a quick ear stain about floor stain

Picking out a floor stain can be quite the tedious process. You don't want to go too dark, you don't want to go too light, you don't want it to be too red, blah blah blah. I have had stain on the brain for quite some time now. I am kind of at that trippy place in life where if you say a word a few times too many that it gets to the point where it sounds so weird it can't possibly be a real word. Stain. stain. stain. Tell me that doesn't sound crazy to you too. I promise I have not been huffing polyurethane. Moving on. That was weird. 

I am having a dilemma picking out a stain. Here is a quick reminder of what the floors used to look like:

And a quick update on the sanding progress:

It's hard to believe after just a day of sanding, what once looked like this...

Now looks like this...

And another before:

And another after:

Initially I was really worried about this part ever getting back to normal...

Now the boards that had to be replaced don't look as out of place as they did earlier...

And I was really sad to think about losing my white floor, that I HAND painted all by myself, but the maintenance is killer. I did it almost 4 years ago, and it was probably time to do it again. The scuffs and scratches were getting a little OOC. 

White floor no more:

You probably think I am a lunatic for ever painting the floor in the first place, but I assure you I am not. Some of you (more like none) might remember from here the floor was covered in a lovely puke green colored carpet, and underneath there was yet another charming shade of blue paint on the floors (and walls). OMG I am not kidding. I just found an old picture and I have to just share it. AHHH. Point proven. I was not crazy for painting the floors white.

And now to my actual dilemma. Floor stain decisions...

I am a lover of dark floors. Realllly dark floors. And our floors prior to sanding were already really dark. I know there is more upkeep involved with dark floors. And yes, we have dogs. I know the downsides, but you know I like to be hardheaded. I always thought I would end up staining the floors really dark again. Here are some stain options:

Clockwise from top: Early American, Mahogany, Clear

Top: Clear, Bottom: Mahogany 

Can you believe that is just a clear stain? Crazy, right? Knowing how much I love to pine and toil in agony over decisions like this, you would think I would have put down about 15 more colors. Thank God I didn't have access to more colors because clearly I would have. And I would have mixed and diluted and given myself about a million too many options to chose from. 

While the crazy person in me really wants to lean towards the darkest stain, there is some bit of sanity sneaking in that is telling me to let the natural beauty of the floors speak for themselves. I don't have to do the speaking for everyone. 

Here is another picture of particularly low quality, but I was trying to capture a bit of what the old stain looked like (in the far left corner) next to what the floors will look like with just the clear stain. I think the clear stain might be the clear winner. Yes, I get cheesier by the day. 

It is such a drastic change from what the floors were like before, but I think it is the right decision. Au naturale is always in style, right?  Anyone have any opinions they are brave enough to share?

electric feel

Last week was pretty exciting, minus the whole packing up and moving part. There was more real life progress! We all know how much I love lighting, so you know I was pretty damn excited to see those things get some electricity. It has been pretty dark in the house over the past few weeks months in more ways than one. 

Starting with the kitchen, let there be light:

You know nothing can go off without a hitch, so there are a few places where there are more holes than there should be. I am not even going to stress about it as I am currently practicing the Disney Frozen method known as "letting it go".  

And also because, when I popped in from work to check the progress, I found my BRAND NEW counter tops covered with things that are unmentionable. Things similar to those that littered my floor on the first day of demo when it looked like this:

Not cool people, not cool. Was there damage? Yes. Am I ready to talk about it? No. Why am I not in complete hysterics and on another crazy rampage? Again, I am practicing the let it go method. For now. That battle will be crusaded at a later date. 

Moving on...

Between the master bedroom, guest bedroom, and the sunroom, I decided to do a little switch-a-rooskie with the lights. The light from the master bedroom found a new home in the guest bedroom. The light from the guest bedroom (and star of a blast from the past post) found a new home in the sunroom. And the master bedroom got a much needed upgrade from the $10 ikea light that tops out with one 40 watt bulb. It was time. 

So what once looked like this in the master bedroom:

Now looks like this:

After raising the ceiling in the guest bedroom, I was worried the light fixture we had in there previously would be too small. Let's just go ahead and say I was right, because it is too late now. 

