Refinishing the wood floors pt2

    Well my first post about refinishing our wood floors has been a big hit. I get web hits on that one post almost daily. So it goes to show many of you are undergoing the same task.
        Refinishing our hard wood floors was the first project we took on when we moved in last year. I was really overwhelmed about the idea, since paying someone would have taken us way over budget. Luckily for us my husband's co-worker had refinished countless floors and offered his services. It was an answer to prayers.
        It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but be ready to work. It's not complicated work, but it is physical.

Step One: Rent a sander

We rented the larger sander and all the staining brushes from an off the wall place for $60-80 for 24 hours. Way cheaper than Lowes or Home depot...I think. I wish I wrote this blog a year ago when we did the project. You might want to double check. Remember to look around for the best rental prices because a few places we looked were $200+ if my memory serves me right.

Step two: Clean all the dust.
Sweep and vacuum  the wood dust, repeat again the next day to make sure all the dust has settled.

Step three: Start brushing on the stain.
We used Minwax from Home Depot.Youtube the best way to brush it on. It's not quit the same as painting a wall.

Step four: Sealer
Again we used the stuff at Home Depot. Make sure you wear socks. We had fans blowing all night  to help the stain dry. It took several days because of the humidity. Then the sealer took another few days to dry.Again Youtube the best way to apply the sealer.

The finished look:

 

Master Bathroom

    I love our bathroom. My husband and I really enjoy having our own sinks and large walk in closet that parallels the bathroom behind our sinks.God is really good.

 

(Our bathroom before. dark and dull.)

 (Our nephew checking our our bathroom) 

 (Whatcha think little man?)

 (What! You locked my hubby in the closet!! :-) )

 (Hubby bribing him to let him out)

 (The bribe worked!)

 (Our bathroom after. We've only decorated a little, lots of work left. But I wanted to catch our followers up.)

 (the cabinets were already painted white so we played it up. I would like to add a few more coats of white and change the knobs, and frames around the mirrors, not to mention new floors and new counter tops. For now I'll settle with simply scrubbing the grout next weekend :) Paint color is Behr's Ice Cube. )

 (Hubby's sink. Sorry about the fly swatter haha was chasing a fly around the house and left it there for the pictures :-) Hey it's real life! The lights over the sinks HAVE to go!)

(Love our bath. We get lots of natural light in here. Love it. Plus the neighbors bright yellow Esperanza hangs over the fence. Simple beautiful.I would like to get eclipse curtains in Champagne for this window. The sun gets super hot in the afternoons.)

       It's come along nicely. I'm excited to take you along on more of my master bathroom projects, like new mirror frames and light fixtures and eventually new floors. So much accomplished, so much yet to do. Enjoy the journey, this is your art, your creative outlet, your home, and family time. Love it all. 

Mantel: Before & After

      Buying our first home was the most stressful thing I've every experienced thus far in my life. It's not that the process was overly bumpy, it was actually extremely smooth compared to the stories I read online. I guess it's those stories that freaked me out. I was comforted when I found out others I knew felt the same way buying their first home. :-) I wasn't crazy!
      After getting the keys the joy quickly faded as the renovation process started. I wondered if we'd ever unpacked all the boxes filling the two bed rooms, would we ever fix this and that, would the feeling of being a visitor in our own home ever fade? I knew I needed to complete the living
room and bed room, then I'd have two spaces to enjoy.
      Now that we have those two rooms almost complete besides a few decor items I'm in love with our house again *emotional roller coaster*. In this situation it's important to remember where you're headed, and not focus on where you are. Fixing up an older house can be taxing, but if you hang in there and remember why you started you will find great joy in every accomplishment.
        Right now we are enjoying our mantel. It's come a long way.

BEFORE

 AFTER
(I love how you can finally see the green in our peacock tail blue by Behr) 

Dining room at a stand still

     Have you ever left a room empty? That's where we are when it comes to the dining room. I have tons of ideas, but haven't settled on one yet.  I'm debating if I want a round or rectangle table, if I want traditional rustic, or if I want a funky colored table with fancy accessories. Can you believe how far this room has come since October 2012? I'm enjoy the open space. My dogs use it as a play room.  :-) 

 

(This was the picture on Har. Thankfully my hubs and I could see past what was there and saw what we could do with it. Just like God does with us. He sees past the wear and tear of life on us, and see what we were meant to be.)

 (painted and refinished)

(TADA! We love the natural light this room radiates throughout the house. We are going to change the blinds on the french doors though. We thought we'd like these, but I really like the idea of having a curtain rod above the doors and being able to enjoy a full view of the deck. Also, being able to fully close the blinds on those hot summer days would be a plus.)

Our Front yard Garden

     What's made this journey so rewarding is all the family time it's invited. I've loved working in our yard and on our house with our families. We've gained so many memories that I'll be sharing with my kids one day. The love, support, and wisdom of our families has made this such a special season for us. :-)

(Yikes! This is what our front garden looked like when we first moved in. We pulled out almost everything but the bushes. We also trimmed the trees so they are no longer on our roof yay!)

 (My parents helping us with our Esperanza the right way lol. My parents are pro gardeners, seriously! They need to own their own nursery.) 

 (My mom showing me how to trim the bushes. We are about to plant the Pentas!)

 (My mother-in-law and my mom pulling out the old ugly bushes. Talk about a strong root system. Love this picture! *good memories*)

 (Our freshly planted flowers. My mom insisting on water our garden *her therapy*. She said we have to saturate the newbies since they don't have a root system yet.)

 (My dad fertilizing our grass and teaching us how to have a green yard like his :-) And He was right. Our grass has never looked better according to our neighbor.)

(Fresh mulch! We planted Pentas and Caladiums!)

 (In the beginning)

(As you can see this is before my office had any blinds.)

 (The grass has come a long way. Hubby and I have done a great job maintaining the flowers! Nothings died yet! haha)

 (Our baby Esperanza in the corner. I can't wait till it fills out and hangs over our fence)

 (This picture was taken today (7-21-13). Garden is super full. The garden to the far right is still empty. We were trying to grow hydrangeas but they are so dramatic lol. We are gonna pull them out and do the same thing we did with the other garden and plant Pentas and Caladiums. They are really low maintenance. )

 (We aren't sure if we're keeping the middle bushes, they came with the house lol. I saw one flower bloom on it, so I'm hoping with a little tlc it will fully bloom sometime this summer or next.)

 (Our baby Crape Myrtles in royal purple. They are stunning! You can see our Esperanza in the far corner. Look at our GREEN grass! Hubby and I have been working hard and watering like crazy. )

 (My mom has helped us so much. She has a green thumb!)

 (Baby CM)

(Progress is exciting!)

(It's all coming together nicely)

 (I love our front patio. I'm thinking about painting our front door teal.)

(Home sweet home. Thank you Jesus for your many blessings)