Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Mr. Sandman

Just because I know you guys can't get enough of this floor-y, floor-y stuff, we're coming to you today live from the kitchen...floor!

When you last left us, we had removed a few layers of linoleum, scraped up the black gunk and were asking for your opinions about stain vs. paint. You weighed in and the results were overwhelming. You said,
Sand and Stain that sucker!

So yesterday we started step one: sanding and today, well, we continued step one.


Here's what we had after the linoleum was (almost all) gone


Then came the scraping. Ohhhhh the scraping!


And now, after two days of sanding we have: 


Not bad, huh? As you can see, we still need to go around under the cabinets and along the wall with a sanding block and get where the sander wouldn't go.


But you can really see a dramatic difference when you look at the two colors up next to each other like that.

Another place that's just completely amazing? The threshold from the dining room to the kitchen. You can thank the ol' mom for that. She's a master belt sander, she is!


Virtually the same!

Here's the middle of the floor, facing the sink from the dining room. As you can see, we still have a bit more to stand. Unfortunately, our awesomely cheap sander ($30) from Harbor Freight started spraying floor dust all OVER the place today so we're returning it tomorrow (thank you warranty!).


Are you sick of talking about floors yet? I know we are!
Here.
Here's a picture of a cute kitten to take your mind off of things.


I like to imagine that she's clutching her hands together and saying something like, "Please! For the love of God! Stop talking about the floor!"

You can insert your own funny caption if you like. It's fun, I promise.

More distracting and unrelated pictures, you ask? Your wish is my command!


*BRAGGING WIFE ALERT*

Now, I can kill just about anything. I haven't killed a cactus yet, but there's still time. Conan on the other hand, appears to be the Kansas equivalent of the Dowager Countess (where my Downton Abbey peeps at?). The man grows roses in his sleep, I tell ya'! These are the latest ones. And they are even more beautiful in person.

Okay, okay. Time to do something productive. Maybe stare at the floor for a few minutes and imagine how awesome it's going to be when it's done? Yeah. That's productive.

Also! Also! Thanks for all of the suggestions. It really helped make our decision easier! You guys are the best! *BRAGGING BLOGGER ALERT*


14 comments:

  1. No no no, that dowager did shit, it was all her gardeners. So Conan is like Mr. Moseley's old man, who *actually* grew his own roses.

    Are Maggie & Shorty freaking out over the sander?

    I've found the quality of Harbor Freight stuff to be very similar; too cheap to be good. And at this rate, you're gonna get done with the floor and start itching for another project next month.

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    1. This is a relevant point. I thought the exact same thing after I read it but because (in all aspects of my life other than remodeling) I'm lazy I didn't look up the dude's name who grew his own roses. Truth be told, Shorty is too dumb to freak out : ( He actually tries to stand right behind it most of the time. Maggie is just too cool for school. She's watching us all from on top of the fridge thinking about how silly we look.

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  2. I love the caption you've given Maggie - wouldn't change a thing. That floor is looking pretty sweet I must say.

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  3. Great job & way to stick with it. Last summer when we did our first floor (someone once thought burgundy paint would look good over golden oak with inlaid mahogany), my mind was so numbed by the sanding sound that I started making up songs about it to entertain myself. here's my fav, a la Sir Elton: i'm still sanding 40-60-80 grit, looking like a sawdust cloud, feeling like a piece of ..., i'm still sanding even though it numbs my mind, lifting off the layers of this floor one splinter at a time.

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    1. Thanks! I just keep telling myself it'll be over soon...it'll be over soon. And your song, *slow, deliberate clap* very, very awesome. I'm totally using it when I go back in there in a minute. I'm going to try one for my favorite, Benny and the Jets. Maybe Suh, suh, suh, stinky and the sweats! It's a mind blowing 90 degrees here today, after all!

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  4. Looking good there! The edges are the hardest. We used a combination of belt sanders, hand-held orbitals, and chemical stripper with a scraper just like the one you were using to get the gunk up. KleanStrip worked well for us. Just think how nice those floors are going to look when you're done...That's what got us through! =)

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    1. I started sanding them yesterday by hand and although it wasn't that bad I decided to wait until I could get a sanding block so I don't sand my fingers clean off! Also, sometimes I stand in the kitchen by myself and daydream about what it's gonig to look like. Sometimes the promise of what is to come is the best motivation, I agree!

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  5. It looks amazing! We rented our sanders from the local AA Rentals, which proved to be fantastic because they were really high quality sanders (and my husband fixes the owner's bikes so we got a bit of a deal). We did about 700 square feet, and I will tell you, I will never ever do that again. But, our floor boards looked way worse than yours because they weren't under a protective (if pain in the ass) layer of linoleum and had been destroyed by some sort of leak that the last owner had. We had to have replacement boards milled. Anywho! Awesome job!

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    1. Yeah, the one upside to all of this is that the linoleum did act as a sort of protective barrier through the years : ) Without it, I'm sur ethe floors would be looking ROUGH after 95 years of use.

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  6. also, a shout out for downton abbey, but I don't know who would be the rose gardener. I know it's not me. :)

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    1. I'm totally okay with being just about anybody except for O'Brien and maybe Lady Edith. Though, we're only like two episodes into the second season so things might turn around for them.

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  7. Wow! Congrats to you for all this hard work to unearth that beautiful wood floor! I don't think I would be brave enough to face all the dust and the hours of scraping! Thanks for sharing this!

    Kifus

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    1. Thanks! It was a lot of hard work but all in all it's worth it for my new, super cool floors.

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