Info About Our Hard Wood Floors
Hello Friends!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.
We visited my husband’s side of the family in Georgia and had a very special time together.
We were gone from Wednesday to Sunday and enjoyed a much need break from all the work around our house. But when we got back Sunday, we started back to work. I’ve painted about half of the kitchen and will be sharing the paint color soon.
But first, I wanted to share some information about our hardwood floors.
We are installing hardwood flooring on almost the entire main level of our house, including in the new addition.
So we had to go with a wood that was not too crazy expensive.
In our last home, we had 3/4 inch x 8 inch wide, New England White Pine floors in our kitchen…
![IMG_4217_thumb[3]](http://www.beneathmyheart.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_4217_thumb3.jpg "IMG_4217_thumb[3]")
and our guest house….
![IMG_3995_thumb[2]](http://www.beneathmyheart.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_3995_thumb2.jpg "IMG_3995_thumb[2]")
We love the look of pine floors, but the New England White Pine is a very soft wood and shows a lot of wear over time.
So for this home, we decided to go with Yellow Pine Wood which is a little more durable. We also decided to go with a 3/4 inch x 5 inch wide plank. We purchased our flooring in both home from Lumber Liquidators.
Cy said we should go with the 5 inch plank because it is easier to get tighter seams if you are working with a board that is a little warped.
This week, we will be sanding the floor and prepping it for staining. We are going to put a wood conditioner on the floor first, and then apply Minwax Dark Walnut Oil-based Stain.
I will share pictures of these steps as we go along.
If you have any more questions about our flooring, just let me know!
Have a blessed week!
looking awesome!
I can hardly wait to see them stained. I don’t know how you manage to live with all that chaos! I would be completely bonkers!!!!!!
I love the floors and the dark stain will be beautiful! Will you put polyurethane over the stain–just wondering because I am considering the pine for my upstairs.
Your kitchen is coming along beautifully. I hope you will be showing how you stain the floor. I love that you guys are finishing the floors yourselves. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.
Traci
Wow your floors look amazing! Is it easier to keep dark stained floors clean than it is to keep light ones clean? We have light colored pergo floors in our rental home & they are impossible to keep clean. I’m constantly wishing that we had darker floors.
LOVE YOUR BLOG! why did you guys decide to finish them yourselves? is it the cost? i’ve considered it but am afraid of the sanding process. one major plus of sanding them in your home instead of using the prefinished is avoiding the small crease that is in between the boards on the finished stuff which collects dirt. maybe after seeing your process i will get a little braver and try it myself!
I want to stain my floors a darker color but people have tried to talk me out of it. I think it looks much nicer darker. Everyone says you can see every little bit on it. What do you think?
I can’t believe you painted after traveling! You must have a lot of energy! My husband and I painted our bedroom this weekend and it was exhausting.
Traci,
Kyle came home tonight and started telling us a story from work today. He started but saying, “Cy came into work today………” Then he stopped and said, “Have you noticed that all of my Lowe’s stories start out with Cy came into work today….” You guys should seriously consider buying Lowe’s stock. :)
You two are just amazing, Traci. I love every minute I spend visiting here and gleaning all of the info that you share with us. Thank you for that! The transformation so far is fabulous! :)
xoxo laurie
Hi Traci! Your floors (and kitchen) look amazing! I’m so sorry if I missed it in another post, but can you tell me more about installing the hardwoods? I’m interested in doing it for our house but I’m curious about the level of difficulty, what types of tools are needed, etc. Thanks so much for your help!
So…I am assuming you have had some time to ‘experience’ your new yellow pine floors. Are you happy with their durability? We have been living on slab for over three years. I had to save up enough for the floors and then I couldn’t make up my mind. We had a dark engineered floor in the dining room, but took it up because it showed every and I mean EVERY particle of dust and EVERY little scratch! It was exhausting. I love the look of a bleached northern white pine but am terrified it is too soft of a wood. Drama…drama….drama….. Would love to hear your thoughts on the pine now that you have been living with it and with kids.