Floors galore and dropping the ball - Reno day 87

Last week was floor week. The builders left and Betsy, for the first time in months, had a little peace and quiet. Well, after the initial noisy sanding process that removed her old floor polish and revealed the true colours of her hoop pine floors.

The old polish was very worn and scratched in many parts of the house and had never felt clean underfoot, despite vigorous moppings. The new hardwood in the Legoroom appears to be an almost perfect match as the true colour is revealed.

Then came the laborious task of hand filling every single one of those holes. The house was very, very quiet for a few days while this happened.

 When I asked the floor polisher if he found it lonely working by himself he replied that no, it was really quite awesome as he could just pop in his earphones and not have to listen to anyone whinging and moaning. 

The fumes however, you never get used to. 

Meanwhile, we took advantage of the peace, quiet and incomplete floors to get some painting done. Have I mentioned that there is a LOT of painting to be done? As the kitchen and laundry cabinetry is arriving soon, we were keen to get the walls in these areas at least undercoated before they went in.

We were lucky to have my mum babysit at night so we could paint after work. Thanks, Nonna! There is nothing like a deadline to motivate the old brush.

 And it was really nice to see Betsy go from this,

 To this, within a week. She's almost looking like a house and not a demolition yard.

And what a treat to be able to sneak up and check out the wintery morning sun falling all over the lounge room floor. We made the ambitious decision to remove the large ugly hood over the lounge room windows to let in more light. By summer, with the sun higher in the sky, we will get all the light without all the direct sun, but in winter there is nothing better than a sunny patch and a cup of tea.

At this stage there is no lounge room furniture in the budget so we may just be rolling around on some vintage blankets. At least the new polished floors will be lovely and smooth. This is a semi gloss finish.

Apparently this is the finish that everyone is getting. We were talked out of going full gloss by both the builder and the floor polisher. Actually, I was busy dealing with real life issues unrelated to the reno and was unavailable to hash out that debate so I gave in.  And unfortunately I am not loving the semi gloss. So, now we will have to pay extra for a final high gloss coat. The motto of this is, even if you are near the end, you cannot stop to drop the ball.

However, the silver lining is that we now can paint to our hearts content, and let electricians and plumbers stomp all over the floors and we don't have to be precious with them. The final sand and last glossy coat will go on at the very end. See, I'm almost chirpy about it all as we are coming down the home stretch.