Monday, March 16, 2009

I'm walking on the new floors...

The yet to be installed kitchen flooring, leaning against the living room that is in dire need of a hot patch!
Our kitchen floor was originally an oatmeal color tile.
We decided to make it match the hardwood in the rest of the upstairs.
This is what the kitchen floor looked like for a couple of days. The wood has to acclimate to the household temperature.

Then a flooring team arrived and set up shop in the living room...

The original flooring in the guest room. It was later lightly sanded and custom stained to make it match all the other rooms.

The living room sanded...

The Master Bedroom had a second closet "borrowed" from the bedroom on the other side of the wall. The flooring that ended where the original back of the closet was needed to be woven in. The unfinished diagonal area is the sub-flooring.

The floor guys did a great job, you can't even tell where they wove in the new pieces.

Each bedroom had been stained a different tone over the years. You can see the hallway stain and finish was completely gone.

The floor now sanded, stained and sealed a rich oak shade. Three colors were blended to create this not too yellow, not too black and not too red tone.

The flooring contractor pointed out the planks that have patterns consistent with old growth wood. Apparently those patterns are no longer available as conservation now dictates that forests be planted and harvested in a faster timeline.

I guess I should feel a bit guilty about having "old forest" wood, but on the other hand, this was wood harvested 55 years ago; had the wood not been milled and used in my house, I imagine it could simply be compost by now.

Instead the beauty of the wood grain patterns will be appreciated by me!

The chevron pattern was one of the grain patterns that supposedly is no longer milled as it requires older growth. The kitchen floor, laid out with newly milled oak does not have nearly as interesting grain patterns.

There is a plus to the kitchen floor however: The planks are an engineered wood design that has a construction style that make for a sturdier floor. No creaks and cricks and pops when you walk on the kitchen floor; the rest of the upstairs has auditory response to movement.

Now to get used to shucking off shoes when entering the house...and crossing my fingers that the movers will be able to adequately cover the floors when they bring in all our stuff next Tuesday.
If you have read all the way to the end of this post, you either have had wood flooring done in your house, or are just really, really bored.
Or maybe you just appreciate wood grain and the conservation/restoration of older houses.
Like I said yesterday...we are getting there.

8 comments:

Dawn said...

Wow...the floors are BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Can't wait to see your STUFF settled into the new place!

Islandsparrow said...

Gorgeous floors! We just had 2 new bedroom floors installed - they look similar to yours. Unfortunately they don't match the rest of the hardwood in the house - but I don't mind too much. I was just very glad to get rid of the old wall to wall carpeting.

I bet you'll be glad to have everything done - it's a long old process.

Dolores said...

LOL, well we have gone through a renovation (an addition) many, many years ago and lived here while it was being done (with 5 children.) However, we did not put in hardwood flooring. Yes, I love it and I love how it got restored. I hope the movers don't muck it up.

Anonymous said...

I read it all, and not 'cause I'm bored! I love the look of wood floors...we had them in a house that I lived in as a child, and I can remember the sanding and staining and sealing process...it seemed to take weeks.

The floors are beautiful! Don't feel guilty for having old growth wood flooring...people search high and low for it and pay top dollar if they can find it. I'm all for recycling and reusing whenever possible (except for these ugly appliances in my kitchen, but Habitat wants them, too!).

Keep two beautiful baskets by the door - one for everyone to toss their shoes into when they remove them and another with assorted booties, house slippers and so on for them to don while visiting.

Becky said...

I LOVE your floors!!! I am certain you will too, if you don't already. As far as the shoelessness inside, its easy! We Canadians have been doing it for a long while (due to muddy boots, or wet soles) and it sure helps keep the house cleaner. Designate a special mat by your door, leave a pair of shoes there, and all those that enter will get the hint. My Canadian friend, who now lives across the line, has a basket of knitted one-size-fits-all slippers by her door. Her American friends seem to understand, and catch on relatively quickly with the idea. Happy slipping and sliding across your floors (great fun before the furnature and area rugs arrive!)

Anonymous said...

It is nice to get the suggestions about how the shoes/slipper exchange will work. So how do I get the slippers on the cats?
B

Unknown said...

I love wood floors. And these are really beautiful wood floors! My favorite homes have always had wood flooring, so I relate wood floors to favorite. Not only that,the allergy suffering is reduced so much when there is no carpeting.

I can hardly wait to see the final results of all your hard work, Jill.

Lovella ♥ said...

Jill, the floors are just beautiful. The grains and the tones are wonderful. You will love them, they are so easy to care for. I notice we have similar grains in our floors, Chevron here and there as well.