Old Floors.

It was always my intention to polish up the floor boards. I quite liked the darker finish that was on the floor in the entry way and front bedrooms however after looking into staining the rest of the floors to match I decided the best option was to strip back all the floors and put a clear water based CFP throughout the house. 

 

Sanding back all the floors was difficult and time consuming, I don’t think it had really grasped how much work was going to involved with getting the floorboards prepared to take the new finish. If I take you back to the beginning you will remember the floors were, pretty scuffed up, they had graffiti sprayed across them there were holes that I had patched but needed to sanded flat.

As the sanding went on it became evident that not all the boards were completely flat, some had quite deep scratches and marks all of witch took time hard work to clean up.

As the process continued I began to realise that I quite liked the results; it seemed the more damaged or mistreated the timber had been the more character it had when the process was finished. With enough sanding and coats of CFP the timber was beautiful again and although there are still nail marks from old masonite in the kitchen and dining, old scratches in the lounge room, visibly different timber where holes have been patched I think they actually make the house seem more homely. The floors tell a story, they’re truthful and unapologetically so. All our hard work has fixed the damage, smoothed the ruff edges and removed the stains that covered the timber but you can still see the markes left behind; its not hiding what it is or what it’s been through.

I think it’s the same with people, no matter what we’ve been through there is something beautiful about the truthful statement ‘This is where I’ve been, this is what I’ve been through and by the grace of God and through his help this is who I am today’.