Walking into the house for the first time was a moment I'll never forget. As we ascended the six steps that led us from the driveway entrance into the foyer, my heart did a flip-flop... Hardwood floors! And maple... My favorite type!
Sure, there was wear, and in just the right light scratches from decades of moving furniture around was visible. But seriously - I was floored. ;-)
After we went up to the second floor, my heart sank - the hallway had been sanded down to the bare wood. And people had been walking on it. For a long time. Stains from people's shoes were ground into the wood, especially in the high-traffic areas of the bathroom doorway, the top of the stairs, and in the threshold of one of the five bedrooms.
And not only had the floor been sanded - it had been done very poorly. There were circular marks from the sander etched into the floor, and some of them were pretty deep. Thankfully the bedrooms were untouched, though the person who had done it had partially sanded into each of the other rooms. I cringe now just thinking about it!
We knew we had to do something about the floor before we could move in any of our bedroom furniture, as our bedroom would end up being in the turret. (I've always wanted to have my bedroom in a turret!)
We knew which company we wanted to hire, because I have seen their work firsthand and I was impressed. I called Paul from Ralph's Hardwood, of Black Creek, WI. He was able to come out and give us an estimate, after which we scheduled a two-day job for our second floor hallway to be sanded and refinished. They were also going to fix the transitions in the doorways. Our appointment was almost two months away from when we made it.
In the meantime, there was plenty of other work to be done. Cleaning, dusting, and ripping out carpeting! One of the rooms on the second floor had carpeting, and we were able to see that there was hardwood under it. At the time I was puzzled as to why anyone would ever want to cover it up with carpeting... More on that topic in a future blog post.
We had Ralph's Hardwood come up and sand and refinish our hallway, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. It turned out beautiful, as you can tell by the pictures.
Before: bathroom threshold
After: bathroom threshold
Before: landing at the top of the stairs
After: landing at the top of the stairs