So what once looked this in the guest bedroom:

Now looks like this:

(furniture install to come if we ever finish this renovation)

And lastly, the guest bedroom fixture now happily resides here, in the sunroom:

Which will go above my sweet little DIY table project from earlier this month:

Also of note, the hardware for the kitchen was installed as well. I lazily snapped one single picture. It was not a true measure for my level of excitement, I promise. And you obviously know I will take more pictures. Come on, it is the colossal over sharer we are talking about here. 

I think we can officially start counting down the days! And not because we have a definite end date, but because I am going on vacation in September come hell or high water and not even this beast of a project will stop me!! 

dog tired

I hope everyone had amazing weekends! I, for one, am pretty sure I had the best weekend of the summer yet. The Taylor family (that is two normal sized adults + 2 super sized dogs) are taking this show on the road. We have officially moved into our temporary abode while the floors are being refinished. We will be living it up in less than 500 square feet (yes, you read that right) for the next two weeks. How cozy, how quaint! Everyone come over! Oh wait, that would be a fire hazard. 

We had the pleasure of moving all of our earthly possessions into the attic as well as the trusty old Pack Rat that is still in the driveway. Talk about sucking an egg. It sucked. I have known all along we would have to move EVERYTHING out of the downstairs to get the floors refinished, but I guess I hadn't REALLLY thought about it if you know what I mean. 

I hadn't REALLLLY thought about how it would actually get done, logistically speaking. I had not considered who would move and dismantle the steel bed frame that I cannot remember how it got into the house in the first place, who would pack up my entire closet (ENTIRE), who would move the piano, you get the point... What were we thinking??? Are the floors really that bad?? There were times when I wanted to scratch the whole refinishing gig. But then I would simply look down to view the current situation for a cold dose of reality. It is not a possibility to scratch the refinishing gig in any way, shape, or form. It is mandatory. Quick reminder of the current situation:

The only thing that pushed me through was looking for before and after pictures on google images. I wish I was kidding. I am a visual person. 

Seer Floor

To think my floors could one day look like this again was all the motivation I needed. 

I really am super excited to get the floors refinished, but all that moving got me like...

I didn't even think we had that much stuff. Operation Downsize in full effect. 

range of emotions

Some things about this project have been super exciting. Other things have been a wee bit stressful. On that note, let's talk ranges. When it came to picking out a range for the kitchen, I did a TON of research. I love to cook, and I do a lot of baking in particular. I knew I wanted ("needed") at least two ovens, so there really were a lot of options to consider. I also love to cook with gas so I knew I wanted dual fuel. Should I get one big 36" range and add a wall oven? Should I do a cooktop and two wall ovens? Should I do one really wide range with two ovens? Did I want both ovens to be the same size? What if they were asymmetrical? Would it drive me crazy? The chances are high. 

There is one particular range I have always had my eye on. It has been filed under the section in my head labeled: "Things I WILL Own One Day Even If I Have To Sell A Vital Internal Organ." Breaking news: I ordered it. The One. I could not be more excited about it or more in love with it. It is physically impossible to be more excited about it. I have envisioned our meeting day for many, many years. I have thought about what I might wear for our first meeting, how I would do my hair. And you think I'm kidding. 

Well I had dreamed and dreamed about it, and then someone came along and tried to sabotage that glorious moment. A few weeks ago, my contractor happened to be in the store from where I had ordered it. He said he saw my range. On the show floor. He described it. It was the wrong color. You cannot be serious.

I don't think you could imagine the level of anxiety I was experiencing. I did not sleep that night. Unfortunately, it wasn't something as easy to fix as if I bought the wrong type of almond milk. This beauty had been on a boat across the Atlantic for the past few weeks. I ordered it months ago. Not cool. Ain't nobody got time to wait another 4 months for a different range. So I called the rep I worked with to order it. He said it was definitely not my range, and it was one the store had actually just finally gotten in after ordering it to have as a floor model months ago. My ugly cry face just went to a weird 'I don't know what to do next' face. 

I was still worried for some reason my range was going to be wrong. I was wigging out. But the rep ensured me all was golden, and it would be here the next week. I was still kind of having that awkward 'I'm not crying but I'm also not really breathing' face. 

This range is like my child. I am spazzing out here. 

And then a category 16 hurricane came in and wrecked my life. I got an email from my rep. Subject Line: "Good News and Bad News." The range had arrived. They had to refuse the shipment. It was DAMAGED. 

