Stained Concrete Flooring

The color is down and we are so excited to show it to you. I have no category for what concrete flooring should look like except for what I've seen in my Aunt Ramona's basement, but I can tell you it looks great in our living areas! I keep thinking it looks like leather.

A patch next to the fireplace. Don't worry, that's just a dusty footprint from us, not my daughter's from a few days ago. :)

It's darker than the hardwoods, but blends nicely with the oak. Gives the house a nice rich tone to it.

The dining room was wet. Those are puddles of stain that have yet to dry.

Hallway

View from the stairs looking down on the hallway.

Isn't it so pretty?


Laundry room.

View from hallway looking into entry way.


View from kitchen looking into living room.

Our concrete guy, Joe had a rep come over to our house to use a high-powered sprayer and apply the stain. This is just to show you how he taped off the baseboard to protect it from overspray. If we ever wanted to change the color, all we'd have to do is buy some stain and spray some new color on top. The concrete underneath wouldn't ever have to be messed with. Joe was impressed with the job the sprayer did and so were we! If ever you have a concrete job in the Charlotte area, check out http://www.artisanconcretesolutions.com/ because when it comes to concrete anything, Joe is your guy. He's applying sealer today and I think the final coat of sealer tomorrow? We'll have some great before and after pics once it's completed!

Almost Done!

Almost done with the floors, that is. :) The hardwoods need to be sanded over the two coats of poly to give it a buffed finish and then the final coat of poly will be applied. The concrete is setting overnight after being touched up today and will be stained tomorrow with color! We can't wait to see how it all turns out!

You can see the grittiness on top of the grain from the poly. That will be buffed out.

In other exciting news, we move our stuff in on Saturday! Now that the floors and walls are finished we've asked some friends to help us move our stuff in on Saturday morning so we can take the holidays to set up house. Our bodies will remain at the in-laws down the street until we can get a working kitchen and all the saftey hazards taken care of. We're hoping that will take a matter of weeks and not months though!

Oh to feel the sand between my toes...

Our floors got sanded!
This is the "before" picture, but be prepared for a not-so-dramatic "after" because my flash wasn't working. All three of these next pictures are what they look like now!

We are more convinced now that it is white oak and not red oak like we were originally thinking. I'm happy for white oak! Apparently, it gives off a bluish gray hue which I like better than red.

You can really see the different individual strips of wood now that they are sanded. With advice from our sander man, we are just going to put a couple coats of poly on them, sand and then poly again and call it done!

Cutting a Rug

One thing that can be crossed off of our to-do list is ripping up the carpet in the old dining and living room. Adam was here all day Saturday working and took care of these rooms. We've got a dumpster coming tomorrow so we can get rid off all the carpet in the corner.

It's amazing how much homey-er it feels by just exposing the hardwoods in the living room pictured above and below. We need to pull out the nails and refinish by sanding and putting on a clear coat of poly.

I can't wait to lay a big rug down and haul in the furniture soon!

(Speaking of timelines, we've been asked when the big move-in date is and the answer to that is we don't know. Hopefully, by early September is what we're thinking. The hardest and longest part of this renovation was going to be the foundation. Now that that is finished, we can keep cruising along and be in sooner than later!)

(Speaking of foundation, it's done! You can walk down the hallway and not have to feel the big dip in the middle anymore. I'm sure it's never going to be suitable for a game of marbles, but it's good enough for us.)