Floored
So we're working on a huge dining room re-do. New wallpaper, paint, furniture — stay tuned for the big reveal!
We've also been selling off a lot of the old furniture. Yesterday, when folks picked up Beatrix's old art desk, I was faced with exactly how bad the floor was.
Patrick and I had attended a set of floor refinishing classes through Preservation Alliance of MN last spring, and one thing we had learned as part of that was that floor refinishing was beyond us. But I had a can of a non-sanding floor refinisher by Varathane that I had picked up on sale at Frattalone's a while back.
More to the point, I had a real will to do it. A bad bout with my Parsonage-Turner syndrome had stopped me from working on a project with Beatrix at girl scouts on Saturday night, and I was tired of (and angry about) my arm getting in the way of things that were important to me.
So, despite Patrick's reasonable worries that taking the time to deal with the floor would hold things up, I was pretty determined to do it.
I always forget to take before pics, but here's the floor after the first coat of the 3 coat process, a deceptively easy-to-apply coat in lieu of sanding. They give you a block and an application pad; all you have to do is screw in a handle and apply. The floor is wet because you had to clean if off once applied to keep it from etching too strongly.
Then there's an equally easy-to-apply bonding coat:
That all went pretty smoothly, with only half an hour or so drying time between each.
But then I had to mix up the final coat, which involved mixing a catalyst into the big can of finish. Like I said, I have had this kit for awhile, so even once mixed, the stuff had the general look of cottage cheese. I was not convinced. You are supposed to apply it with the same block and a faux-sheepskin pad, but it was soon obvious that something the texture of cottage cheese did not apply smoothly.
I then took to applying the sealant with the block and sheepskin, rubbing it in, and then buffing it all the way in with a rag. This took a lot longer, and involved me crawling around on my hands and knees more, but it did really seem to take the the floor.
This is after the first coat of finish:
After that had dried a couple of hours I applied the second coat, but Beatrix talked me into going outside to try to find a cat she had seen before I could take a pic. At that point to me it looked much richer and more burnished, but we'll see if that holds up tomorrow. And also how many little cat footprints are on it.
All in all, it was more of a paint in the butt than initially expected, but I'm glad we took the chance when the room was clear to do it!
We've also been selling off a lot of the old furniture. Yesterday, when folks picked up Beatrix's old art desk, I was faced with exactly how bad the floor was.
Patrick and I had attended a set of floor refinishing classes through Preservation Alliance of MN last spring, and one thing we had learned as part of that was that floor refinishing was beyond us. But I had a can of a non-sanding floor refinisher by Varathane that I had picked up on sale at Frattalone's a while back.
More to the point, I had a real will to do it. A bad bout with my Parsonage-Turner syndrome had stopped me from working on a project with Beatrix at girl scouts on Saturday night, and I was tired of (and angry about) my arm getting in the way of things that were important to me.
So, despite Patrick's reasonable worries that taking the time to deal with the floor would hold things up, I was pretty determined to do it.
I always forget to take before pics, but here's the floor after the first coat of the 3 coat process, a deceptively easy-to-apply coat in lieu of sanding. They give you a block and an application pad; all you have to do is screw in a handle and apply. The floor is wet because you had to clean if off once applied to keep it from etching too strongly.
Then there's an equally easy-to-apply bonding coat:
That all went pretty smoothly, with only half an hour or so drying time between each.
But then I had to mix up the final coat, which involved mixing a catalyst into the big can of finish. Like I said, I have had this kit for awhile, so even once mixed, the stuff had the general look of cottage cheese. I was not convinced. You are supposed to apply it with the same block and a faux-sheepskin pad, but it was soon obvious that something the texture of cottage cheese did not apply smoothly.
I then took to applying the sealant with the block and sheepskin, rubbing it in, and then buffing it all the way in with a rag. This took a lot longer, and involved me crawling around on my hands and knees more, but it did really seem to take the the floor.
This is after the first coat of finish:
After that had dried a couple of hours I applied the second coat, but Beatrix talked me into going outside to try to find a cat she had seen before I could take a pic. At that point to me it looked much richer and more burnished, but we'll see if that holds up tomorrow. And also how many little cat footprints are on it.
All in all, it was more of a paint in the butt than initially expected, but I'm glad we took the chance when the room was clear to do it!
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