The final process of my foyer floor. I know. You're getting sick of it. Well imagine how I feel.
The new threshold I built with antique barn board against the very orange living room floor pre-refinishing.
To recap. A couple of weeks ago I completely lost my mind, the result of which was ripping out my foyer floor. On a whim. On a Saturday morning when any sane person would be eating their weight in bacon. The foyer floor was relatively new (in my 180 year old house), had a horrible finish and I've never liked it.
So I pulled up one little piece of it out of curiosity. Then, like a possessed Chucky doll, I whirled around the room with a prybar ripping floor boards out, splitered remnants of wood flying through the air in my wake.
Beneath was a lovely, glowing maple slat floor. I was satisfied for exactly one minute and 37 seconds, at which point I started considering what might be under that floor.
So I ripped it up too.
Which brings us to the original(ish) pine floor which was revealed. When last we met it was Sunday night and I had just finished hammering down the boards on the area I patched with nails I had to steal from my sister.
MONDAY
8:00 a.m.
My floor refinisher shows up, refers to me as Mighty Mouse and says he knew I'd get it done.
I point out the horrifying difference between some of the boards I've laid and how without sanding down the joists, I couldn't get them to lay flush with the rest of the floor.
Nooooooo problem he said.
O.K. I wish I'd known that last night because instead of crying myself to sleep I could have counted Kardashians like I normally do.
9:00 a.m.
Sanding guys arrive and start sanding floors.
2:30
Sanding is finished realize the hemlock is a totally different colour than my other foyer floor.
9:00 p.m.
Fret over colour of patch job. I'm not sure why I'm fretting. It's an old house with a billion different types of old original flooring, none of which matches perfectly.
Decide to try bleaching it.
TUESDAY
8:00 a.m.
Check flooring and discover bleaching changes tone of wood but does lighten it.
2:57
Bleach floor by simply soaking a cotton rag with a bit of bleach and wiping it on to the wood, making sure to push it into the grain.
Let dry.
Repeat.
Wish I had lots of visually impaired friends to invite over because they would walk in and declare my house cleaner than they'd ever smelled it.
WEDNESDAY
Got my hair done because that's what one does whilst in the middle of a disaster.
7:00 p.m.
Scraped out dirt from boards. Need to get my hair done again. Estimate 72 pounds of dirt found in boards plus 1,894 straight pins. This area must have been the home to a sewing circle of very drunk pioneer women.
9:00 p.m.
Applied first coat of sealer.
4:00 a.m.
Woke up to look at floor. Stared at it through blinking, sleepy eyes. Realized sealer made floor darker which it wasn't supposed to. In fact was guaranteed not to. Had FIT. Decided now (4:00 a.m.) was as good a time as any to continue on with the next step. Sanding.
Grabbed sandpaper and started sanding. Once both the living room and foyer were sanded I contemplated going back to bed for a while.
Because I was now wide awake I decided going back to bed was stupid. Since stupid is my new normal ...
5:00 a.m.
Went back to bed.
THURSDAY
9:00 a.m.
Woke up, vacuumed, went over floor with damp cloth. Did first coat of my actual floor finish. Sequestered to kitchen for 2 hours while finish dries enough to sand.
4:00 p.m.
Apply final coat of matte finish.
Does not appear matte. I'm starting to feel a bit, um, nauseous. So far the floor is darker, yellower and shinier than I wanted.
Apply another coat of matte finish to see if that makes it mattier.
7:00 p.m.
Go to bed because what the hell else am I going to do? Watch tv online for a bit, fall asleep snuggled up with my toasty warm laptop and hairy cat.
FRIDAY
Either I, or my floors have calmed down. Love them.
The end.
This weekend I'll reinstall the quarter round I had to remove and fix some areas that are now a bit curious because my foyer floor is almost 2" lower than it was a couple of weeks ago.
So I'm going to have to fix some trim work.
All of this, the sweat, the tears the tearing up. All a smaller price to pay for being able to have a 2" taller Christmas tree every year.
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I have the exact same ruler as you! what a joy it is.
I'll have you know I was chortling and wiping away tears of mirth while reading this. Thank you for the laughs.
So what finish did you apply to your newly sanded floor?