Sanding Hardwood Can't Be That Bad. Can It?

The best part of the house is that there are hidden hardwood floors through out the entire thing. We were thrilled to discover the floors in the dining room. We redid the floors in our bedroom first, and we were not prepared for that at all. They had been painted and we had no idea who long it would take to sand the paint off, even using a 20 grit paper with a drum sander. And those drum sanders? WAY heavier than they look. I give my husband all the credit in the world, because he sanded our those floors for 13 hours before they were done, and then he went and sanded the upstairs floors for another 4 hours. It was not nearly as easy as we thought it would be.

My dad helped stain our bedroom floors, and then my husband was out of town so I had to polyurethane them myself. I literally had no idea what I was doing and spent a few hours on Google. I was sick to my stomach that I was going to mess them up. There floors are from 1890, and I didn't feel like I should be entrusted with their care. But in the end I don't think they turned out half bad.

Especially considering we had no idea what we were doing! I like the nails and the way it took the stain. (This picture really doesn't do it justice.)

The upstairs floors aren't as old the downstairs because this was an addition, but they were filthy. There must have been a big square of carpet in the middle and then it was painted along the edges. It was *quite* lovely. :(

I didn't want to poly this for a few reasons, but long story short I decided to use Danish Oil on this floor. Danish Oil actually was easy to put on, used a small foam roller on a stick, and just rolled it on the entire floor. Let is sit, but on a second coat. Let it soak in, and them wipe off the excess. It was messy because you have to bend over the wet stuff to wipe it up, but I do like the finish of this floor. The best part is that if it get's worn down you just scuff it up with steel wool and apply more Danish Oil. It will blend right in. The bad part is Home Depot really let me down. I had to do Cherry because that's what they had. This 150 square foot floor took way more oil than I thought it would so I ended up buying all they had and then going to Menard's for more. I should have went to Menard's from the start. HD only carries the oil in quarts. Menard's has it in gallons, and they have a much bigger selection of colors. It ended up costing me about $25 more to do the floor because I went to HD and I'm not thrilled with the color. 

In the end, it cost us $250 to refinish both of these rooms, which I still consider steal. 

Total Spent

Sander Rental $85

Sandpaper $50

Stain $7

Polyurethane $38

Danish Oil $50

Misc $20