Before + After: New & Refinished Hardwood Floors

Happy Monday friends!

Last week was a whirlwind and I was knee deep in a few different projects that I thought I would tell you about since, well, I really haven’t had time to think or write about anything else.

Last week my little man went away to overnight camp for the first time ever! So project #1 was getting him ready for that and trying not to miss him too much. This was the first time we’ve been separated this long and it was especially hard because I couldn’t even talk to him (which was good for the camp side of things, not so good for this lonely mama)! I literally felt like I was missing a limb all week!

But, he did great and had a wonderful time which I knew would be the case! Overnight camp was one of my favorite memories as a kid and I’m grateful for his experience. {Thanks Grace Covenant Church!} And he made my heart happy when he said one of the best parts of camp was getting mail. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure his mail loot was top notch :)

Project #2 was having hardwood floors installed in little man’s room and refinishing the downstairs floors which kept me busy and helped keep my mind off of missing him too much. My son’s room was the last room in the house that still had the original carpet, and let me tell you, 18 year old carpet is NASTY with a capital N!

This project was a long time coming and because my parents are at the #OIBHappy house more now we decided to hire out the job. Usually my dad is the one knee deep in my DIY projects but since it was Father’s Day week and all, I decided to let him off the hook :)

But what started out as new flooring turned into the entire downstairs hardwoods getting refinished at the last minute. It just didn’t make since for us to have someone in to lay the floors and not go ahead and refinish them all. The wood floors are also 18 years old. So, the new floor was laid then they sanded the old floors and put 3 coats of polyurethane down.

The floors are simple white oak boards and I like the natural color so no stain was needed. We hit a snag when we realized that Home Depot no longer carried the white oak in store so the flooring guy had to find it and bring it in. I took off Tuesday of last week to move everything out of our downstairs and they worked on the floors from Wednesday to Friday.

My poor neighbors… :)

I was staying at my parents condo for most of the time so I had a lake view as my office for a couple of days. It was heavenly! I picked up my little man from camp on Friday (yay!!!) And we were able to get back into the house on Saturday. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday moving back in.

So it’s Sunday night, I’m exhausted, but I’m finishing up this post so you can see everything. It was a lot of work moving in and out on such short notice but it was 100% worth it! The floors look great and it fills so nice and clean in here. No more bald spots and scratches on the wood and no more pet stained carpet (from our pets and multiple past tenants)!

It’s hard to tell the difference of the floors that were refinished from the pictures so you’ll just have to trust me that they look SO much better!

BEFORE:

Can you see the dullness and scratches?

AFTER:

This is the new flooring and it’s a perfect match!

Somebody claimed the room while there was still no furniture in it :)

There will be more changes to my son’s room happening soon so make sure to check back. Hint, hint, carpet will be coming back. I’ll leave it at that :)

Cheers to a productive week!