I spent last week in a haze of noise & dust, literally.... I couldn't wait any longer to rip up the ancient carpets in our house & sand our floorboards.... and if I wanted them done before the holidays, it was last week or wait til late January.We didn't actually know what condition the boards would be in since they'd been covered up for years but luckily they were mostly in great shape.
To cut a long story short, what we - naively - thought would be a 24-hour-or-so job took closer to 2.5 days. We hired the sander/s & did the job ourselves....it was hard work, not quite as dusty & dirty as I'd imagined but there was certainly plenty of cleaning/lifting/moving involved.
But the results are wonderful & I am so thrilled....our living space has been transformed, it's been the biggest change yet in all the work that we have done so far. The boards are very light which is exactly what our sometimes gloomy home needed.The floorboards need one more coat of wax but I could quite honestly live with them just as they are.And they suit our newly painted white walls, upcycled French gray furniture pieces & reclaimed white mantlepiece perfectly....suddenly the room has taken on a "Scandi-chic" look, I am completely in love with it!
My tips if you decide to sand your own floors....* preparation is key....bang in nails, remove staples or any other sticky-out-things* hire the right equipment. sanders are very cheap to hire : we got a large sander + an edging sander plus tons of different grade sandpapers. A good hire place will give you all you need and more (you only pay for what you use) plus they will give you great good advice too.* empty your rooms & cover anything that's left with dustsheets....sanders aren't as dusty as they used to be but fine dust is unavoidable. You need to allow time for the dust to settle....I thought we'd sand one day & wax the next. This is just not possible.
Like everything, it's a process & one you can't rush....so worth it though.
(a few photos from my home, taken on my phone....)So, that was last week....Friday & Saturday were spent in a mad rush of more cleaning/dusting & putting the room/s back together.
And then it was Sunday & I could finally think about Christmas.The tree was bought, we decorated, I found our stack of Christmas movies, I sang Christmas songs way too loudly & the lights began to twinkle.....
....and just like that, Christmas arrived.
