Floors Stained!

Excited to come home & find this sign...

The floors are a bit darker than we expected... but we're happy with how they're looking.

From the tile at the backdoor

I snuck past the plastic (but stayed in the hallway) to get this photo!

Four more days of not being able to go in here!

Kitchen Flooring- picking a stain

The floor guy has returned, and he set up some stain samples for us to choose from...



We chose the one on the far right.

In other floor news, our contractor started working on the transition from the kitchen into the new dining room.  The floor is very uneven here... so there will be a step up into the dining room.

Not ideal, but not out of the ordinary in an old house!  We're fine with this solution.

Back Porch Flooring

One huge improvement that's been made is the back porch steps (this happened about 2 weeks ago now- I'm a little behind on posts!)

The steps are so much better than the overturned bucket we had been using to get in & out of that back door!

We chose mahogany wood, so it matches the front porch.

Once the contractor put them in, he advised getting them sealed as soon as possible.   This lead to having to decide on the color of the stain.  We tested some out on some scraps that were left over...

Once we decided, Mike sanded down the bare wood, used tack cloth to get rid of the dust, and then did 2 coats of stain.

Sanding in progress

Applying stain- just 5 boards at a time.

We will have to paint the risers, but waiting to do that until the construction is done!

I love the warm color of the stained boards.  I'm hoping that the kitchen floors come out similar!

Watersealing the Porch

This has been on our To Do List for a while...













Watersealing the front porch...

See how dry & gray it looks?

It's a far cry from where it was two years ago during the home inspection (see it here)

We bought the sealant and roller, I had even washed down the porch back in May!  But between rain and life, we didn't get around to it until last weekend!

It was too hot to do more heavy lifting of tree stumps/branches, or to work in the attic.  So, we figured this was a good (and shaded) project to get off the list!

First we cleared off the porch furniture... pretty much just put it out in the front yard!

Next, we scrubbed down the porch with a broom & water (again).  And waited about 3 hours for it to dry completely. 

Then we applied the sealant.  Mike used a long handled roller.  I did the edges & around the columns with a brush.

I love the color variation in the wood!

It was all going so smoothly, until we ran out... with just the middle and the steps to go.  This is so typical for us!

So close... yet so far!

But, no problem... we took the kids to the movies :) and stopped at Lowe's on the way home to pick up another can of sealant.

So, we've finished it up and I've dragged the porch furniture back up.

Updated: Here are the After photos!