Shine On

After our very, very long weekend of sanding and staining, we were super excited to get to what we had heard was the fast part . . . the polyurethane. Thankfully this time the estimates were right and we got each of the 2 layers of finish down in about an hour a piece. With much help from our friend and seasoned home renovator, Greg laid the first layer on Sunday afternoon. We let that dry for the major part of the week and the second and final coat went down after a good buffing on Thursday or Friday evening. The dry time would probably be faster for anyone who wasn't doing this in the cold temps of January.

Before each layer we had to meticulously vacuum and wipe the floors with tack cloth to get every speck off the floor so as to not encapsulate any trash in the finish.

By this step in the progress our minds were long gone and I don't think we even brought our camera out to the house so all of these are from our cell phones. Classy, I know. But we have some before and afters and that's the best part anyway!

We chose a satin finish for the poly. We wanted a little bit of shine to show off the floors and the grain, but we didn't want something so shiny that the slightest smudge was obvious. We have been super pleased with the satin so far.

Greg pouring the poly on the floor. As he would pour, Mr. McCoy, whom I don't have a picture of, would come behind with a lamb's wool applicator and spread it, seamlessly, over the floors.

The dining room with coat numero uno.

Side by side before and after. Can you believe the transformation?

The hallway after the first coat of polyurethane had time to dry. Keep in mind it's from my cell phone . . . in real life the shine is even.

And with that, our hardwood floors were done! We let the final coat dry for about a week before we did much walking on them. Though it was hard to take a break from the house with our long to-do list hanging over our heads, it was nice to have a normal life for a week. We needed that forced break!

Sanding - 19 hours (35 if you count our individual contributions)

Staining - 10 hours (or 20)

Finishing - 5 (or 10)

Total - 34 or 65 hours

Cost - $400 (approximately, our Lowe's receipts are combined with so many supplies for various projects)

Totally worth the sleep we forfeited. Especially when we look at the floors and think, "We did that!"

One more time . . . so beautiful!

Color in the Lines

I hope you all realize that this blog is definitely not being written in anything close to real time.  We have been spending all of our "free time" working at the house leaving no time to do much of anything else.  I felt the need to point that out so people aren't thinking, "Well, no wonder they haven't moved in yet.  Lazy bums . . ." Not that ya'll would think that, you are much nicer, I'm sure.

So, back to a month ago.  After sanding for an entire day, we got about an hour of sleep and headed back to start staining.  Staining, that's quick, we should have it done in half of a day, right?  Haha.  Ridiculous that we even thought that.  We had stained plenty before, but always furniture.  I'm going to blame the time estimate on our complete lack of sleep.  So thankful that neither one of us is a doctor. 

We chose Minwax's Dark Walnut as our stain color.  Greg tends to prefer medium wood tones, cherry especially, and I tend to lean towards really dark wood colors like espresso or ebony finishes.  This was a good compromise.  A dark enough stain to achieve a rich color that I wanted but you can see the grain and it has a bit of a honey tone to it when the natural light hits it.  

We had read lots of blogs and articles on staining floors and the method we decided upon ended up working really, really well.  I would stain 2x2 foot square outlines on the floor and then Greg would come behind with a lambs wool pad and fill in the square.  This allowed us to work across room in a methodical way (you have to be careful to always stain with the grain of the wood and work towards an exit) and ensure that the rows blended well together.  Using the brush where the rows met instead of the lambs wool meant I could feather the stain at the seam instead of the thicker coat the pad left.  

And somehow we didn't get any pictures of the next step (we were either rushing or delirious), but it's highly important.  After we let the stain sit for about 5-10 minutes on each row we took clean, white rags and wiped off the excess (again, going with the grain).  This ensures an even color and further allows you to feather between rows.  This step is why you can't just paint it all on really fast and be done in half a day.  You have to make sure you are not staining father than you can reach to wipe it off.  We also found it was helpful to have one person (Greg) do all the wiping so that the pressure was even throughout the room.

Finished bedroom, unfinished hallway. 

Master bedroom with stain, no polyurethane yet.

The living room.  You can't even tell where the seam of the replacement wood is.  Notice how the finish is still a really rough finish.

The hallway coming out of the kitchen.

Contrary to our 1/2 day plan (again, hahaha) we finished up around 8 that night.  About 9 or 10 hours of staining for approximately 1000 square feet (we took a couple breaks for food).  We left feeling completely worn out but really, really excited at the incredible change from only 48 hours ago!