I'm floored

European Floors has been here all afternoon. Apparently our oak hardwoods are far harder than they're used to, and while it's taken then all afternoon to complete the first pass and fill, I'm kind of happy to know that we've got some tough wood up in here.

Here is your before. This is actually in the living room but trust me when I say it's a sea of tattered in every room.

And here we are after the first pass. I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but the different is stunning. We've had a bit of a glitch in that Dan forgot to tell his guys that they needed a grey stain, so when they painted two brown patches and had us come look we had an awkward moment. But they've called Dan and are going to finish their sanding and treat the wood (a sealer most likely) and will come back for samples tomorrow. One day is no big deal if it means we get exactly what we've been dreaming of.

This is the most amazing part to me, the closet. There were asbestos tiles glued down in here before. I'd tried to pry some off and came up with some jagged bits, leaving horrible blobs of dried adhesive. We thought at first that they'd simply replaced the wood like they did where we removed a closet and there were voids, but no, this is what was underneath the tile.

We're going with an oil-based stain because while you have drying time to contend with, Dan said that the end result is a deeper, richer looking finish. And we're all about the deeper and richer you know. More to come this week.