Floors Part 2

I hoped that this weekend would mark the final chapter of the floor-refinishing project but unfortunate circumstances (explained in the next entry) left me with a lot of work this weekend and I still am not finished with the floors.

I made a lot of headway though, with mixed results. I finished sanding the floors on Saturday. No matter how much I sand the master bedroom, I can’t get rid of all of the staining (from pets, adhesive, and other crap under the previous carpet). I guess we will have to live with it – or buy a larger area rug.

I picked a “red oak” stain for the floors, hoping that it would darken the floors to a color approaching the original finish. I had also hoped it would disguise some of the staining in our bedroom. I started applying it in an area where it would not be seen – Sophie’s closet. Holy shit was that dark!!! Thank God I started in a closet. I wanted a color slightly darker than the current living and dining room but not this! I made a trip back to Home Depot to look at the stains again. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a stain that quite fit. I instead went for a more golden color called “Fruitwood”.

I have a dilemma now – I really didn’t plan on taking an extra day for more staining. The floors look nice but are still not quite as dark as I wanted. I may put on one more coat of stain in the hopes of getting the color a little deeper. Perhaps I’ll play with this tonight – in our closet - and see what the results are and decide from there.

Hopefully everything will be sufficiently dry tomorrow morning so I can put on the first coat of polyurethane.

Stay tuned for part 3…