I’m nonetheless not fairly completed with the flooring in our bed room suite, however I’m one step nearer to having them completed. And I’m so excited with how they’re turning out! Since I agonized over my resolution about what to make use of on my purple oak hardwood flooring and how one can end them to get a pure look, I wished to point out y’all what the flooring appear to be as of this morning after utilizing the Bona Pure Seal on them final evening earlier than I went to mattress.
First, let me again up a bit and clarify the entire course of. If you happen to’ll bear in mind, proper after these flooring have been put in about 2.5 months in the past, I made a decision to match them to the remainder of the home. So I proceeded to stain them a darkish coloration (a 50/50 combination of Minwax darkish walnut and particular walnut stain), after which polyurethane them. They turned out like this…
Then I modified my thoughts and determined that I wished gentle, pure wooden flooring. So final Thursday, I rented a drum sander and an edge sander from Dwelling Depot, and I spent the subsequent two days sanding the flooring. I began with 36-grit sandpaper to get all of that darkish end off of the flooring, after which I used 60-grit, 80-grit, and completed with 100-grit, and that’s the place I ended based mostly on the instructions that I found on the Bona website.
After I completed the sanding, the flooring seemed like this…
It took loads of work and loads of sanding to get the entire darkish stain out of the grain of the wooden, however I didn’t need any of that stain left behind. Crimson oak hardwood flooring doesn’t have actually darkish grain, so if you happen to can nonetheless see darkish grain after sanding, that’s stain that has been left behind, and it must be sanded extra.
After taking off on Saturday and Sunday (as a result of I used to be so extremely sore from that edge sander, and since I pulled a muscle in my hip and again once I very stupidly tried to carry and transfer the heavy drum sander on my own), I completed up with the element sanding yesterday. I didn’t really feel the necessity to fill in the entire cracks and gaps within the ground as a result of wooden contracts and expands all through the completely different seasons of the yr, however I did have some fairly giant gaps, just a few knots, and some areas the place the perimeters of some boards seemed splintered, so I used some purple oak wooden filler (this is the one I used – affiliate hyperlink) to fill in these areas, after which I used my 5-inch sander with 100-grit sandpaper to sand these down. I additionally used a scraper to scrape the remaining stain off the flooring within the corners and across the door jambs the place the ground sanders couldn’t attain.
After vacuuming the flooring rather well with my shopvac to take away any mud, I used to be lastly prepared to use the Bona NaturalSeal to the ground. I watched so many movies about making use of this product to find out one of the best ways for me, an entire novice, to do it. I thought of utilizing a T-bar as a result of that’s how most people within the movies I watched utilized it, however all of them have been additionally execs who do that recurrently. Having by no means used a T-bar earlier than, I used to be fairly positive they made it look really easy due to their huge expertise with it. So after finding this video showing the Bona sealer being applied with a roller, I made a decision that was extra my velocity. I’m a novice in the case of utilizing Bona merchandise on flooring, however in the case of DIY normally, I’m a professional at utilizing a curler after 30+ years of DIYing.
I used a Wooster 14-inch curler with a 14-inch microfiber curler cowl (each of which I discovered at Dwelling Depot) to use the Bona NaturalSeal. And identical to in that video, I shook the product completely earlier than opening it, poured it instantly onto the ground, after which rolled it on going the route of the grain. I all the time made positive that the brand new space that I utilized feathered into the earlier part easily with no puddles or ridges of built-up product on the ground.
After I made my manner from the far wall of the bed room, into the quick hallway, into the walk-in closet, after which into the lobby and out the music room doorways, I rotated and took this image whereas the sealer was nonetheless moist. I used to be assured that it could dry lighter, however even when it didn’t, I used to be sort of hoping that it wouldn’t dry an excessive amount of lighter as a result of I beloved that heat that it gave the wooden when it was nonetheless moist.
So this morning, I used to be anxious to get off the bed and have a look at the flooring to see how they taken care of the NaturalSeal had dried. Are you prepared for this amazingness? Right here it’s!
The lobby has completely different lighting (and never very a lot of it), so it seems slightly bit darker within the lobby. However all all through the bed room suite, the flooring are gentle however have only a contact of heat to them. For the reason that Bona NaturalSeal has a little bit of white pigment in it, I assumed the ultimate coloration is perhaps slightly bit lighter than the uncooked, freshly sanded purple oak coloration. Nevertheless it’s really only a bit darker and hotter. And I’m thrilled with the colour.
Right here’s what it seems like within the walk-in closet the place I’ve numerous very brilliant 5000K (daylight) LED lights.
I imply, I feel the colour is completely good. I nonetheless want to use the clear topcoat, and I do not know if that may have an effect on the colour any. I don’t suppose it ought to. It’s imagined to be clear, and I’ll be utilizing Bona TrafficHD within the further matte end. I’m hoping it seems precisely like this as soon as the clear coat goes on.
And right here’s the way it seems within the bed room, which additionally has 5000K (daylight) LED lighting. So when you’ve got hotter lighting (and most of the people do), the colour would look even hotter than it does in my rooms.
My important concern was having these flooring flip too purple or orange since they’re purple oak. I had initially supposed to make use of the Bona Crimson Out earlier than utilizing the Pure Seal, however I couldn’t discover a place that had it in inventory, and I didn’t wish to delay refinishing the flooring. So I took my probabilities and went forward with out the Bona Crimson Out.
I’m really actually glad that it labored out that manner. I feel the slight purple/orange undertone offers the ground an attractive heat, and I seen that purple oak flooring, after Bona Crimson Out has been utilized, have extra of a yellow undertone to them.
Now that the sealer is dry, I can apply the 2 coats of the clear coat immediately. And I’m hoping that by the point I am going to mattress tonight, these flooring can be fully completed.
I’m so glad I took the time to redo these flooring. It was a ache to redo one thing that I had solely completed 2.5 months in the past, however the payoff is so price it. I imply, simply have a look at this enormous distinction!
I appreciated the darkish ground, however the gentle ground makes the rooms look a lot greater and really feel a lot lighter, and I don’t simply imply lighter in coloration. I imply lighter in the best way that it makes the rooms really feel once I’m standing in them. The darkish flooring simply had such a heaviness to them, each in coloration and in the best way it made the room really feel.
And I’m tremendous enthusiastic about having flooring with an excellent matte end on them. Y’all know I’ve points with shiny finishes. Until a chunk of furnishings is particularly painted to have an excellent excessive gloss lacquer end (which I do love so long as it’s achieved to perfection), I have a tendency in direction of very satin and matte finishes. In order that shiny end on the darkish ground was actually irritating to me. However that was the bottom sheen accessible in that polyurethane. However an additional matte end on the ground is unquestionably extra to my liking, and I can’t wait to get it completed!
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and adorn the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
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