Friday, April 2, 2010

Our finished floors

Well, almost finished.  I still need to repaint all the base trim and install shoe moldings.  But, the floors themselves are looking mighty fine!  Here are the goods....
As you can see in these pictures, there is a lot of variation in the stain, which was pretty much unavoidable because of the condition of the floors.  Many people think that refinishing is simply cosmetic, but that is simply not true.  Much of the poly was rubbed away up here, and that made the wood very vulnerable to wet feet (and paws!) from the bathroom, spills, accidents, and just general humidity - which we have a lot of in WI.  If you have wood floors that are in bad shape, it is best to refinish before there is real damage that will affect your floors in the future!  I actually like the dark spots, though.  It looks pretty cool, especially in the art room:
And here is the cost breakdown for this project:
4 Gallons Varathane Satin Polyurethane $148 (would have been 3 gallons if we hadn't messed up!)
24 hour sander rental with paper  $87
Hand sander sandpaper  $20
4 Quarts Varathane Espresso Satin  $28
Lambskin applicators  $18
Suits and booties  $11
Tack cloths  $6
Total -  $318. 

And we will spend another $300-$400 to do the remaining 3 bedrooms in the future. It works out to be less than $1 a square foot.  Not bad condsidering a professional would charge around $4 a sq ft!  Side note if you are considering this project, everything you've heard about dark floors is true.  Every speck of dust, every hair, anything will show on dark floors.  But I love the color, and it takes no time at all to Swiffer it all up.  I hope you love the finished floors as much as I do! 

36 comments:

  1. they look fantastic! way to be brave and attempt to diy this! we paid a professional to refinish our floors because i had heard too many horror stories about people messing up the sanding. but you did a great job!

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  2. Ooh la la!!! They look insanely fabulous! Again, waiting for the published Russet Street Reno manual!

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  3. Absolutely ridiculously gorgeous!!! Super impressed that you all did this yourselves :)

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  4. Your floors are BEAUTIFUL! I love the color... y'all did a GREAT JOB!

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  5. Your floors look great!

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  6. I love it!

    ...you know what else I love? How you basically refinished 100x the square footage of my table in the same period of time. *sigh* Maybe someday I'll be a grownup blogger...

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  7. SO are all your belongings in the rooms you haven't done yet? I was like WOW AMAZING FLOORS... wait... where is all the stuff from this room, that room, that room! ;)

    SO WELL DONE! I am so in love with them!

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  8. Your floors look amazing. You did such a good job. Definitely something to be proud of!

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  9. Kasey, don't feel bad about that, there was just as much screaming and tears during this process as you probably went through with your table!

    Kelly, yes all our furniture and clothing is tossed in the other bedrooms and the house is a wreck! I'll post some gross pictures next week so everyone can see how we lived for two weeks!

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  10. They're beautiful! Congratulations. And thanks for taking the time to teach us how to do them too.

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  11. I loooove them! They look fantastic. I can't imagine the craziness your living with at the moment! I'm going crazy enough with just my closet emptied out! ;)

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  12. This looks so great Sara!! I love that you guys did this yourself!

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  13. Looks awesome! I can't believe that you A) did this yourself and B) lived in the house while you were doing it.

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  14. OMG they look fantastic!! Almost the same color as our floors. YUM!

    Awesome job you guys!!! Tons of work but well worth it. I'm so impressed.

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  15. They look beautiful! You guys are amazing!

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  16. GORGEOUS ...

    just imagine how beautiful those rooms will be when you get the furniture back in.

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  17. I literally just wet myself. Lost all control of bodily function over here. GORGEOUS! BREATHTAKING! So rich-looking, such timeless beauty in those floors. And the fact that you DIY'd this puts us all to shame.

    My friend (to use your words), your floor is tits.

    Oh yeah, I said it too. HA! =]

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  18. Holy crap, the floors look phenomenal! And I actually really like the variations in the stain. Way to tackle this project all by yourselves!

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  19. Amazing, incredible, fabulous! I think the variations in the stain add more character. I can't even imagine how much work that was. You are my hero.

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  20. They look AMAZING! Cam't wait to see it all put back together.

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  21. Wow! Your floors look great--I love the color! I really wish I had the energy to redo my own floors, but every time I think about packinge each room up...sigh, I just get tired. Maybe some day! And if not, at least I'll know better the next time I buy a house...refinish wood floors BEFORE moving in!

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  22. I love the look of these floors. I was so inspired to do this to our upstairs room, that I ripped out a hidden section of carpet in our master this weekend to see how our hardwoods looked.... not too shabby from what I can tell... so now only to convince the bf to tackle this kinda project with me :)

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  23. Absolutely stunning! I love the colour schemes of all your rooms btw! ;)

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  24. Wow wow wow! Color me impressed!! Looks fabulous!!

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  25. Amazing....simply amazing. Beautiful floor!

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  26. They look amazing! I am so green with envy right now! Love, love, love!

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  27. Lots of work but so pretty! I love the dark color and that you did it yourself. Thats how we get things done at our house.
    After the trim comes the fun stuff, decorating!

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  28. drooling over here!!! Your floors look amazing and the cost is priceless, you always wow my with your diy skills :)

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  29. I've got two words for you, huminah huminah. The floors are gorgeous!!

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  30. I love your floors! You're so fortunate to have them. My home is newer and we spent a considerable amount of cash having hardwood installed. There's nothing like having real floors.

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  31. This are great! We are redoing a home - what type of wood are your floors? We have pine.

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  32. Mark - the floors in this house were oak, I believe red oak. I think pine floors are gorgeous refinished, though! Good luck!

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara