Friday, February 27, 2015

refinishing the hardwood floors


As mentioned in the flood damage summary, a section of the hardwoods in the kitchen and carpet in the dining room got damaged by the water.
We decided to extend the hardwoods into the dining room and to change the stain color.

Before pictures:




First the wood was delivered to acclimate (for almost a week) where it was going to be installed.
If you just bring it in and install it you'll likely get large gaps in your finished floors.


These funky corners that the cabinet installers decided to do near our kitchen sink have always bugged me, and this was the perfect time to fix it.
Also, you can see here how nasty the floors have been, this wasn't even a part damaged by the flood.
The finish was just old (almost 20 years) and has been worn badly by prior occupants (some of whom had dogs, who aren't exactly easy on floors).


I'll need to install some new toe kick areas, but this makes me so much happier.

First, installing the new floors...



...then sanding down all surfaces, old and new...



{The large sander did the bulk of the areas, then a hand sander and small wood planers took the old finish off of the rest of the nooks and crannies.} 



...then stain, a day later a coat of polyurethane, then a day later a buffing and then a final sealing coat... 
 {stain going down, we picked Minwax Dark Walnut}

 {still wet first coat of poly}

...and the beautiful final product




I still need to reinstall trim and clean everything up, but I am so pleased with this change.

I'll leave you with a before and after side by side.



Wednesday, February 4, 2015

DC day trip


Last Saturday we flew up to Washington DC in the morning, took the train downtown, ate at Shake Shack, went to the National Museum of Natural History, walked across the mall to the National Air and Space Museum, took the train back to the airport, and flew home.
Busy, fun day.



 


{cute baby. he was my seat partner. Curt took the two older kids, good dad that he is}





{expensive but yummy burger}

{I was loving the finishes inside of Shake Shack} 




{such pretty architectural details}









 

My favorite section of the museum was about geology.
It had a bunch of gems, then a ton of rock specimens.
I've been a rock nerd since I was little.
Love it.





 


...walking across the mall, the capitol building was under construction... 






We only spent a little time at the Air and Space Museum because I wanted to get back to the airport with plenty of time...




...maybe a little too much time to kill at the airport.
But the kiddos got some energy out, had a little something to eat, and then we flew home.

{my goodness that's a cute husband I have there}


DC, we will be back to explore you some more another time.



 

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