Now look again. 
And now it's gone! I love a good sander. It's smooth enough you can sock slide. I did and didn't even kill myself. Most importantly, I didn't knock any holes in the new walls.
After a good sanding and multiple vacuum jobs the floors are ready for staining. I used Minwax Wood Finish Special Walnut 224. That's what we used in the other rooms before we found out the flooring was red oak. It still looks good.
When I stain a floor I do it on my hands and knees with a rag. I make sure I get stain in all the little imperfections that didn't sand out. I'll show you the saw cut marks in the living room later. Once I stain it I leave it alone for about an hour and let it do it's thing. While I was waiting, DH put the swinging hardware on my door and we hung it in the opening.
Hi Honey! No there isn't any glass in the door right now. It's coming.After we got done monkeying around and tracking dust everywhere, I got an old cloth diaper and went over the whole floor catching dust and any stain that might not have soaked in.
Now it's time to put up barriers. This goes to the kitchen and now has a door as well as a flowered sheet hanging there.
This is to keep the cats from going in the living room from the hall.
From this point on, nobody, but nobody gets to walk on this floor but me. If I catch you on the floor I yell and scream and you'll go hide.I put my hair under a shower cap, make sure I don't wear anything fuzzy and that my bare feet are clean. The first coat of poly was done completely with a brush. If I see a fuzzy of some kind I pick it up and stick it in my pocket. It took 2-3 hours to do both rooms last night. I had trouble seeing once the storms rolled in.
This morning it was nice and dry. Not tacky at all. I lightly sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and vacuumed again. I put the second coat on using a low nap roller and brushed it out. If you do this make sure not to roll more than you can brush before the bubbles dry and be sure to overlap your edges.
Here's the dining room after the second coat.
Here's looking from the dining room into the living room. Can you see the difference? The living room has one coat and it's satin. That's what the whole thing will look like eventually.
This is a stinky job, but it's going to be worth it. I love my floors with all of the little imperfections and blemishes.
6 comments:
That is so beautiful! I love your floors, too! I could never do this - I'd be trying to apply stain and poly with a spray bottle and sponge mop, all in one coat.
The one thing I see different is that you hung a dust sheet up there. I tried picking up hairs (that probably dislodged themselves from my own head), fuzz, whatevers and had a heck of of a time. I believe it all ended up being hardened into the poly coats. I think I also did all coats with a brush, no rollers. I did like the end result, especially the imperfections, but seriously wish I could have kept out the poly additions! LOL
Your floors are looking absolutely gorgeous and I'm in lust with 'em.
I like your style! Imperfect wood is just naturally beautiful!
Wow your floors look great. You are so patient, I'd want a faster way to do it. But then it wouldn't look so beautiful.
These are turning out beautifully. I'm so tickled.
If you can be patient with this stuff the reward is huge.
We redid our wood floors in our home. We did @1000 square feet. And I well remember brushing out the bubbles, LOL. I thought hey I can just roll it on, ahhhhhh you should have seen my face, when I saw all those little bubbles. HA Your floors look lovely.
Hugs
Amy
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