August 9, 2013

Pictures from the first walk on the new floor.

After 8 hours of drying time, I put on socks and walked out onto the new floor:

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34 comments:

ddh said...

That looks terrific! Have you decided on a color for the walls?

TA said...

What wood did you use?

Ann Althouse said...

For the walls, we're thinking: white.

Remember that a lot of the year there's darkness outside. We spend time there in the evenings. Those windows are often black.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Beautiful!
Now you can get in on the 'ballroom dancing lessons' scam.

Ann Althouse said...

We do have very lightweight white draperies, but we often don't bother to close the. Sometimes I close them just because all that black window looks bad.

gadfly said...

White is good with white woodwork but rich wood colors deserve warm colors to make the walls appropriate and complementary. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.

Your blog, your house, your decision but you did ask us.

Ann Althouse said...

"What wood did you use?"

It's red oak.

Irene said...

We like Benjamin Moore "Linen White." We painted every room in that color.

Spiros Pappas said...

Looks nice. A muted grey or green would be my choice for the walls.

Christy said...

Incredibly lovely space. I like the color you're using now. Maybe a tad more yellow would bring the light and cheer during the darker months. What does your artist's eye tell you?

gadfly said...

Red oak is beautiful wood as your pictures show so I didn't have to imagine the wood color. Back in the days when hippies roamed Madison, neutral wall colors were the "in" thing - but wait, for goodness sakes, hippies still wander about the town.

I have 75% of my house walls covered in redwood and red oak is not red in comparison - even though the wood color has been toned down with shellac. The architect that built the house painted closet doors and the wood trim pieces around all doors light gray, did the interior doors in a light yellow, the exterior doors are orange and the ceilings are the only use of white. When I bought the house we didn't like the combination much but after a short while it grew on us. So after 15 years, the house still has its original color scheme.

All this really proves is that my judgement regarding colors is suspect at best.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Not "white-white," I hope. It ought to be ivory, or pale cream, or whatever silly name it's going by these days. Something a bit to the warm side of Platonic white, anyway. If it suggests icebergs, it's all wrong.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I ought to have said that the floors look absolutely fantastic, and I'm insanely envious.

Big Mike said...

I like Linen White also, and enjoy it on woodwork. But putting paint on your woodwork would be a form of sacrilege. There's a lot of green reflecting off the floor due to all the greenery right outside the window. That might be a thought. Or a shade of yellow if you can find one that's not too garish.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Ann Althouse wrote:
"After 8 hours of drying time, I put on socks and walked out onto the new floor"
What were you wearing before? Combat boots?
Not that there is anything wrong with that.

ALP said...

I am far more jealous of the natural light in your home than the new floor. We are surrounded by Douglas Firs AKA "The Biggest Weed Ever". Once you get over the novelty of feeling like you are in the woods all the time - the constant darkness is oppressive. There is this constant, "early evening" feeling - even at high noon on sunny, cloudless day. I feel like blowing a hole in our roof with a rocket launcher out of desperation just to get more light in the house.

Ann Althouse said...

Before, I was barefoot, which would probably have been okay, but they said socks, so socks it was.

Barry Dauphin said...

Now that you have a new floor, are you wanting to change the layout of the room?

Mark said...

That is a beautiful room.

bagoh20 said...

I just wanted to stop in to say that's really well done, Meade. Really beautiful. I did about 1000 sq. ft of solid oak like that in my home 17 years ago by myself with the help of a tiny woman and two young kids and it was exhausting. I have refinished it twice since then with sanding and new polyurethane due to wear. Just last week I tore it all out, and now have a huge pile of fire wood. I'm replacing it with resilient flooring. I just have too many dogs, too much wear, water and abuse for real wood anymore. It was nice, but mine was never as beautiful as what you have there. Congratulations on a great job.

cubanbob said...

Judging from the exposure I would go with a white-vanilla color walls. It should look really nice in the late afternoon sun when it picks up the red-gold tones. Keep the drapes white like you mentioned. Hardwood floors are beautiful but do require good care and if you have flat arches don't go barefoot since middle-age folks with that condition are prone to plantar from walking on hard surfaces.

AmPowerBlog said...

That's stunning. And very beautiful.

FleetUSA said...

Nice!

Ruth Anne Adams said...

You had sox on the floor already?
[Austin Powers voice] Yeah, baby! [/Austin Powers voice]

Ann Althouse said...

"I just wanted to stop in to say that's really well done, Meade."

Meade did do a great job of moving all the furniture out of the room.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

Just a friendly warning -- keep the #|<ing dogs off that floor. Their nails will gouge it and break that beautiful finish, even if you used bonded-urethane, which is what it looks like.

With dogs the size of Abby and Zeus there is quite simply too much weight concentrated into too-little rock-hard toenail to avoid messing it up.

I'd also recommend giving it two weeks before bringing in furniture, and if you wish to keep that wonderful shine ... no street shoes in (at least that part of) the house.

Meade said...

Good advice, Bart. We'll take it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, moving furniture is an art!

Seriously though, lovely. Any area rugs to be used? I can see a gorgeous oriental carpet in there.

Phaedrus said...

Not much privacy in that room when its dark with any lights on. Trade off for the view the rest of the time I guess.

And to think you did all that work yourself, almost looks like a professional job! If only Meade would move some furniture for you.

chickelit said...

In My Time Of Dryin'

In my time of dryin'
I want no loads to bear
All I want for you to do
Is keep my floorboards bare

Well well well, so I can dry easy
Well well well, so I can dry easy

Freeman Hunt said...

What is the width of those boards?

I love the floor. But then, I recently had my own done and put in something similar, so of course I like it.

Om said...

lease don't just slap up some Linen White. It's soooooo boring (no offense intended).

There are some beautiful colors that give far more interest without being too dark. Cayman Islands is a light neutral that goes well with brown/beige and grey tones. Also an old color called White Coffee. It probably has a new name/number, but it, too, provides some visual interest without overwhelming.

What do you have to lose? Buy a few samples and see how they look in the room. You can always go back to white if nothing strikes your fancy.

Om said...

Oh, and the floor looks fabulous!

Sorin said...

Your floor man is good at what he does so the floor looks great. Madame, your self control is admirable. I would have hit that floor without socks. We have white oak floors so I used an oil based poly on the floors, three coats. Over the years the floor has warmed to a honey colored glow. Area carpets only please.