Dexter Hardwoods Part II: Refinishing 110-Year-Old Oak Floors

THE DEXTER HOUSE Last week we had the kitchen, dining, and living room hardwood floors professionally refinished.  And let me tell you...they look amazing!

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures taken before boots tracked dust on the floors and we were mid-process laying red rosin paper over the floors (to protect them for the duration of the renovation).  But hopefully these photos give you a glimpse of just how lovely they are!

We went with 3 coats of sweedish finish.  Two coats is pretty common, but since our properties often end up as rentals (not to mention we have a dog and kids who aren't exactly easy on the floors), we like the durability of a third coat.

The floors in the living and dining rooms are 110 year-old oak.  As I mentioned before, these floors were top-nailed, so we spent a good chunk of Sunday setting them one-by-one using 1/32" nail sets.  Considering there were one billion nails, this was a tedious task.  But luckily we have some pretty awesome friends that came over to help.  Many hands made for light work, and we were done in a matter of hours.  Our hands, on the other hand, were aching for days afterwards from gripping those nail sets.

Okay truth time.  I did a quick estimation on just how many nails there really were in the dining and living rooms and it came out to 5,400. Yup that's pretty much one billion!

The refinishers filled the holes we created with the sets and sanded them down with the rest of the floor.  This is how the top nails look now:

We also had the brand new oak floors in the kitchen finished.  As you probably remember, these were laid by Garrett and yours truly a couple of weeks back.  I love the look of hardwoods in kitchens.  I know some people swear under their breath at the thought of wood floors in kitchens, but we have them in every house we own and I've never had a problem with it.  Here have a look at these beauties:

Having the same flooring throughout the kitchen, dining and living rooms really helps our small living space feel bigger, don't you think?!  I can't wait until the cabinets are painted...these floors are really going to pop!

So I should probably address a question I think you may be asking yourself.  Why did a couple of renovation-loving, DIY-obsessed folks choose to hire out hardwood refinishing when it's definitely something you can do yourself.  Good question!  We've refinished hardwood floors ourselves before but they didn't hold up nearly as well as a professional refinishing.  We also had the Ravenna House hardwoods professionally refinished with 3 coats of Sweedish and have been so impressed by how durable they are, that we were eager to do the same thing for the oak floors at Dexter.

Next up is sanding and painting all the old fir floors in the hallway and bedrooms at the Dexter House.  We will be DIY-ing this effort for a few reasons, mainly budget and the fact that obtaining a long-lasting durable finish should be pretty easy to achieve.  It should be a fun experiment - I'll keep you posted!

What do you guys think about the floors?  Do you have experience refinishing hardwoods yourself?  I'd love to hear about it!

xoxo

-Cathy

p.s. I live in Seattle so of course I'm partial to house boats.  This 240sf floating home doesn't disappoint!

p.p.s. When I'm gone.  Warning: this will make you cry, I guarantee it.  But read it anyway, it'll make you smile too!

p.p.p.s. The best things Joy has ever ate...of course Seattle's Top Pot donuts make the list!