Well, we made it to Colorado and we’re currently sitting in a spiffy little hotel room in the heart of Engelwood. Our design TV meetings start at noon today, and we’re hoping to get a peek at the DIY Network Disaster House before we leave town on Wednesday too…
We’re big Josh Temple fans! Here’s a snippet from an episode where he showed how to repair damaged wood floors…
And speaking of hardwood floor projects…we finally started tackling another big one at our house, a few days before we packed up and headed off to Denver. (Hi. We’re the Palmers and we work better under pressure.)
We’ve already refinished the floors in the future kids room and office, but we got a hankerin’ to do the living room floor the other day, so off to Russel Do-It Center we went to rent another floor sander.
Here are a couple of photos of the living room before we moved in…
That’s me, with my head out the window, gasping for air. I’m kidding- but for real, can you say “stretched out, pee-stained carpet”?
Visions of Toby danced in our heads…
…but, we bought the place as-is, and Kev ripped out that nasty stuff the day we closed on the house. Over the next few days we quickly installed some really inexpensive (and temporary) wood laminate flooring. It did the trick for the past (almost) four years, but little by little we’ve uninstalled it, donated to other folks, and we’ve slowly but surely been refinishing all the hardwood underneath.
Check it out- here’s what the floor looked like as of last week…ya know, when we got the aforementioned hankerin’…
And here’s a super short video of what we got ourselves into…
And here’s what it looked like when we got done sanding and sealing…
We used a water-based, semi-gloss Varathane from Lowes.
Pretty rooty tooty, fresh n’ fruity, eh?!
Obviously we still have that pesky little strip of concrete to deal with down at the far end of the room (don’t worry- I think we’ve come up with a pretty cool plan and we’re pretty darn excited to put it into action!), and we look forward to refinishing the hardwood in the dining room when we get back home, too. Then there’s baseboards to prime, paint and trim out…walls to touch up….etc, etc, etc.
After that, we’ll move onto the cracked, stained, ugly floors tiles in the kitchen. We’ve got a plan for those bad boys too. (Insert sinister-style laugh here)
Get My Free E-book: 15 Common Decorating Mistakes And How You Can Avoid Them
Enter your email to download my free e-book instantly! 🙂
Kevin, you look so worn out in that video! But look at how that floor came out… well worth it! Layla is so lucky to have you…love you too Layla!!!
Thanks so much Trish! It was well worth it and I appreciate your sweet comment! 🙂
Wow, The floors look lovely. Is it really possible to just do one room at a time? We are about to put some in the kitchen, but not quite ready to remove carpet to the original wood floors to the rest of the house. It’s a project I’d like to tackle, but couldn’t to the whole house at one time. Did you tape off the rest of the home to avoid the dust from your living room? Just curious how you did it! Thanks for the inspiration.
Hey Carolyn!
Yes, we used plastic drop clothes and taped off the doorway to the hall and the entrance to the dining room. When we tackle the dining room next week, we’ll seal off the entrances to the kitchen and living room. Thanks for the comment!
The room looks lovely but, what really caught my eye is the panelling. I have that same solid wood panelling in a room of my older home. We used the room as an office for years but, not so much anymore. I’ve been daydreaming of painting it white and turning it into a cute little sitting room. Your room has convinced me that its a must. Thank you. I really enjoy your blog.
Thanks Catherine, painting it really changed the feel of the whole room!
Wow! Looks fabulous guys. It’s amazing how old wood can be made so fresh & new again . . . just like people I suppose.
Oh my goodness!! Poor Kevin! I hate to giggle but I have picture of my husband completely dust covered from about 20 years ago that was so similar. And D could hardly talk too! lol
My favorite part was max behind the plastic though. SOOO cute! You could tell he wasn’t too sure about being away from his mom and dad.
The floor looks FAB U LOUS!!!!
I wish I would have been paying attention to you being in Denver. I would have loved to meet up with you 🙂 I know your schedule is crazy busy. I hope you are loving our pretty state.
