When I showed you all the end table I madeover (for a second time), I mentioned that we started on another project this past weekend. You may remember our dining room wall plan, which we haven’t forgotten about and still plan on doing. However, something else just rings of a little more importance to both of us.
We have been talking about doing this fooorrrevvverrr! If only we’d thought of it before we moved in a year ago, but at the time, we just wanted to move in and make our home all nice and cozy. Saturday night John was in one of those “I’m ready to tear stuff up and make a mess” kind of moods, so we dove right in. Well, I should be honest, I was the acting DJ/bartender while John did all the work. ;)
Are you wondering what we’re doing yet?! We’re staining our floors! The honey blonde oak wood just isn’t doing anything for us. The poly clear coat has worn down and the majority of the floors are ready to be redone anyway. We are craving a rich dark wood to give our home some depth!
So John got started ripping up the baseboards in the catch-all guest room, which looked like this:
Looking into the stenciled hallway below, you can see that huge faded spot in the bottom left where the wood is literally raw. Is that the correct term?
Here’s a lovely close-up. The paint is actually off-white, but over time it has really yellowed. Gross. And if you look at the picture above, you can tell it’s much more yellow than the baseboard in the hallway.
I’m pretty sure these were the baseboards that were installed when the house was built in 1960. Only a few rooms still have these old ugly ones, so it’s time for them to go! We figured now would be the perfect time to replace them with the whole staining process that’s about to take place!
And then we moved to my dressing room….
And that’s where we are in the process. I’m really excited/nervous to take on the staining. We are going to do a few rooms at a time so we can move furniture out, etc.
Now we’ve just got to pick a color…. any help or advice would be much appreciated! Anyone ever restained your floors? What’s the best process?
Welcome to Drab to Fab! We are doing our best to turn our 60s rancher from drab to fab by dabbling in DIY, crafty projects, design, food, and Whitney likes to throw in a little fashion! All while having as much fun as possible. ;) Share your projects and stories with us; we're glad you're here! 
How exciting! I’m hoping we do that to ours in the next few years! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Wow! That’s a huge undertaking but you guys can totally do it! It will be amazing when it’s finished and a super proud moment for you guys! Good luck!
Ahh it will be the biggest undertaking yet! Thanks for the good luck wishes!
Dang, girl! That’s a BOP!! Big Ole Project! Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!
xo Heidi
Ahh! I’m ready to tackle it
Oh wow, this will be amazing! Dallas has stained tons of floors, so I’m sure he could help you if you have questions. How exciting!
Oh yay!! I know we’ll have questions!! Your hubby really knows how to do it all!
Whitney…kudos to you both for taking on such an immense project…but I know you two can do it well…..I so love dark floors…I had them before…they are high maintenance and I chose the lighter floors in this house…but truthfully, I wish I had the dark floors back…they are really stunning and you just need to keep the swiffer handy!!
Whatever you decide, I am sure it would be beautiful….I love the “peek” of the bench (?) in the room…another future project?
Yeah, I’ve been hearing the darker floors are some upkeep, but I think it’ll be worth it! The bench actually goes with our bedroom set, but it won’t fit in our bedroom at this house so it stays in this room for now
Ooo! This is exciting – I can’t wait to see how you guys do this! Our wood floors are all scratched up from the previous tenants’ dog. I wish we could re-stain the floors but I don’t think out landlord would be on board for that!
Thanks for the encouragement Kristen!! Our dog has scratched up the floors in the living room (which have a higher gloss sheen on them) so we’re ready to sand them down and put a darker color down!
Hey bartender, I’ll have another! Especially after seeing all of the work in progress. That is definitely one of those projects that once you’re in, You. Are. IN! Can’t wait to see the new, darker, do. :0
I was just thinking about that too…there’s no turning back!!
Ooooh can’t wait to see what they look like in a darker colour! I thought my fiancé and I were the only people who decide to DIY on a Saturday night (although beer and good music are an absolute necessity)!
Haha glad to know we aren’t the only ones who do this!
Wowzers! Seems like a ton of work but I know it is going to come out beautiful! I have oak floors too and have wondered about doing something like this but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Super stoked to follow along
I’m glad you’ll be here for the ride
Oh fun! You’re going to love the results! When we had ours redone we used minwax walnut stain.
Yay!! I’m glad to hear someone else loves their new dark floors!!
Good luck with the floor staining! It seems like such a huge job – I bet you will have a HUGE sense of accomplishment when it is all done!! I love dark floors too.
Thanks Katie! I’m glad you stopped by! I agree, this one will be the biggest project to date, so being able to say, “We did this!” will be a great feeling!
ahhhh! i am so excited that you are taking on this project! We obviously don’t have any wood floors TO stain *sob*, but are toying with the idea of installing unfinished hardwood when we go about replacing all the carpets because unfinished is SO much cheaper….in which case, we need to learn how to stain them!!
I am with you on loving the dark stain, although everyone has told me the same thing about cleaning issues…with two orange cats, I’m a little nervous too! What about dark walnut colored? That’s my favorite dark-but-not-too-dark color.
Can’t wait to read about the whole process!!
I will post all the details about how we do it! It’s going to be quite the process! And I’m with you on the dark walnut…that’s one of my top choices.
Oooh, that will look so nice! Dark floors do look so nice and rich! I always wanted them and then we moved into a house with dark cherry floors, and like Kelly said above, they look dirty about 5 seconds after sweeping/mopping which kind of sucks. BUT if you are a better housekeeper than I am (which you probably are!) then you’ll be fine.
I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Thanks for the tip Laura! Maybe we won’t go quite as dark as what we were originally thinking. Those white dog hairs wouldn’t look too good.
I’ve refinished floors before, but never restained them. You basically need to sand the floors down to bare wood in order to stain them. Then a coat of sealer following by 3-4 coats of polyurethane. Semi-gloss poly is the most commonly used sheen. It’s a great home project and totally do-able. Good luck!!
Thanks for the advice! We’ve done a decent amount of research, but the whole thing is still a little intimidating! Our Florida room currently has semi-gloss sheen and with the dog’s nails, you can see every scratch! So we’ll probably go with something not quite so shiny
This is a super-ambitious project! We’ve had our floors refinished, but we hired a flooring guy to do it. Although I think it can totally be a DIY project, as long as you have the right tools and follow the proper steps.
Dark floors are beautiful, but from what I’ve read and heard, they’re higher maintenance than lighter floors because dust & dirt really show. What about a sort of mid-range brown – kind of like milk chocolate vs. dark chocolate
Thank you for the awesome tip Kelly! We will definitely keep this in mind when choosing the stain
Ooooooooh! These will be lovely! I love dark floors!
It’s going to be a big process, but I’m excited for it!
oh god girl good luck. that seems like a lot of work.But really being the bartender/DJ is the probably the job I would volunteer for as well.
AND SWEET HALLWAY! I didn’t know your hallway was that beautiful
Haha thanks Trina…we need that luck! And big thanks on the hallway comment! I always seem to pick the projects that are sooo in depth!
Wow! That’s exciting!! Are you going for a Mocha/Espresso-ish color? I have dreamed of rich/dark hard wood floors. I can’t wait to see the process, I never thought of refinishing or sanding hardwood myself. Good luck!
It’s exciting, but also intimidating! Yup you’re right on the money with something sort of mocha/expresso-ish. We need all the luck we can get!!