This was the joy that I found underneath the industrial carpet. I guess they didn’t have a drop cloth or just didn’t care. By the way, I have no idea who the “they’s” are. The paint on this floor is a mixture of oil based and latex so it could be many many years and several “they’s” ago.
This is up close and personal with the paint splatters. I also pulled out a gazillion staples too. I worked on cleaning this paint for several days. I scrubbed with hot water and murphys oil, I scrubbed with Greased Lightning and finally I used a product that the paint guy at the big box store said would NOT remove the finish just the paint. He lied. Or didn’t know what he was talking about. Could be a smattering of both. After lots of time trying the Hubs finally jumped in and said “let’s just do it right” and he whipped out his power tools and refinished the floors for me. I am one lucky girl.
You can see the sanded floors and me and my “Assisticant” starting the staining. I chose “Jacobean” because I like dark wood floors. This photo was pre-wipe off so it’s pretty dark looking.
Here she is, hard at work. “Teach them young”, that’s our motto. I want both of my kids to know that doing things themselves can be rewarding and it’s not always as hard as it looks.
She’s admiring her handy work! She was a super helper.
This is after 2 coats of polyurethane. One more to go tomorrow morning after a light sanding and then it will be complete. It doesn’t even look like the same floor! I love it. By Wednesday I should be painting and installing the base trim and painting the window trim. Maybe, if there’s time, I can put in my desk too! More photos soon!
Doin’ it right is the Best part of being YOU TWO. Great partners for livin’ the decor life! Great job!
WOW! Way to go! It looks so pretty! Can’t wait to see it all done up Heather style!
Thanks everyone! It is SOOO worth it. I was going to buy a giant area rug to cover the monstrosity, but now I think I may just leave the floor bare. Too beautiful to cover up!
@kpaints Sorry about that Karen. I put a page break after the first photo so I don’t overload people’s readers with my pics. 🙂 The floor did look like old painters paints! It was impossible to get it off, except with a belt sander. 😉 Thanks to the Hubs for grinding those babies down! He did a great job!
Well that was the darndes thing….I was reading all your recent posts and made my comment and suddenly there were many more pics in the post! So now I see that you refinished the floor…it looks fab!
Wow…this is amazing…looks like a lot of work but it will be so worth it. xoxo
Oh, boy down the final stretch! How exciting! Are you redoing the floor? That floor looks like my old painter pants! lol
It should be required that you get to meet with all previous owners of your home after doing any home renovation projects, just so you can ask them the question “Why did you do that??” 🙂 Looks great!
@Anonymous Thank you for your response “Anonymous”, I mean Hubs! 🙂 Thank you for sanding the floors down for me! You’re the best Hubs ever! 😡
good work Heather (and Hubs too!)