Farmhouse Renovation Week 19 (Countertops & Floors)

It was an exciting week!  And we’re getting sooooo close!  So many times I’ve felt like this house project is like planning a wedding.  There is lots to do in the beginning, then things slow down a bit.  And then towards the end, everything feels like it’s in a flurry.  It also works that way with money.  Really expensive in the beginning and definitely towards the end.  Fortunately, I’ve taken full advantage of the Black Friday deals to purchase things we need for the house like curtain rods, a new wireless router, TV and other items.

Speaking of TVs.  We purchased a flat screen TV this week.  That probably sounds uneventful, but we’ve never owned one.  We’ve had our big box TV for so long and every time it looked like it was going to die, someone was getting rid of theirs and I just couldn’t justify buying one since we had a new one available for free.  So when we started this project, I told my husband we would get a flat screen TV.  He was in charge of that decision.  I think he was all about renovating the entire farmhouse that’s been in my family just so he could finally get the TV he’s always wanted!  Ha!

As soon as the week started, the staining started on the floors.  They were so beautiful natural but I really felt like they would look better dark since our woodwork is so dark.  They were also originally dark floors.  Above is the pine floor in the master being stained.  I started to freak out a bit as the stain looked so dark going on.  Like, really really dark.  I just had to trust in the samples I picked out.

You can see the difference in the color.  The right is stained and the left has a few layers of oil polyurethane on it.  The oil poly smells awful and takes longer to dry, but we really wanted to use oil for at least the first few layers of poly.

We have pine floors in the upstairs master which is seen above and the downstairs living room.  The picture above is after three layers of polyurethane.  Originally we were only going to have three layers total, but the floors were soaking it all in so much that they are putting the final coat on, on Monday.  That will be four layers.  Fine with me.  I have two young boys who will be hard on these floors!

The pine is pretty blotchy in areas and we expected that.  It’s pine.

The oak floors in the rest of the house, however, turned out beautiful.  The dining room ended up being birch wood.  All in all, they all look amazing.  The color has softened and the detail in the wood has really started to come out with each layer of poly.

We will have our chance at trying the poly ourselves.  They were unable to work around the armoire so they stained and sanded it for us.  Next week we’ll be doing the last layers ourselves in the small area of the room.  That should be interesting.  🙂

The tops of the stairs were sanded.  The risers are not done apparently by  most companies, which sounded so strange to me.  I guess that’s why so many people paint them white.  I didn’t want white, so I tried my best to match the original color.

I think they turned out grand!  It’s amazing to me that these were covered up for so many years.  It’s amazing what a little sanding and stain can do!

The floors were finished and grouted in the kitchen.  I think they look good as well!  It’s such an exciting time in the process!

And the countertops were installed! I love, love my island I was probably crazy to put in.  It’s HUGE!  Sorry, the pic is a bit blurred.  My iphone was not liking me this week.  The crew arrived to install the countertops the day before Thanksgiving right after a layer of oil poly was put on the floors.  The house smelled so strong of fumes from the poly.  I apologized to the crew and they said their glue would take care of the poly smell.  Boy, did it!  Chemical city.  It’s a good thing we have a drafty old house so the air quality could get better by the next day.

My personal project was to scrap all the pealing paint off the smokehouse.  Our bank doesn’t want any pealing paint on the property, which means we have to address it now.  We originally were going to add barn siding, but we don’t have time, so I’m going to paint it this week and it will be perfectly fine for now and we can barn side it in the future.  We plan to keep our freezer in the smokehouse along with other odds and ends.

And finally, we tackled internet and TV.  My brother installed the TV antenna on top of the windmill.  We’ll also have our internet beamed to a satellite dish on the windmill.  It’s beamed from the neighbors granary.  You have to get creative when you live out in the country.  🙂

All in all, a good week.  It should be full steam ahead this coming week!  I am so ready to be done!  🙂