Office - 97 Percent completed....

The white pine floor has been refinished and it came out beautifully. We removed the previous dark brown paint/stain and opted not to re-stain or paint and just poly.

[caption id="attachment_1039" align="alignleft" width="450"] Starting first coat of polyurethane on sanded floors.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1040" align="alignleft" width="450"] The poly really brings out the grain and color of the old floors. They were pretty dry and soaked up quite a bit.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1041" align="alignleft" width="450"] The final coat... three coats of satin finish were applied and sanded in between.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1053" align="alignleft" width="450"] Priming and painting the baseboard trim and door and window trim. We found Maki to be the best source for trim, they have what we need in stock and were very helpful. We used poplar which was cheaper than the clear pine and since we were painting the woodwork it made sense to go that route.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1058" align="alignleft" width="450"] Trimming out the window. I broke the wooden grills and I tried to get a replacement, but they sent the wrong size. At some point I need to bring the broken ones to Home Depot and see if we can order a replacement...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1066" align="alignleft" width="450"] The finished floor and walls and almost finished trim.[/caption]

This room has been a bit more time consuming than we anticipated, but no real surprise there, pretty much par for the course. Some challenges:

• trying to reset the door and then realizing that the door NEVER fit.   They put a 30" door on a 29.5" frame. I think we are going to shave it down a bit to make it fit now that things are leveled...


• picking all the crud that had settled between the floor board gaps and decided to get out what we could, but not go too crazy...


• Trying to put 1/4" quarter-round where the floor meets the baseboard and realizing that one wall was so out of plumb that it wouldn't cover the gap...  Talked husband into using 1/2" on those two walls instead of trying to plane the baseboard to fit flush and run the risk of it looking like it didn't match the other wall (the height would be lower in some spots).

So now, what's left...

• cutting the door to fit, sanding, re-painting, replacing hardware and re-hanging


• reordering window grilles...trying to get the measurements right and painting and installing those


• finding a ceiling fixture


• trying to get husband to build a built-in bookcase...


• moving Internet line


• hooking TV back up


• etc...

Back to the house...

Progress is being made in the office.  The walls are painted and the floor has been sanded down.  It took longer than expected as the first machine (borrowed) wasn't working well and so two sanders had to be rented plus sandpaper purchased.  The floor is original to the house, from the 1900s and there are gaps and lots of nails that needed to be tamped down.

Next the poly will be applied as a top coat.  We know that these floors were often painted in the past.  This one was covered in a dark brown paint/stain.  We like the look of the natural wood so we aren't planning on staining it.

Once we are done, this room will have been entirely re-done.  T reframed all the walls, we removed a closet door (to make it into a bathroom), insulated, moved the baseboard to the outer wall, replaced the window, rewired everything, put up wall board, skim-coated, painted...





[caption id="attachment_1030" align="alignleft" width="450"] Partially sanded, the rectangle in the corner is where a hearth used to be.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1032" align="alignleft" width="450"] Can no longer see the rectangle[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1020" align="alignleft" width="450"] Pine flooring from 1900s[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1021" align="alignleft" width="450"] Sanding down to bare wood[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1022" align="alignleft" width="450"] More Sanding...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1024" align="alignleft" width="450"] More Sanding...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1025" align="alignleft" width="450"] Preparing for the final sand[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1026" align="alignleft" width="450"] Pounding in the final nails...[/caption]

What's next... sealing the floor, resetting the settled door frame so the door will close, adding door and window trim, building a bookcase and then the fun parts...getting the desks out of the dining room, and actually hanging some pictures!!! Stay tuned...