad everyone / everything is cleaned up and recovered. Do tell … what movie?! BTW love the plan … it’s going to be fabulous! xo

  5. Image for Joanne Joanne

    Oh KariAnne! I love how real your life is! It helps us all relate to you. The floor is looking amazing. Excited to see the finished product. PS when we had our new Inground pool installed we hired a professional patterned concrete company to finish it off. It was glorious but that night when I opened the sliding doors a little to get a better look our dog who also hadn’t been allowed out the back for so long and very curious as to what was going on, saw her chance and out she ran standing in the middle of it and slowly sinking into the entire beautiful finished concrete! Of course if I chased her my footprints would have been added to it. All I could do was painfully mournfully and scoldfully beg her to come back to the door. 🙄😣 We lived with those footprints forever engraved in our beautiful concrete until we moved. Sometimes you just have to laugh or you’ll cry. 😄

  6. Image for Va in NC Va in NC

    Oh my goodness...what a story to remember when admiring this floor and room in years to come. Glad you had the energy to complete. Can't wait to see the finished room. Your living room; I love the bookcases in the navy, makes the white pop. Please share the source and color of navy paint you used. Have a project would love to use it on. Thank you so much for sharing your journey in the diy projects. I love the dressing table also. Wish I had space for one in my bedroom. It is perfect. Blessings,

  7. Image for Mary Smart Mary Smart

    Kari Anne, it looks beautiful! I can't wait to see the finished floors. Living with animals is just part of living with messes, but their love and shenanigans keep me entertained and loving them. One of my kitties vomited up a hair ball all over one of my cushions this morning and I had to wash it and the other cat jumped up on my craft table and got paint on her last week. I would not trade them for anything!

  8. Image for Debbie Debbie

    Omg KariAnn your life and posts are so so real! We have had a few Goldens, aren't they the best!!! Great story, love your floor, it will be great when it's done, cant wait to see it.

  9. Image for Elizabeth Elizabeth

    I love this! Checkerboard floors are amazing, and perfect for this room. As for Buddy, I am sure he is happy with his bone and not worried at all of the extra work that you had to do!

  10. Image for Kelly Wilbanks Kelly Wilbanks

    Our dog Loki did this when we were pouring concrete! Big golden doodle paw prints right in the middle of the patio. What crazy is I had to convince one of the workers to fix it. Yeah, no — I don’t want dog prints on my patio till kingdom comes. Lol

  11. Image for Rebecca Rebecca

    You are the cutest thing ever. Thank you for being so down to earth, 'cuz haven't we all had similar disasters? My back hurts in empathy imagine painting all those squares. I can't wait to see the finish. Y'all make everything beautiful.

  12. Image for Hannah Reyor Hannah Reyor

    I must be confused. Shouldn’t the points of the gray squares meet at the points with the white? With the tape there’s a space between them. I want to do this treatment too. Looking at the farmhouse floor the points meet. Just want to do it correctly. Love your work and had to laugh about Buddy. You handled it well!!!

  13. Image for Debbie Debbie

    We built a screened porch on the back of our house years ago. Of course, after the framing came the painting and THEN the screening. During all this our chocolate Lab, Molly, came and went as she pleased - through the openings closest to wherever she was in the yard. Then, as my husband was nailing the last of the screening on one side of the porch, Molly went up onto the porch on the other side.....smack through the new screening....twice. AND to commemorate her helping us with the porch, we have a perfect dark green paw print. Molly's long gone from us now, but always in our hearts....and I always have to smile when I see that paw print.

  14. Image for Teresa Gonzales Teresa Gonzales

    Oh my! Had that happen outside but not inside....the frantic feeling of making sure you get the paint off of paws before the furbaby ingests paint and tracks paint all over carpets and floors.... I can feel my heart rate increasing remembering. Glad everything turned out ok!

  15. Image for Amy Amy

    This post made me laugh. People with animals know too well of this situation. I love all of the energy you put into your blogs and into your home. The floor is looking beautiful and will now become a great - funny memory.

  16. Image for Cheryl Cheryl

    What a story, lol! Funny now but not while it was happening I'm sure! Gotta love our pets. Is this your bedroom you are making over? Loving it!

  17. Image for PJ PJ

    Leave it to the family pet to keep us humble lest we think we have it all together. From the Buddy stories you've shared, I love him. The finished project will have a good story to go along with it.

  18. Image for Diana Diana

    I always loved those floors in the farmhouse, so I can't wait for pics of the finished floors now. Animals always love to do something when you have paint out or are painting.....:)

  19. Image for Barbara Spaul Barbara Spaul

    I can see it happening! All that work....then the necessity of redoing it. Bless you. Bad things happen to good people.

  20. Image for Va in NC Va in NC

    Hope you are recovering - as you will-- When you have a moment pls share the Navy paint used in living room bookcases source/color please. Thank you so much. Blessings,

  21. Image for Patty Patty

    Love your beautiful home, KariAnne, and appreciate all the wonderful examples & ideas that you share with us! But the best stories are the ones that include your sweet children & Buddy - real life is what we all relate to most🙂❤️

  22. Image for Judy Judy

    Oh KariAnne, I am so sorry you had all of that extra work, and I can't wait to see the completed project. I have to say though, I love to hear that Buddy is doing well and performing his doggie antics for your family. I remember a few years back, that there was real concern for his health. I love whenever I see him in your photos...even when he's a naughty boy.

  23. Image for Cindy Cindy

    I had a similar thing happen with Reeses. I was repainting a buffet. We have no idea how he did it. We turned around, he jumped and his foot went into the can. Panic does happen. I can't wait to see this reveal

  24. Image for Carol Tucker Carol Tucker

    Oh no!! I can't see he's paw prints..but it's so beautiful. You have so much talent and great sense of humor. Thank you for your posts

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