OMG, Absolutly! And would you mind sharing pictures of your antiques and floorplan too? I too LOVE looking at others ideas and especially old houses! LOL.

Here is the floorplan:

east wall:
{{gwi:1805252}}

west wall:
{{gwi:1805254}}

east wall so far, with pie safe in left corner and hoosier still open after just finishing up a baking project on the new marble top:
{{gwi:1805256}}

The island is custom made by a local guy, all solid oak with unlacquared brass bin pulls and a fabulous internet find at americanantiquehardware.com, my antique solid bronze cabinet latches. Which you can see in this picture.

{{gwi:1805258}}

The bronze doesn't quite match the brass yet, but hopfully the brass will tarnish quickly and get closer in color. The marble was cut out of a slab that came out of an old school being demolished. The guy who cut the marble is also going to make a marble slab prep sink that will go in the island with the faucet in the next picture, though I might see if I can cut it down to make it more proportional to an undermount sink. I originally wanted to find or make a faucet out of an old pitcher pump, but gave up. This is the closet I came...
{{gwi:1805260}}

The lower left corner has an antique pie safe a short one at 40" high. I don't have a good picture of it, but if you're intested I can take one when I get home. Above that I'm putting a pot rack with a shelf so I can display some of my pottery.

The stove is going where you see the different wood and rag rug in the east wall picture. Here is my stove before restoration:
{{gwi:1805262}}

I'm just using the stove for a cooktop because the oven, while it is gas, has no thermostat so like a top burner you increase the gas to make it hotter and turn it down to make it cooler. Needless to say we are also putting in a modern oven WITH a thermostat, a delonghi double wall oven. Under the stove we are putting in brick to bring up the cooktop height to 35-36" and also brick up the back to give the look of the chimney that was taken out. My DH is currently modifying the warming ovens on top of the cookstove to have lights and a exhaust fan. And maybe if he gets ambitious a griddle burner where the old firebox is. Otherwise, just a bunch of polishing and cleaning and cleaning and polishing.

Next to the island is going my antique butcher block. I'll try to get a picture of it tonight. It's huge and heavy at 24"x39" and 16" deep. It will be right next to the prep sink making it a great place to chop veggies. I'm going to sand the top a little and oil it with tung oil.

On the east wall is going my antique sink with UC micro to the left and DW under the drainboard. I'm mounting the sink 4-5" out from the wall with a marble shelf behind (came with the slab). Under the sink I'm putting a curtain and with the same material I'm putting that over the DW panel so it looks like the curtain goes the whole way across hiding the DW. Here is the sink:
{{gwi:1722071}}

Same guy that made the island is making the cabinets on the sink wall. I gave him these pictures to go by:
{{gwi:1805265}}
{{gwi:1805267}}

but in a creamy white instead of pink, LOL.

For the floor, we ripped up carpet and plywood with a TON of nails to reveal the original quarter-sawn oak floor. We sanded it all down including the dining room (below the kitchen) and applied 4 coats of waterlox. Very long process, but very worth it.

The walls are going to have bead board on the bottom and painted medium-light yellow up top.

Lighting, we are putting in antique sconces (ebay finds) over the sink and over the stove and an old kerosene angle lamp converted to electric over the island. We are also putting in undercabinet lights around the sink. I hope that is enough light because I don't want to ruin the plaster ceiling with too many lights.

A little background: my house is an 1885 center hall farmhouse with victorian details. Unfortunately a previous owner stripped most of the original woodwork out of the downstairs, fortunately they sold the house before they got to the upstairs. The kitchen was moved to the back porch and enclosed (where I show the breakfast nook) when indoor plumbing was added, so we are moving the kitchen back where it was orignally giving a lot bigger kitchen for my DH and two DD to help and not trip over our big dog while she's "cleaning" the floor. LOL :)

Well are you wishing you didn't ask? LOL, :)

mom2lilenj - Thanks for posting layout and pics! I have spent past hour or so w/ DH trying to figure out how to post pics and layout (he's the computer guru) but we are having problems w/ our superslow computer. Until we can get that figured out, I wanted to respond in some way to your email. NO, I'm not sorry I asked!! In fact, I think we would get a long really, really well as it apapears we are thinnking a lot alike in our kitchen vision and like to share what we have planned.

Now, you asked about our plans (hope you're not sorry you asked after reading this) . . . DH and I purchased his grandmother's small 1935 farmhouse this past December from his aunt and have started working on the all of the beadboard, which is on all of the walls and ceilings. We are in the process of trying to get bids to see what we can go ahead and afford to do as we will be doing this in phases. This has been a challenge in and of itself as we have talked w/ 2 GCs and called a third and have not gotten a response from any of them even though two showed interest in the project. DH has met with a fourth and is scheduled to meet with another this weekend and possibly another the first of next week.

Our plans are to do the houses in phases. We will be adding 12' alongside the right of the house (as you are looking at it) and 12' off the backside. This will allow me to have a kitchen that is being designed/built around the many antique pieces I have now, convert one of the bedrooms into a den, add a guest bedroom/bathroom and a powder room.

For the kitchen (which is really what it is all about, right?): Appliances consist of a working 1936 chambers stove--6 burners, griddle, broiler, and 2 ovens--a 1951 GE fridge, and a new Northstar microwave (retro-look). I also have a non-working Home Comfort wood stove which I use to store all of our cast iron cookware. I will have my maytag fridge in the laundry room which is right off of the kitchen for extra refrigeration. I have purchased a shaw's 39" farmhouse sink and the P&R gooseneck bridge faucet.

