Floors

The second coat of the hardwood floor finish was applied today. Last week they finished sanding the floor down, and gave us a choice (NOT ANOTHER CHOICE!?!?) of whether to use a water-based or oil-based finish. The advantage of the water-based finish is that it's more environmentally friendly (I think), and it requires less work to apply (I think). Quite honestly, I guess I didn't pay much attention when he was explaining it to me. The oil-based finish is richer and results in a darker color. In the picture above you can see my original sample sitting next to the two possibilities, and there is really no question: oil instead of water. We're paying for that decision by breathing in the delicious fumes.

We stayed out of the rest of the house all weekend as they let the first coat dry. It's very susceptible to dust, so they didn't want us to walk around near the open floor lest it get dusty and they have to start all over again. We used the big door to the "kitchen" (the garage door, that is), and tried to stay out of the real kitchen as much as we could. It also meant that we couldn't go downstairs to see the new carpeting, but such is the price of progress!

The first coat was a little bit rough, as the floor needs to soak up all the finish. Once the first coat was done and the finish dried, they came again today to sand down the floors and put the second coat on. It looks very nice and smooth and even. I'm very pleased with the choice of color of the floor; it really is exactly what I was expecting.

The stairs are exposed for the first time since they were put in (several months ago), and they are quite nice as well. They made cute little plugs to cover the screw heads which secure the stair planks to the stairs. I'll try to take some good pics (or have Kurt take them) tomorrow.

Once the current hardwood coat is dry (tomorrow? Wednesday?), the electrican will come in and start installing the finish lighting. And a happy day that will be! It seems that we're so excited to get to the next finishing piece, but no sooner do we get there, then we are wondering why it's taking so long to get to the next step. I guess that's just remodeling, eh?

I had hoped we would be done by my birthday, but it was not to be. Now we'll have to shoot for Kurt's birthday. Actually, if they finish all the lighting by Kurt's birthday we can all do a happy dance.

Let's consider what's left to do: repair the deck beneath the office (I'll write more about that later, because they've actually made great progress on that, and I estimate they'll be done with it this week), install the front door (Chris, the painter, was here this weekend finishing painting it, so the installation will probably happen this week), install the kitchen counters and plumbing (next week at the earliest), install the office door (which is here .. if they're done painting in the office, they should be able to finish this), install the finish plumbing downstairs (can do this any time) and the accessories (can do this any time), install the awning between the first and second floors, and install the railing on the outside deck and inside stairs. The railing will be the very last thing that gets done, guaranteed (well, if you don't count the damaged kitchen cabinet that has to get reinstalled). I figure we have exactly one more laundry date at the in-laws before our washer/dryer is installed. We're getting close to being done!