nearing the finish line

i just realized how very thankful i am to have recorded our housing progress on this little bloglet. to be able to flip back in time and see each stage of the project, and to be able to revisit my thoughts as well… it's priceless. 

the upstairs flooring is finally finished! (here is a post about our underfoot inspiration.) we were able to source ash planks in the wide-widths and long-lengths we desired from a friend whose family runs a lumber mill down south. ash is beautifully grained, very pale and extremely hard (think baseball bats) and very pale… a good start to the dog-proof, nearly white floors that we wanted.

we piled wood in each room and let it acclimate to the humidity and sunload of each room. then we set up a temporary shop in the upstairs living room. patrick laid the wood, and i filled my typical role of lend-a-hand-fetch-a-tool-make-a-coffee-run-and-clean-up-sawdust. i'm also good at soothing noises and cold beer when something doesn't go as planned. patrick was a pro… down to perfect transitions between the wood floor & tiled bathroom floor to eliminate the need for a threshold. (my request… i prefer to eliminate as many trims and transitions as i can.)

after the floor was laid, we got to finishing. my original choice of lye-and-oil was rejected due to the cost and number of coats it required. we settled on an oil finish (rubio mono coat in white) that will harden and protect the wood, as well as color it with a hint of white. while it was a fairly simple procedure to oil and buff the floors… it seemed to require a lot of kneeling. and on hard wood, that's nothing but punishment, even with kneepads. 

the end result? we absolutely love it. molding is still to come but will wait until we are moved in. (in typical fashion, we had our own ideas about how molding should be done and will probably end up fabricating it ourselves.) perhaps you might note the difference in the first and last photos. not just the flooring, but also out the window. the seasons are just flying by. but good news... there's just a few more things to check-off our to do list before we can move in!

xo. r