Wood Floor Before and After

Next project was staining and finishing the wood flooring in the living room and spare bedroom. Off of our living room space is a small room at first we used it as a closet. It was full of boxes and things we just did not have a place for yet. We were wanting to turn it into a spare bedroom. Both rooms had really nice wood flooring that just needed some TLC. It was time to move everything out and turn worn to wonderful! In the living room area the floor needed very little prep. The original stain was almost completely gone. Only some small areas still had color and polyurethane left. Previous owners may have started the process. There was this unfortunate area that was damaged. Black. Not sure what happened. It looks like water damage/stain to me. Or someone suggested maybe fire damage. We tried a little bleaching because we heard that helps with water damage, but to no avail. It may have helped a little in some spots, but no great significant change. For this reason we considered a dark stain to help hide the black spot, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. My husband had picked a medium warm stain that he really liked called gunstock. He was willing to go dark, but I just wasn’t sure if I would like it. So we stuck with his choice. A little sanding . . .

And it was ready to go!

The bedroom area needed a lot of prep work. We had torn out carpeting in the bedroom to find the wood floor covered in paint and plaster spills. Whoever painted and drywalled the walls last (or ceiling maybe) did not use a drop cloth and then just covered up the mess with carpet. Despite the splatters the wood was in really good condition, so we bought some paint stripping chemical and went to work removing those spots.

Thanks to my mom and siblings for all their help with this project. We made a day of it and it was cleaned up in no time. A little sanding and we were ready to stain.

My husband did a great job with the stain. He used a rag and started in the farthest corner and worked his way out of the room. After it dried I did two coats of polyurethane with a brush.

I wanted to do three coats, but we couldn’t buy anymore at that time. Ultimately, we were really happy with the color and final result. Absolutely love it!

Just a little note to anyone who might be planning to do this: Stay at a friends house or motel over night while it dries. We did this in the summer and had every window and door open, but the smell was still so strong. I remember getting a case of the giggles and a headache which are both symptoms of affixation I think. Not good.