Round 2, Day 3 [floors are finished...]

Day 3 

So after they finished the first coat of the living room it was to sand down and do the final coat that covered the dining room and living room so that it would all have a continuous finish. In the end, I know I'm bias, I must say it turned out pretty nice!

After sanding, before the final coat of varnish. 

 

These photos were all taken when the varnish was still drying, I'm hoping to do a final post of the dining room and living room once we get new window coverings, furniture, etc. Since my family is very slow moving and mostly indecisive, it may be a while. But regardless; it feels really good to finally have the floors done, no carpet, no old stain.

....the room will continue to be a work in progress...

Round 2, Day 2 [refinishing original hard wood floors]

Day 2 from beginning to end.

 

 

 

Day 2 was the longest day, so luckily my youngest brother was able to take off work and chip in and be an extra help. After sanding, because not all of the previous stain came off very easily since it had been on their so long, so it came down to handy work of my dad, mom's cousin, and Zach. I say they did a pretty good job!

 

     

I was impressed seeing as I spent the majority of the day out of the house to leave in the morning to floors that still needed significant sanding to come back to freshly varnished finish (of the first layer) was impressive. Unfortunately, even with getting done at 7:30pm it still wasn't dry the next morning so once again a late start to be had. More on that in the next post!

Round 2, Day 1 [refinishing original hard wood floors]

 

Day 1

So after the setback of us losing our electricity for 72 hours, my dad and mom's cousin were ready to rock and roll. They spent the first day using the machine sander and sanding down the first layer of varnish and stain that was on from the previous owner. You can see {before} photos if you are interested in the progress. Luckily with the power outage it just set us back one day. In addition to dealing with the obvious, the cats had to remain in closed rooms and separated which made for interesting living conditions. 

 

   

 Left - previously refinished dining room floor Right - newly sanded living room floor.

Slowly but surely it is starting to look so much better, it's fun to see my dad work. I'm so happy that I have a hard-working, do-it-himself dad like him. I think sometimes he feels like it goes unnoticed, but I am here to say DAD. You're hard work is definitely noticed!

All posts in regards to this project are labeled "wood floors":

family house project 2012

2013 ed.

starting where we left off [sanding, sealing, and varnish] before.

family summer house project 2012 - 2013

2013 ed.

Let me take you back to {this post}, last summer in August. My childhood/ parents home was built in 1915 where all the original hard wood floors have been covered with a very unique green carpet up until last summer. Originally the plan was to strip, sand, and refinish two bedrooms, the dining room, and living room in one week last summer. However, after one days work it became evident that the quality of work we wanted was not going to get done with just my dad, and mom's cousin working on it in a course of 5 days. Fast forward to this summer where all we have left is our front living room floors, and an additional final coat on the dining room for good measure.

  

Before. There is an original stain on them as well, however we are stripping it down and just putting a glossy finish. (We also plan on getting brand new window coverings, rugs, etc.)

Sassy (the newest member of our family) snuck in on a few of these photos!

   

All of the main floor of our home is hard oak {same as the dining room}, the upstairs bedroom floors are a not. One thing that I think is so amazing about wood floors is that even no matter how worn-down they are, after taking off a few of the top layers and time to clean them up how truly beautiful they are. It's projects like these that make me excited at the thought of owning my own home one day. My dad has taken such good care of this house, and truly prioritized quality over quantity. No, every part of this house isn't brand new and up-to-date with the newest trend but it has been taken care of every step of the way. Every upgrade made has been thought out, researched, and intentional.
You can see the transformation of our floors last summer {here}.

Perseverance.

My last week and a half has gone something like this; I moved out on a Tuesday and ended my lease at my one and only college rental on a Friday mentioned in my last post {here}. Fortunately/ unfortunately, within the chaos took one day off of studying NCLEX because it just wasn't going to happen. Luckily, I was organized and efficient enough that I was able to move in and unpack completely into my parents within less than 24 hours (I am a firm believer in giving away or throwing away items that I know longer absolutely need or use, or my rule of thumb; if it is less than $20.00 and I'm not using it, get rid of it...I can replace it later if I need to).

