To be honest, I didn’t think this day would ever come. This August it will be 2 years since we last occupied our bedroom. The whole bedroom saga started with this, this, then this, this, a little progress here and finally the floors.

The bedroom project has been the perfect example of how things to go for us: wild enthusiasm, followed by huge list of things that need to be addressed before we get to do what we really want to do, followed by a period of moroseness, and finally completion – well, mostly completed.

This is what the floors looked like before we started.

Here it is after the broken boards were replaced and the whole thing was sanded.

One coat of stain (Minwax Mahogany)

We went with a dark-ish stain because of some damage that a lighter stain might not cover. Also kinda loving the trippy grain pattern that the stain brought out. The floors are far from perfect – and we’re OK with that, after all they are over 120 years old.  Gone are the sprinters, the squeaky boards and the huge gaps between some of the boards.

This is what it looks like after the first coat of wax:

I realize wax is an unusual choice, and may be one that we regret later on, as it’s untested against the formidable adversary that is cat vomit. I grew up in a house where the floors were waxed, and we have lived in plenty of rentals with poorly applied polyurethane. Wax gives the floors a lovely texture and it is not overtly shiny. Compounding the choice for wax is the fact that we put Tung Oil on our floors a couple of years ago. According to people who know more than we do, once you apply Tung Oil, you can’t do Polyurethane, even after much sanding. Why? I have no idea, but that’s what the cook kids say.

Next up, paint!

We are on track to move our stuff back into the room this Saturday, a full day before our guests arrive. Nothing like waiting until the last possible minute…