Why do I feel like I am dying a slow and painful death here?? Why is the universe out to get me?? PS--You said good news and bad news? Even if you told me you were joking, NONE of this is good news. I need hospitalization. 

MAYDAY.

His good news was that the company was taking care of it and had already shipped a replacement. Excuse me while I go drown in my own tears.The stress is too much. I think I just needed some alone time. 

Then my beauty arrived. Enter euphoria!

I will spare you the pictures of our special meeting, as it was a very intimate moment, but for now, you can just feast your eyes on this small preview. Oh happy day!

And if all goes as planned when we unpack its little wooden crate, hopefully it will have a strong resemblance to something along these lines:

a little DIY on the side

I am usually a big proponent of the DIY. Unfortunately, with this kitchen project I haven't been able to incorporate as much DIY as I would have liked because I simply haven't had the time. When you are out of town on average 9 out of 10 weekends, finding the time to do insanely time consuming projects is like playing hide and seek by yourself. The free time isn't hiding from me, it just simply is nowhere to be found in 2015. 

The projects I had in mind probably aren't insanely time consuming for the average person, but when your name is April and you operate at the pace of a handicapped turtle, simple projects tend to become akin to everyone's favorite childhood movie, The Neverending Story. 

I knew I wanted a small table and chair set in the sunroom near the bar. The sunroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house and is sadly probably the most under-utilized. But, there is nothing like the thought of throwing away $$$ to get me motivated. Que the inspiration photos from last year's trip to Paris:

Foter

Frontgate

When I was in the phase of talking with my countertop fabricator on an hourly basis, I managed to get in my 20 questions and then some. I started thinking about portions in the slabs that were having to be cut out to accommodate features like the sink and the range. I knew my fabricator didn't charge me based on the number of slabs, but just for the total square footage needed for the job, so cut outs were actually included in the total square footage. Butttt, where do those cut outs go? Who gets them? Wasn't I paying for them anyway? Was someone trying to rip me off? Ohh hell to the no. 

So I asked my fabricator and they told me they would "give" me the cut out for the sink and would only charge labor to finish off the edges. I am not telling you this to say they were trying to rip me off, I just want other peeps to be aware to speak up about the cut outs if you think you might want them for a future project to top a side table, small vanity, etc. If I hadn't asked, I don't think I ever would have seen that part of the stone again. And, it is something I had already paid for. Motivation found.  

Once I got the sink cut out portion back from the fabricator, it was smaller than I had hoped, but through no fault of their own. A typical sink is going to be smaller than most cafe tables anyway, so I don't know what type of miracle I was expecting. Maybe a Jesus multiplying two fish and the loaves of bread type of miracle. Or better yet, turning water into wine. Either way, not realistic for this little project. I got the countertop back and it is roughly 17x27.  You can check it out for yourself:

It really is a perfect little size because it is going in a small space anyway. All I needed was two chairs and a table base. Solutions found.

1) Two chairs, and what a steal they were. I am kicking myself, well not really kicking, I am just mad at myself for spending way more on some sister chairs for the kitchen.

Safavieh

2) Table base. This next part is basically rocket science, so I hope you are sitting down. My first step was getting on the world wide web. I headed to http://www.google.com (similar to the website formerly known as askjeeves). I entered the search terms "table bases". I clicked on the first result listed, which took me to the astutely named website, tablebases.com Ground breaking stuff here, I know. 

I actually did look for other options, and I have to say this site was the clear winner by far. I didn't have time to go get kidnapped hunting down craigslist finds, or to waste an entire day digging through a flea market that never seems to love me back. I did find one other place out of CA that was less expensive, but the website kind of sketched me out and I wasn't in the mood to have my identity stolen so I settled on tablebases.com. Easy enough, I got my table base quicker than I got through the work week. And, here we are:

When the table base arrived, I put it together in less than 5 minutes. Ok, maybe 10. And with zero help from my worthless assistants who were clearly sleeping on the job.

And lastly, all I had to do was find a piece of wood to affix to the marble top so I could screw the table base into the wood instead of affixing it to the marble.

And I know you thought I would never get to it, but now I would like to showcase my pretty pathetic attempt at reintroducing a little DIY in my life. Enter stage left: my new uber charming Parisian cafe table and chairs for the corner of my sunroom. Tres charmant!

I promise to post a better picture when I have actually removed the packaging materials from the chairs. And when the floors aren't 100% covered in saw dust.