The entire house has solid oak hardwood floors except for the kitchen, dining, hallway & bathroom. They are original to the house and have never been refinished since installation. Surprisingly, they look pretty good. However, they are no longer waterproof.
Toddlers with sippy cups, puppies with wet feet, adults who do not remove their shoes and floors that are no longer waterproof is a bad combination. The water spots were beginning to greatly show. It was January and the holidays were over...I needed a project. So we decided to refinish the living room floor.
I love the look of dark mahogany floors. I think they are gorgeous. What isn't gorgeous is dog hair, dust, and footprints on those dark floors. So while I'm happy with the way they look, I'm not happy about the maintenance. I even have a Roomba to vacuum for me, but I could run it 4 times a day and that floor still looks bad.
So as much as I hate to say it, we will be sanding them down again this summer and opting for a more natural finish.
In the meantime, have a look at our little project.
Toddlers with sippy cups, puppies with wet feet, adults who do not remove their shoes and floors that are no longer waterproof is a bad combination. The water spots were beginning to greatly show. It was January and the holidays were over...I needed a project. So we decided to refinish the living room floor.
I love the look of dark mahogany floors. I think they are gorgeous. What isn't gorgeous is dog hair, dust, and footprints on those dark floors. So while I'm happy with the way they look, I'm not happy about the maintenance. I even have a Roomba to vacuum for me, but I could run it 4 times a day and that floor still looks bad.
So as much as I hate to say it, we will be sanding them down again this summer and opting for a more natural finish.
In the meantime, have a look at our little project.
Here are a few before shots of the floors. Can you imagine a little board & batten in this room? I sure can!
The church bench isn't normally sitting in front of this window. I was just getting it out of the way. It sits in the nook next to the closet. I'm envisioning built-ins in that nook.
This is part of the chaos in the rest of the house. Sofa, love seat, and bookcase in the dining room.
A close-up of the floors before we began.
Trim removed and floors sanded.
Ready for stain.
Mr. DIY putting the first coat of stain down.
Would you believe I have no pictures of the finished floor? They are always so dusty, I can't bring myself to take a pic.
OOOH I LOVE the dark!! Send me a pic!! Just buy a good mop and keep the floors!!!! hahahaha. No, seriously, love what you have going there!!
ReplyDeleteWow, I always liked the dark too, but worried about the cost to refinish all our floors. Glad you said something about the dark being more maintenance. I do think one day I want to sand and then just poly the floors we have in the rest of the house. I'm hoping they look something like the floors in our living room which have a natural aged reddish color (Heart Pine).
ReplyDeleteBrittany
http://www.prettyhandygirl.com
Hi Brittany!
ReplyDeleteWe just sanded and put a clear poly down in our son's room and it looks great. I wish we would have just done that in the living room. I need to do a post on his room alone...lots of work there.
Thanks so much for stopping by!