Getting In On the Ground Floor

Hi, I'm Mike, the other half of the designing duo. I'd like to tell you, that when it comes to redesigning this house, I'm more the muscle than the mind...but really, I'm little of either...hahaha. I spend a lot of my time as a sounding board for Sandra's ideas. My job basically consists of reminding Sandra of the work that still lies ahead when she wants to...say...re-paint a room that we had, at one time, considered finished. I also find it my job to interject a "Do you know how much that's going to cost?" into every design conversation. How did two financial analysts get involved in such a costly undertaking?

Kidding aside, there's plenty in this house that I want to dig into. So why not start at the bottom?

If you continue to follow this blog, you'll notice that one thing Sandra and I both agree on is that we like the natural wood look in an old house like this. Some parts of the house have been painted over so many times, that it may not be possible to get down to the original wood...in other parts, sadly, the wood has been replaced at some point in this house's lifetime. Fortunately, our floors fall into neither of these two categories.

When we moved in to this house, the entrance hallway, first floor bathroom, and kitchen had been covered in ceramic tile. The living and dining rooms had the original hardwood exposed (good) but stained a dark walnut color (bad).



We were able to sand the dark stain out of the floors and restore the natural wood color. The floors were refinished with a clear satin finish to maintain that look. The old floors held up surprisingly well. The light wood and freshly painted walls (which are here to stay!) helped brighten the rooms up.



Now...what to do about those tiles...