Why We Still Haven't Refinished the Hardwoods in the Kitchen
THE FARMHOUSE
Let’s rewind back to 2019 when we were deep in our kitchen remodel and decided to go with a refinish of our existing floors rather than replace with something new (here are the 4 flooring options we considered). We were completely transforming the walls and ceiling of this kitchen, but the floors were still pretty rough. Like gave-our-kids-splinters rough. So the plan was to refinish them and make them shine. Well here we are 2 years later, and we still haven’t touched the hardwood floors. And I’m so glad we haven’t. Here’s why…
sconces, drawer pulls, art, + more sources here
Last summer my sister came for a long visit at our Farmhouse with her 3 kids and large dog. And after a few days of indoor-outdoor summer living, she told me that she LOVED our floors. The kids were in and out with mud and who-knows-what on their feet after spending their days exploring our pond and 3 wooded acres. The dog was constantly running in and out, her nails scratching up the fir. And my sister didn’t have to worry about any of it. The floors could take their beating and much much more and be no worse for wear
And that got me thinking…why did we think we wanted nicer refinished wood floors in here anyway? With 3 kids of our own and now a dog too, aren’t these imperfect floors perfect for us? They’re solid and broken-in and can’t really get beaten up any worse than they already are. And best of all, I don’t have to worry about or baby them. We just get to live on them. In fact, when a pink sticky note got left on the dining room floor in the sun and left a bright pink stain (I didn’t even know that was possible… 🤷🏼♀️😬), I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. “It’s fine” I said and 100% meant it. (The stain eventually disappeared on its own.)
A lot of the renovation world tells us that we have to change things to make them better. But sometimes less-than-perfect is perfect for where you’re at. At least that’s true for us.
Another thing I like about these floors is the look of them. The all-white kitchen feels pretty polished and finished, and I like the juxtapose of the rustic floors. They add a lived-in, welcoming feel that says ‘come on in and throw your muddy boots in the corner’. We’re not too precious here and it shows.
Of course the orangey-ness of the fir is a bit out of fashion these days but it has grown on me overtime. And when we do eventually refinish these, they’ll lighten up and look like the upstairs fir floors we refinished.
Here are a few closeups of the floors as they looked yesterday, dirt splatters and all. (That discolored triangle is from the old angled island cabinets which sat here.)
So of course the big downside is that the floors sometimes give the kids splinters (never really adults, strangely enough). So how do we deal with that? Well over time it’s happened a lot less. Partly because the kids wear socks or slippers in the winter. Partly because the kids have learned not to slide on the floors. And partly because the kids have pulled up a lot of the wood that was ready to come up. So maybe splinters were an issue with how the kids were using the floors just as much as they were an issue with the floors themselves…?
Of course these floors will eventually need refinishing…they can’t last forever. And by letting them go longer and longer without a refinish, we’re risking bigger repairs and patches before we can do that. But they’re just floors. And they’re already 100+ years old. So for now, we have no plans to refinish these floors anytime soon. We’re happy to just get to enjoy living on these imperfect-but-perfect-for-us floors.
What do you think? Do you like the floors as is or would you want to refinish them right away?
