Floor Project

So, a few weeks ago Tom decided that we were going to re-finish our hardwood floors. They are in some serious need of work. When we first moved in we pulled out some nasty carpet and uncovered wood floors that had great potential.

This here is the hall with the floors and risers as we found them (the paint job is also the way it came).

The stairs were actually one of the areas that looked the best because both bedrooms had rather large gauges taken out where someone must have had a piece of furniture that they drug rather than carried over the floor back before they carpeted it.

There is an "official" way to re-do floors and that involves striping the top layers off, sanding them, and then applying a new finish. Partially because Tom started working on this with no "plan" in place and partially because I rather like the idea of distressed wood when properly sealed. So, instead we purchased a few dozen sheets of sand paper, some "redwood" deck sealer/stainer, and some clear polyvinyl sealer. Did you know that they make water-based polys now? They are so much less toxic smelling than the old oil-based ones.

The partially completed stairs.

This is what the stairs looked like about half-way through the project. In this photo the flooring has been completed on the stairs and in the hall-way. The poly finish is a nice satin so it isn't too shiny. We decided to paint the risers black and since the trim in our master is also black, so we are planning on carrying the black through the upstairs as a trim color. 

One thing I noticed was that the old poly had aged really badly. Not just that it had been damaged which was allowing the wood to become damaged but it had aged in such a way as to look almost like it had been stained with something urine colored. So, the red wood is a huge improvement. 

We decided that we would work on our master bedroom next. This required moving all of our stuff into the spare room/office for a few weeks.

The floor of the master bedroom before.

I will be the first to admit that the total disruption of my organization has not been the best for my sense of focus but I am really excited to have my bedroom complete 2.5 years after we moved in. 

You can see the difference between the old finish (top), the freshly sanded wood (middle), and the new stain (bottom).

We are currently waiting for the bedroom floor to finish "curing" and then we can move back in. It should be ready for that come Friday so I will be spending the next few days making sure that I have everything ready. This includes putting surface protectors on the bottom of our furniture which should help protect the newly finished floors. This entire thing will also give me the chance to finally try out a furniture re-arrangement I have bee too lazy to try in the bedroom.

In addition to finishing off the master bedroom this weekend I also hope to have the hall re-painted to something that isn't pee-yellow. I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished hall/stairs area and bedroom when I get them finished (hopefully Sunday).