Part 6 GP: Sanding the Hardwood

Good morning everyone on this wonderful morning!!  It's always a great day when Punxatawney Phil predicts an early Spring, right?  I try not to think about the fact that he's predicted this 19 times now, and he was never wrong the other 18, lol.

Well, the Old Man finally gave the go ahead this passed week to start working on the floors.  It was finally time to sand off the old paint and oops, the mud and paint that got on the floor when we were hanging drywall and priming & painting.

We used a belt sander in the large areas, an orbital hand sander for the edges and three grits of sandpaper (50, 80, and 120) to get down to the bare wood and  for it to be smooth enough for bare feet.  No one wants a splinter on a midnight pee run....am I right?  Heck no!

Try not to hold it against him that he's a Cowboys fan lol

I cried when I saw this under all that paint and gunk

The weeks of waiting to finally get to this point has been completely nerve racking to say the least.  Let me repeat...two OCD people should not work on a project together...the stress level intensifies x10.  I think the hardest thing for him has been realizing that he doesn't have to do everything himself...and that women CAN and will get dirty too.  It's become a "look what WE did" instead of of "I" thing.

After it was all sanded it was time to give it an extreme sweeping session and a good hand mopping in four different directions with a mix of hot water, vinegar and good ole Dawn dish soap.  This not only gets it clean, but really opens up the wood.

It was a hard decision whether to stain or not to stain....we are choosing no to use stain and just seal the floors with polyeurathane.  But after testing a spot on the floor with Varathane Ultimate Polyurethane in semi-gloss finish, an oil-based poly, that gives a warm golden glow to the wood.  It's fast drying too...bonus!  I definitely am impatient when it comes to drying times lol.

 We picked out a spot to brush some on and test the waters

Look at how it already brings out the color of the wood

So the decision has been made to stick with just sealing the floor with two coats of this awesome poly!!  I wanted to hop on it that night lol....but someone had a few surprises up his sleeve for me first.   Come check out my new office work area and beauty bar.

On the nights when Rick is working on a project in this room I keep myself occupied working on my décor for this room...watch for some upcoming posts on how I did these.