One day, that's how Isthmus House will feel year round, but this year we're working on lots of projects in preparation for our annual Christmas Party. It was a challenge, but I think I've figured out my favorite part of the updates made to make Isthmus House feel as welcoming as possible: the foyer.
The Roommate and I host one big party this time of year to celebrate both Christmas and my birthday and this year we started early on the plans... like a year early.
About a year ago, the foyer was one of the worst parts of the house with cracked walls, chipping paint, and a plastic floor. In Did you just get bored and quit? I pulled all of the plastic tile to get to the tar papered floors. I'm fairly certain this was an improvement from what we had at move in.
That left us at just ugly (which I maintain is better than ugly, cheapy and slippery).
A year has passed and, well, it's time to get started with prettifying.
If you're wondering how you take something like these floors and get to pretty, you're not the first.
It starts with patches.
Directly adjacent to the basement door was an old patch. I think. Or maybe just a mistake. It looked a lot like a trap door but wasn't as cool since it didn't do anything. Besides, a trap door should blend in. This didn't.
First, all of the affected boards had to be pulled up and removed. In Old House Parts: A Tale of Love and Hate, we talked about finding lots of 100 year old Douglas Fir in the right depth and width - quite a coup - which is what we used here for a better blend with the existing floors. If floors aren't the same species and age they'll almost certainly look really patchy. These boards do still look a little bit different but blend in fairly well. I was on a business trip during the patching and feathering part, sadly, but when I returned, we had a patch in place!
To get these in with the tongue and groove still intact isn't easy - it takes a lot of tap tap tapping and finesse. The last one in gets face-nailed down (putting nails through the top of the board to connect it to the joist below - there is no sub floor at Isthmus House).
There are many people that hate the "H" that flooring patches can create but I really don't mind them because they're in several places throughout the original floors.
Once the patch was in, it was time to strip with a chemical stripper to get off the tar paper and then get to sanding with 16 grit sandpaper - the lowest, or coarsest, grit out there. It's like a saw, it's so coarse.
Stripping all of the grime of 100 years, 2,384,092,384 owners and tenants, one set of plastic floors and one pretend trap door took a while with the guys working their way up in grit.
Eventually, though, the floors were clean and ready for their first coat of oil based polyurethane.
Another buffing, getting all the junk off them again (stuff comes out from between the boards - kind of gross, really) and another coat of poly and we had foyer floors!
Walking in the front door, you no longer go sliding across the front hall but you do have to take your shoes off!
The floors will darken over the next year which should help them look a little more like they would if they had just been taken care of over the last 100 years.
Most of all, Isthmus House got a little more welcoming - just in time for Christmas guests.
What about you? What's your favorite part of getting ready for Christmas?
The Roommate and I host one big party this time of year to celebrate both Christmas and my birthday and this year we started early on the plans... like a year early.
About a year ago, the foyer was one of the worst parts of the house with cracked walls, chipping paint, and a plastic floor. In Did you just get bored and quit? I pulled all of the plastic tile to get to the tar papered floors. I'm fairly certain this was an improvement from what we had at move in.
That left us at just ugly (which I maintain is better than ugly, cheapy and slippery).
A year has passed and, well, it's time to get started with prettifying.
If you're wondering how you take something like these floors and get to pretty, you're not the first.
It starts with patches.
Directly adjacent to the basement door was an old patch. I think. Or maybe just a mistake. It looked a lot like a trap door but wasn't as cool since it didn't do anything. Besides, a trap door should blend in. This didn't.
First, all of the affected boards had to be pulled up and removed. In Old House Parts: A Tale of Love and Hate, we talked about finding lots of 100 year old Douglas Fir in the right depth and width - quite a coup - which is what we used here for a better blend with the existing floors. If floors aren't the same species and age they'll almost certainly look really patchy. These boards do still look a little bit different but blend in fairly well. I was on a business trip during the patching and feathering part, sadly, but when I returned, we had a patch in place!
To get these in with the tongue and groove still intact isn't easy - it takes a lot of tap tap tapping and finesse. The last one in gets face-nailed down (putting nails through the top of the board to connect it to the joist below - there is no sub floor at Isthmus House).
There are many people that hate the "H" that flooring patches can create but I really don't mind them because they're in several places throughout the original floors.
Once the patch was in, it was time to strip with a chemical stripper to get off the tar paper and then get to sanding with 16 grit sandpaper - the lowest, or coarsest, grit out there. It's like a saw, it's so coarse.
Stripping all of the grime of 100 years, 2,384,092,384 owners and tenants, one set of plastic floors and one pretend trap door took a while with the guys working their way up in grit.
Eventually, though, the floors were clean and ready for their first coat of oil based polyurethane.
Another buffing, getting all the junk off them again (stuff comes out from between the boards - kind of gross, really) and another coat of poly and we had foyer floors!
Walking in the front door, you no longer go sliding across the front hall but you do have to take your shoes off!
The floors will darken over the next year which should help them look a little more like they would if they had just been taken care of over the last 100 years.
Most of all, Isthmus House got a little more welcoming - just in time for Christmas guests.
What about you? What's your favorite part of getting ready for Christmas?
