Before we even moved into the house we tore up all the carpeting in the down stairs. The old shag carpet that was well worn. Well past it's prime. So past it's prime there were definite worn areas from the previous owners paths around their furniture. Like the carpeting upstairs it had a distinct odor of cats and old people. When we tore it up the floor underneath was the four inch pine boards. We decided then and there that we were going to try and have them refinished rather than cover them up. We knew that they would be beautiful when finished, or at least that's what we kept telling ourselves. The boards were unfinished and dirty and scratched and there were gouges and imperfections, not to mention the two foot border of paint around the edge of each room. Did you know that back in the day people would paint the edges of the floor and put a large area rug in the middle of the room. I think I told you that before. We have lived with unfinished floors for over two years now.
We kept going back and forth. Do we try it ourselves or do we shell out the money for someone to do it for us. Back and forth for two years. Then we thought let's try it in one room and see how it goes. We would try it in what is going to be the office and crafty room, perfect area for our expirament, if it didn't go well it wasn't a common space like the dining room or living room. We kept he-hawing around as to when we would give it a go. I made an executive decision. I took last Friday off put on my big girl pants and rented the sanders. I recruited Mr. B's brother for a pair of extra hands. No turning back.
We sanded for most of the day on Friday. I do mean we this time. I helped, pushing the big drum sander back and forth across the floor to smooth them out and remove some of the blemishes. It was like mowing the lawn, back and forth back and forth, slow and steady in nice straight lines. Another day of applying the polyurethane Well two days. We put two coats on let them dry, and they weren't smooth. The next day I buzzed over the floor with 220, really fine, sand paper on the orbital sander and we put a third coat on. Perfection this time.
Come, let me show you how it looks now.
Side note: Mr. B and I used this room as our bedroom for two years while we waited to work on the master suite. It never had a door. We never put one on. For the life of me I don't know why. We bought one this weekend and Mr. B had it installed in an hour. It took me a few more to get it painted. What were we thinking. All those fights were I just wanted to run to the room and slam the door in anger. Those days where people came to the house and could see into our room. Really, could we have been that stupid!
Let's not dwell on that. We are not here to figure out the logic in our thinking, but to admire our handy work.
Look at that beautiful floor.
We couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. There are still some imperfections and stains in the wood. You can see where they are nailed down, in one place some one went a tad over board with the nails; must have been a squeekie floor board. The weathered look adds to the farmhouse feel we were going for.
It was alot of work but well worth it. And we saved a chunk of change doing it. We are so happy with our refinishing abilities I have already taken another Friday off at the end of the month for us to do the other two rooms.
One more look. Let's do a side by side comparison.
No comments:
Post a Comment