That’s what I feel that I need after these last few weeks. A nice big shot of tequila. Make it a double.
Wow! I’m sorry to all my readers (all 10 of you 😉 I have neglected this blog over the last month. Things have been non-stop, go, go, GO! at the house. It seems like every day I have the same routine. It’s wake up at 7. Work 8-4. Then jet over to the house and put in 4 or 5 hours of work before I head home for a quick shower and a chapter out of my book. Then it’s lights out.
I think that has been part of my blog writer’s block. I feel like the last month has been like the movie Groundhog- we are working our asses off day and night (and not just me- mad props to my MOM, my DAD, Raul and his FAM,too) yet we aren’t getting anything actually DONE.
There is definitely one thing I have learned though; I waaayyyy underestimated the time that it would take to get this house looking like I want it…Oh! and I also learned that I never, ever, ever, ever in my life and in all my future lives want to strip, sand, and refinish a hardwood floor again. Ever. The process is long, messy, hot and EXPENSIVE!!!!! Granted, it is not as expensive as new hardwoods but stilllll….
When we first purchased the home the floors were not even a priority to me. They were kinda one of those projects that was lingering in the back of mind- I knew they needed to be done, but honestly their ugliness wouldn’t be any kind of barrier to me living in the house.
And then…we started making everything else so beautiful around the floors. They became a huge eyesore. So we decided to tackle the upstairs. At first it was just the master bedroom. There was just a fine layer of stain left on the original flooring. A bit of sanding wouldn’t be too difficut. Right? WRONG!!! Then the bedroom looked so good that we decided to do the hallway, too. Now the hallway was covered in 3 layers of ugly grey paint. We had to add tons of stripping to the process. Then sanding. Then staining. Then protecting with a glossy polyurethane.
And then we figured as long as we were doing the hallway why not do the 3rd bedroom, too. Just while we were at it, you know. That room was also painted. And we soon discovered that whatever paint they had used on the floor, well, it wasn’t coming off with regular paint stripper. Like not at all. So that meant a lot of heavy duty sanding.
To make a long story short the whole process was very complicated and took ffoooorrrrreeevvveerrrr. In fact, it took so long, and affected me so deeply, that I would rather not even write about it. I will, however, provide you with a lot of cool pictures! The progress is amazing!
And voila! I will post pics of the finished product soon! The most exciting part is that now we can get furniture!! 🙂






















Okay, should I ever buy an old house with original wood floors that I love. I seriously doubt I would take on the floor sanding and refinishing project. But it looks great even in the unfinished state. Just wait till your done both of you sitting on your new furniture looking at the shiny, not fake, finished wood floors. Kudos to all of you!! Dave
We cannot WAIT for that moment Dave!! soo close! 😉
And yeah, def won’t take on another house where the floors have to be redone…or I will just pay someone else! it’s too tedious for me!
It is good to know that Raul knows how to refinish original wood floors.
{Our house in the Fort has wooden floors that might need some refinishing sometime in the near future 🙂 }