Worst part of refinishing floors is sanding. Hands down. I didn't even do most of it (thanks Andy!) and I was exhausted. Which really doesn't help much in my DIY crusade. To be fair, I did try working the big sander, but it was slightly unwieldy and I didn't feel strong enough to keep it moving in the direction I wanted. Soooo I got the task of sanding all the edges.
My one recommendation if you're planning to refinish your floors - buy a LOT of sandpaper.
I didn't find choosing a stain to be the most difficult process, but then we had narrowed down our choice to something fairly light and plain (similar to the color it already was). Because we have so much woodwork, I didn't want to risk going too dark (and let's be honest, I don't have enough ambition to clean up floor dust every week...which dark floors tend to show a bit more).
We selected three different shades and bought samples to test on a piece of the actual floor. One was too dark, one too light, and one just right (much like Goldilocks and the Three Bears). Our color of choice, Golden Pecan, is reminiscent of original 20's coloring -- which, of course, makes me very happy.
The process was relatively easy..we bought a few broom brushes and wiped on a light coat throughout. We did have a few "oops" spots that weren't brushed on with the grain of the wood, so it's slightly noticeable. That said, I'm really pleased with the outcome! After stain we proceed to do three coats of poly to get some shine and protect the fruits of our labor.
All in all I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out - and happy that we did it ourselves this time so I could learn how to do it. Would I do it again? Maybe. Because we were trying to finish our floors on a tight deadline, the process was pretty intense. It's also really messy. However, the gratification of seeing our floors come to life was pretty awesome. All that said, if you're thinking about refinishing your floors, I'd highly recommend giving it a try.
