Living Room/Dining Room Floors=Done!

I just put the last coat of poly on the dining room floor. Both rooms are finished! It took longer than I anticipated because I didn’t plan my time very well. But it is finished now!

What we did:

Cleaned the floor and sanded with 80 grit working up to 120 grit. Cleaned the floors with a dust mop, then damp mop, then tack cloth. Stained (Minwax Red Chestnut). Waited. Put on first coat of poly (Minwax fast drying poly for floors). The next weekend we sanded the first coat of poly, applied second coat of poly. Ta-da! I am very happy with it. I really didn’t want to sand in between coats, but it was definitely worth it! The first coat was really rough. It would have been ok as is, but I wanted it to have a furniture quality finish and it last for ten years or more. I sanded and put on the next coat and WOW! I can’t explain how smooth and flawless it looks. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Kitchen:

I am doing finishing work in the kitchen….still…haha. One day I will be finished! I painted the lower cabinets Artisan by Behr, with a top coat of Martha Stewart metallic paint in Cast Bronze. After it dries I will put a top coat of polycrylic and paint the trim dark brown. In two weeks, we will frame up and install the upper cabinets. Steven installed the counters, trim and sink this weekend. What’s left: cabinet installation, hood installation, (hopefully) new dishwasher, finishing paint, handle on laundry room door. When it is done, I will post a 360 video tour. I’m excited! Until then, the in progress pictures are below (after floor pics)

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On a side note: I ordered some dark brown RIT dye to see if I can dye my red tie up shades. The red doesn’t match anymore. We shall see what happens! $2.50 for a 25 pack of dry dye versus $60 for three very cheap looking tie up brown shades or $120 for some better quality ones….hmmm…I will try the $2.50 first. If that doesn’t work….off to the store I go! It’s worth a try! Will post the results here soon whether they be good, bad or really ugly.

More Kitchen Inspiration

So, I am here again posting my inspiration pictures for the kitchen. I am going to paint my bottom cabinets a dark color and the top will be light. I liked the way that looked in these kitchens.

Refinished Oak Front Door

I wanted to work on floors today but quickly wearied of sanding the poly with a hand sander…lol

I texted my husband and asked him to bring home a floor sander. I really didn’t want to rent one again so soon, but just can’t imagine hand sanding two rooms between coats of poly. Too hard on my back, neck and knees. I will rock on with the floors tomorrow. In the mean time, I wanted to sand something, so I decided to sand, stain and refinish the front door. Here Is how it went:

I sanded using 80 grit then 120 grit until it was smooth and the old finish and flaking varnish was completely removed. I tested the stain, I liked it. Stained the doors and rubbed the Rustoleum brand Black Cherry stain into the wood grain. Waited a bit, wiped the excess stain off with a tack cloth. Took a small paint brush and put stain in the corners and small areas my rag did not reach. I wiped off any excess. According to the instructions, I let it dry an hour (actually a little bit more than that) and put a coat of polyurethane on top. Overall, I am happy with it. I hate that the screen doors close over it and you cannot see the wood, but I know it’s there!

Tomorrow: floors and kitchen work

Kitchen Cabinet/Shelving Ideas

So, I can’t find cabinets that I like or that would fit in our kitchen. I received a couple custom cabinet quotes and, well, I am just not willing to pay the price. So, we decided to build some open shelving type cabinets. If you would like to see the kitchen evolving, click on the category “kitchen” below and you can see some of the work done to date.

Right now we are installing counters and I am going to paint the lower cabinets a dark color. Presently we have no upper cabinets. Here are my inspiration pictures of how I want to build the upper cabinet shelving followed by a peek of what is being worked on this week–laying the counter tiles, testing to see if sink fits, a look at what used to be there (ugly red laminate). I am happy with the decision to build our own. This way it will: 1) fit into the space properly; 2) won’t cost a million dollars; 3) I can design it, so I will be happy with it.

Unfortunately they may be tiny. I am publishing from my phone.

In Process: refinishing dining and living room floors

I spent all day running the floor sander….hopefully tomorrow stain and poly. The last pic is from Viv. It’s kind of a joke that she always takes pics of me working.

***Update 1: I did stain the floors on Sunday and just added them here. Sometime this week I will get to the poly.
***Update 2: first coat of poly. Wow! It’s purty! Sand and a couple more coats and it’s done!

PS: I used Minwax Red Chestnut stain and Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane for Floors. This poly dries a whole lot faster than the Cabot poly I used in the study. It also didn’t have as much air bubbles when i brushed it on like the Cabot did.