I am amazed at the power of paint and new flooring in terms of room transformation. Makes me consider a more neutral palette for my own home (there’s a first for everything!) 🙂
floors look great and i must say, Kevin looked so cute all tired and sweaty. 🙂
Give that poor guy a drink of water!!!
Great job on the flooring, it makes the room look so much bigger and brighter.
Susan
http://www.susansutherlin.blogspot.com
Gorgeous!
As I was watching your video my two year old responded when you asked your puppy if he wanted outside: “yes” Then said “puppy outside.” He was obviously more concerned with the pup than the gorgeous floors! 🙂
Truly a great example of how you can turn something from drab to fab with a little elbow grease and some paint! -I have to admit, I’m totally curious why the wood stops short of the end of the room? Was there an addition or something?
Looks GREAT! I have a question…..how are the fumes? We just had our floors refinished almost two weeks ago and the fumes are still awful! Running our gas dryer also causes additional fumes! ACK! Any suggestions?
this post came at the right/wrong time. we just pulled up the last of the carpet in our cottage. it doesn’t look half bad, but your post only reminds me of all the work we have ahead.
goodluck and enjoy your trip.
ashley
heading to tybee island next weekend for a week… staying at the mermaid cottages and the one in particular is Old Love Cottage. My question for you is what are some neat attractions and places to visit while on tybee island or savannah. I have 3 kids and hubby. Age 18, age 11, age 7 plus hubby and me
I love decorating and antiquing …love flea markets. Kids love anything outdoors and fishing.
Gorgeous!!! I just started posting pictures of our house remodel and I absolutely do not know what I’m doing! Thank you for your endless know-how and impeccable taste. 🙂 I love learning from you!!! And Denver? You’re in my neck of the woods…weather is gorgeous, I hope you have fun!!!
The floors look great! I love your blog and am truly inspired by everything you post!
My sister actually lives in Prattville and is opening a bakery and restaurant downtown in a few months. It’s in a home built in 1850 and is in VERY bad condition right now…but it should be neat when it’s done!
Your newly finished floors look fabulous. I can imagine what Kevin’s back felt like. It looked like he sanded the whole floor on his hands and knees. That is commitment!
WOW! What a difference, The floor looks amazing!
Wow! Gorgeous floors.
~FringeGirl
Oh, yeah!!!!!!!! LOVE, love, love rich wood floors. Terrific!!!!
looks sooooo good!
looks sooooo good!
Nice job on the wood floors. My husband and I have not only refinished floors in our old house but put brand new ones in our new house. It was a project but I learned quickly how to use a saw!
Jenna
Poor Kevin! He looks absolutely done in! But, the finished pictures show that all his hard work was well placed. You guys continue to amaze me. Looks just GREAT!!!!
I agree with Mz. V. Poor Kevin looks done in!! Floor looks good, though.
Oh.My.Word. I just laughed so hard at Toby that my 7 kiddos came running. That was so gross and all too familiar. Being married to a veterinarian means we get some interesting pets and hospital stays on IVs in our living room/bedroom floor b/c owners don’t want their pets dying in their home, but also don’t want them dying alone at the clinic…so we bring them to our home to completely traumatize our children. That clip, however, shows the ‘lighter’ side of having guests. Thanks for the great laugh as we don’t have TV, so that was a first for us. I’ll be bringing my husband by to see that one after he gets off work today!
Poor Kevin looks exhausted!!! What a good husband you have! Thanks for the inspiration! I have parque’ floor in our bedrooms and I think they would look beautiful if we had them refinished but with three kids and lots of responsabilities we can only wait, save and hope!
I LOVE IT. It looks like hard work but when you get such a huge transformation…it is worth it. I am new to your blog. I look forward to going over some old posts and getting to see new ones.
gorgeous wood floors! I know this is an old post but could you let me know what kind of new floors you put in? We are putting in new floors and haven’t found any that we love.