After starting to get into a routine at my parent's house we discover (as my dad is out of town for work) that the dryer downstairs is broken, needs to be replaced. Which my parents couldn't go shopping for until Wednesday. After Wednesday rolled around they discovered that it wouldn't be delivered until today...so I was just happy that I did my laundry before I left my rental. Well last Friday rolls around and we have a huge storm and go to sleep Saturday night without power. I could go on...but I'll try to keep this short.

Through all this chaos of uncontrollable circumstances, I have tried my best to stay in a routine of studying for my NCLEX exam and working 5 days a week by teaching swimming lessons once a day.

My mom says that since graduation it has been a test of my perseverance, and that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but still need to be focused on my goal.

I can't say this is how I thought my 5 weeks of studying for my nursing board exams would go, but I guess it is a good introduction to how real life is. Unplanned (mostly). and messy.   

Well tomorrow I take my final mock-NCLEX exam, one that consists of 265 questions and anticipated to take me between 4 - 5 hours. I am going to try my best, and know that it is just one step closer to my goal.

Alarm set for 6:30am...so for now it is bed time.

Day 2 Without Electricity....

So no electricity at home means....

No laundry

No air conditioning

No studying at home (NCLEX studying I do through Kaplan online...)

No charging any electronic device

Spending more money at outside places to eat...

Less patience

It's hot.

In summary, I am trying to stay positive and optimistic and focused on tasks at hand. But it's difficult. I hope everyone's Monday is going a little better than mine!

...yesterday was really rough...so I'm hoping today will be better than that.

 

source.

**Trying to keep telling myself this on repeat today...**

home for the holidays.

Christmas Break Day 1: I slept in and stayed in bed until 11am. I felt no guilt. No responsibility. It was a beautiful thing! I have spent the remainder of the day up until this point making french toast for breakfast, cleaning out my fathers coffee pot (he doesn't do it on his own!), practicing photos on my new camera {here} (thanks mom & dad!), and just relaxing.

So what else to do than practice taking photos of Christmastime at my house, and of course Meiko. The best kitty ever....well you may tell from the photos, she even started getting annoyed with me too! One thing I've already decided is that there is no place like home, wherever that is, than home on the holidays. It's relaxing, it's loving, it's just what I needed!

 

Meiko relaxing under the Christmas tree. It's her favorite holiday too!!

 

No, I haven't cleaned, or set up my room, done laundry, or anything "productive" on my to-do list. It'll get done. Sometimes relaxing and not doing anything is exactly what you need. It was perfect!

How do you enjoy the holiday amidst the hustle bustle?

end of day 5 [refinishing original wood floors]

day 5 - the end is here....well for now

 

 

   

The final coat is finished for our dining room! Well it has been a long week of a messy, strong smells, and stuff everywhere in the house that there isn't carpet. The best part of this being over; our four-legged member of our family is home again. 

   

I really won't miss this pile of stuff in my room (and this wasn't it at its worst!)

 

who couldn't love this cute furry face! She definitely lost a few pounds in protest for being boarded and not eating..poor thing.

Past posts that got us here!

{original} post

{day 1} post 

{day 2} post 

{day 3} post 

day 1 of my summer vacation/ family reunion celebration! Over the river & through the woods!

end of day 4 [refinishing original wood floors]

day 4 - the beginning of the end

 

dining room after first coat of poly. (bottom is the floor of the living room which is going to be done at a later date) 

 

   

as our family likes to say, "looks pretty nice"

   

oh look at that...ryley must have missed having his own room or something (sorry about the variety in color...like i've said before my camera isn't some fancy nice one...in my dreams)

...zach too.

 

...and yes pain & blood was shed to make these floors as beautiful as they are..thanks ryley ;)

Things are starting to shape up quite nicely. I will try to create a nice finishing post with everything all set up...we'll see how adventurous I get in this blog world. 

Look back from the beginning...

{before} post

{day 1} post 

{day 2} post 

{day 3} post

T-minus 1 day until family reunion/ celebration...not to mention first day off in weeks (literally)!