Belle the Handywoman!

Finally, I make my way back to my site. It seems so long since I have posted but between my day job, Belle and being a mom I sometimes get a little too busy to post as often as I would like. I’ve actually been working on another house project. No, my kitchen is not finished yet but this one couldn’t wait. My teen daughter needed a bedroom rehab so I took on the task. This one, I am happy to say turned out much better than my kitchen. I’m even happier to say that it’s finished, after 3 weeks of sanding and staining floor, repainting the walls and trim and a few coats of Varathane as a nice finish on the hardwood floors. So, here’s how it all went.
The first step was to paint the walls. I regret not taking any pictures of the room prior to painting. The walls were a little girl’s pink and the trim a light sky blue. Not appropriate for a 14 year old any more! Here is the only pic I could find of the paint color prior to painting:

[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/9/52/67/0/67520951912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]

The second step was to sand down the floors. I had bought the house 2.5 years ago and removed the carpeting shortly after. They were dull having never been finished. Here’s what the floor looked like prior to sanding:

[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/9/71/75/0/75710951912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/58/70/53/0/53705851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]

I’ve never attempted refinishing a hardwood floor so I relied heavily on Google and Home Depot. These next two pics are after 2 days of sanding:

[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/88/49/78/0/78498851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/9/52/55/0/55520951912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]

Now it was time to stain. The floors looked so fresh being sanded I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with the staining. Because of the color scheme of the furniture and curtains I knew I had to though. Here are two pics staining the first coat and the latter two being after the second coat of stain was applied.

[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/98/56/30/0/30569851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/78/92/50/0/50927851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]
[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/88/54/60/0/60548851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/88/45/99/0/99458851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]

Next was the urethane. I read that Varathane was best so that is what I used. I also decided to go with oil based. Actually, no. My plan was water based because I was in a rush to have this finished for my daughter’s birthday but Home Depot told me because I had used an oil based stain to go with oil based urethane. In all honesty it didn’t have the strong odour I expected but I did keep it well ventilated. After sanding between coats one and two then applying the third coat, this is how it turned out!

[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/78/92/30/0/30927851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/88/8/90/0/90088851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/9/52/75/0/75520951912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/88/80/74/0/74808851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]

Last but not least was the final coat on the trim, hanging the curtains and setting up the new bed. There’s still some trim work to do, paint and nail the quarter round to fill the gaps along the baseboards, screw in the brown outlet covers and from what see in the pics (didn’t notice till just now) is that the curtain rod needs to be hung a little higher. OK, so it’s not TOTALLY finished yet, but this is the closest I have come to completing a DIY project. Here’s the final outcome:

[img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/98/37/18/0/18379851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/68/53/63/0/63536851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4272/9/51/68/52/35/0/35526851912_0_ALB.jpg[/img]