Airbnb Story Time!!!

Airbnb Story time!!!

I have been infatuated with floors and interesting wall coverings or tile jobs for many years. I love stained cement floors and mosaics.

My garage floor is going to be my first cement project. But I have to practice first. It’s the one thing I don’t want to mess up.

I’ve had painted floors for years. But as my airbnb progresses, less and less of my painted floors are remaining. I would have loved to leave them but, walking on subfloors makes the house too noisy for my guests. So I have slowly & been covering them up.

As I have been moving forward, my mind keeps playing with the idea of coating the floor or the bottom of my old ugly tub with mosaics in rock.

I have been torturing myself with it. It is really easy to put things off, when I am working with such small windows of time. Especially when fear is involved. Lol

I know once I jump into any project I am officially off the cliff & there is no going back. As with most of my projects, I just have to get the guts or the attitude to jump.

So this week I woke up with an attitude. I was disgusted with my lack of progress. I just want things to move faster. I sometimes feel like I am getting nowhere fast.

So, I took my attitude, grabbed a bottle of gorilla glue and my rock & headed for the bathroom. I was going to do it. I was Moving forward and jumping without fear into this idea. No more waiting around, feeling helpless or weak.

The tub already needed replaced or refinished. So what was the worse that could happen. If I failed, then I just have to get a new tub sooner than expected. Right??? Right!!!

My 2 goals:

To make a cool looking, slip free texture on the bottom of the tub.

&

to bring the feel of the outside, inside.

I hate those cheesy slip free stickers about as much as I hate those stupid rubber mats. They look tacky and make me feel like I’m in a hospital or retirement home. Plus, they are a pain in the ass to keep clean.

So I got gutsy & made the shapes of turtles on the bottom of the tub. Then I piled my colored rocks and sand on top of the glue, hoping it would look like turtles after the glue dried and the extra rock was wiped away.

The first oh shit moment came, as the gorilla glue started to dry. All my shapes began to puff up and swell. Oh crap!!! Lol

The turtles started to become mutated and my abstract designs start to look like snakes. Great!!! Of all the shapes… most people don’t find snakes to be a relaxing tub experience.

At this point I am bent over the tub, trying to keep the turtles, turtles and trying to turn the snakes into snails.

I am infamous at laughing during disasters. But all I can do is laugh & Pray that at some point the glue stops swelling & everything starts to cooperate with me.

Thank god, by the end of this first stage, I am doing a victory dance with my hands covered in gorilla glue , rock and sand. I have successfully managed to create turtles without gluing myself to the bottom of the tub. Yaaaaaa me!!!!

The turtles were not quite as sexy as I was hoping, but I was relieved non the same.

Day two – I took a quick shower and walked over the shapes to make sure they were comfortable on the feet & tested the glue to make sure it wasn’t going to lift off.

It passed the test. 🎉

I was pretty nervous to proceed. The day before felt a little scary. I was thinking this could very well be one of the stupidest adventures, I ever got myself into. Man, I did not want to have to buy a new tub.

But it was too late to go back now. I was committed to the idea and I was going to give it 100%.

So I grabbed my gorilla glue, a buckets of pea gravel & some sands from my back yard and headed for the bathtub. This was going to happen.

I swirled the glue around the shapes until the entire bottom was covered, threw down the rock and said a prayer, that the turtles and snails survived the glue souname.

I kept layering the sand and walking over it as it swelled up. Layer upon, layer until the bottom of the tub looked like the making of a good grave site. I was sooo nervous. It looked like a big mess.

I was so glad it was over. I kept thinking I don’t think I will ever do this again.

But the optimist in me is stronger than the pessimist, so I hoped, that when I vacuumed up all the rock and sand. It would reveal something very cool & it did!!!

I was so happy!!! There are still a few hollows that I am going to fill with some decorative accents. But I got exactly what I was dreaming.

Today when I took a shower, it felt like I was wading through a river, naked in the rain. Showering will now feel like an adventure outdoors, everyday. I am excited to see what it is going to look like when it is all finished. There are sooo many options.

I’m so glad I went for the challenge and can’t wait for my next project to begin!!!

Debbie Smalley ( Deb’e)