Floors Glorious Floors

 

On Tuesday, Luke and I removed the carpet from the twins’ and Olivia’s room.  It was just disgusting – dirty, dusty, wrinkled and saggy.  A few metaphors come to mind right now, but I’ll restrain myself.

My plan was to check out the particle board underneath it and see if it looked worthy of being sanded and painted.  Our original plan was to replace the carpeting in the 2 upstairs rooms, the only carpeted rooms at Kenilworth, just before we move in. 

Here is what the particle board looked like ~

  

 

I ran downstairs to get something very important for our task, I can’t remember what just now, and when I returned, Luke had taken matters into his own hands.  While trying to lift the carpet tack strips, he thought he saw wood.  So he tore back some particle board near the closet to see ~

 

 

Sure enough!  It was wood.

I had mixed emotions.  I was excited at the thought of the whole room being what was probably original hardwood, but concerned about what it might look like all the way around, what shape it could be in since it had been covered up…  But Luke had no such concerns and after a hesitant nod from me, began to pull the particle board up (carefully, please!).

 

I’m sure you can guess the rest of this story.

 

   

                                                     

 

It was all hardwood and, other than a section in the middle where they obviously cut it to wire for the family room ceiling light fixture below and patched it poorly, it didn’t look horrible.

I’ve noticed a consistent pattern for me with regard to our projects at Kenilworth.  I start out brimming with excitement and urgency.  We start tearing something apart, a floor, a wall, a door, etc.  Within 10 minutes, sometimes less, I panic.  My heart starts racing and I wonder if it’s possible to put everything back the way it was, even though I didn’t like it, because obviously – we’re making it worse!

Thankfully, God has always provided someone at that moment to calm me down, to reassure me gently that everything would be ok. 

 

So – back to the floors.  I used an orbital hand sander to sand them down.  After shop-vac-ing (my word) I used a little vinegar and water and an old rag and wiped everything down.   Then I primed the floor with Zinsser Oil Based Cover Stain.

 

Things were looking better.

 

I sanded it down again.  Shop-vac-ed again.  Wiped it with a damp rag again.

Next I put a coat of Valspar white porch paint over the primer.  Let it dry overnight.  Then a final coat of porch paint and I was ready to finish it.  I used Minwax Polycrylic Gloss polyurethane to seal it because the polycrylic won’t yellow the white paint.  Plus it’s water based, so it’s super easy to clean up my Purdy brush in no time at all.

Ta da!

                 

 

 

                                         

 

This close up shows the square (!) headed nails used to put the boards in… many years ago.

          

 

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

I’m happy.

And Luke got a really big hug from his Mama.