My cabinets will consist of some pieces I had made (simple shaker style, inset) which I will be painting a light sagey color and we will have soapstone countertops. I am going to convert the base of an entertainment center I have into a 6' long island which will have a marble top and prep sink added and which I will paint the bottom black. I am not planning on any upper cabinets except what is in the furniture pieces, but will have shelves above the cabinet run to the right and left of the sink/window.

Antique furniture pieces I will be using: an 8' long baker's cabinet; a pine icebox; two~48" bakers cabinets (one will be a coffee center, the other a dog feeding center); three pie safes (one old blue paint, one pine, and one old white paint); a maple workbench w/ drawers; an old pine table; three coffee bins (which we use for trash cans); and an old pine dry sink. The doors to the pantry are a couple of pine screen doors with the "Colonial is good bread" push handles. The lighting will be old schoolhouse lights that we have picked up at antique stores and off of e-bay. We will be using the push button switches (which I just saw on here and fell in love with). I have an assortment of spice sets and other small antiques that will be scattered throughout.

As soon as I can, I will post pics and layout. Questions for you--will you be restoring your stove? What hood, if any, are you planning on using? Will you be using marble for your countertops or something else? Yes, I would love to see pics of the pie safe, butcher block, and lighting. I had been on the look-out for a vintage butcher block that I was going to put to the right of the stove, but DH wasn't crazy over it so I have found an old cabinet which will add some more storage. I have gotten most of my cabinet hardware off of e-bay. Do you have all of yours? If not and if you are planning on using the catch-n-latches like in your pics, I have a bunch that I got off of ebay that I will not be using. Let me know if you could use and how many, and I will pull them out to see how many I have.
Did I tell you I loved your floors? Unfortunately, we will not find the same flooring as you and will have to have new wood floor laid. Right now there is old carpet throughout but we have already lifted a corner and what's underneath is not nearly as nice as yours.

The house had been rented out for the past several years and one of the renters used a wood stove to heat the place all winter and dried out all of the beadboard, so there are major cracks in all of it, including the ceiling. We are filling in with a special spackling and will then paint everything. Slow process but definitely will be worth it. The kitchen walls are a light cream color w/ a darker sage green for the trim. I have already completed one wall that will not be touched w/ renovation and really like the look.

Well, are you wishing you hadn't asked? LOL

My DH hopes these pictures come out as we cannot see any of them on this end. Let me know whether you can view, and if they don't please give suggestions on what I should do to get them to show up. Thanks!!

[floor plan]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/Kitchen.jpg[/IMG]
[Chambers Stove]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/StoveChambersGas.jpg[/IMG]
[GE fridg]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/GEFridge.jpg[/IMG]
[Microwave]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/Microwave.jpg[/IMG]
[Wood stove]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/StoveHomeComfortWood.jpg[/IMG]
[8' cab]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/PineCupboard.jpg[/IMG]
[Bakers cab 1]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/BakersCabinet-Madison.jpg[/IMG]
[BAkers cab 2]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/BakersCabinet-Joes.jpg[/IMG]
[Workbench]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/Workbench1.jpg[/IMG]
[a&p]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/CoffeeBinAP.jpg[/IMG]
[Flip
top]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/CoffeeBinFlipTop.jpg[/IMG]
[coffee tin]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/CoffeeBinMetal.jpg[/IMG]
[blue safe]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/PieSafeBlue.jpg[/IMG]
[white safe]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/PieSafeWhite.jpg[/IMG]
[wood safe]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/PieSafeWooden.jpg[/IMG]
[corner cab]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/CornerCabinetPine.jpg[/IMG]
[dry sink]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/DrySink.jpg[/IMG]
[dough board]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/DoughBoard.jpg[/IMG]
[Churn]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w5/jcandsam/Kitchen/ButterChurn.jpg[/IMG]

mom2lilenj - I logged out and went back in. If you cut and paste from the http to the .jpg then hit the search button, it should show up. Please give any advice on how to post these in the body of my message as you did. Thanks!!

Here are the pictures you were trying to post. Beautiful antiques!

floor plan

To post these yourself, go to the picture in photobucket and click on the "html code" box. This will copy the link into your clipboard. Back in the message, paste the link and they will be inlined into the message when you preview or post it.

Sorry the pics are so big. I will keep your instructions for any future pics (hopefully when my kitchen gets done!).

Gosh it sounds like we are two peas in a pod! bayareafrancy is also doing a vintage kitchen with a chambers stove (I think) and soapstone counters, she had a little trouble with the counters. Trailrunner has a beautiful turn of the century kitchen with antique soapstone sinks and teak counters, very cool kitchens. cotehele has antique Napanee cabinets and kitchenet (similar to a hoosier), she's still working on the new kitchen design. There were some others, but don't recall their names. Also being a fellow old house junky you may enjoy these blogs that I've been following http://www.ourvictorianhouse.com/index.htm and http://petchhouse.blogspot.com/

WOW, I'm in awe of all your antiques and the space you have to put them all!! That 8' cabinet is spectacular and the chambers stove looks like it would fit right in with an 1930's farmhouse. But my favorite is the bakers workbench! That is fabulous, where in the world did you find that?!

I tried fitting in a possum belly cabinet a lot like yours in the breakfast nook mostly because I just like them, but I couldn't get one to fit so I got a small antique fold down secretary instead. It's going to function as a message center.

I'm also using the push button switches, I already installed a push button dimmer in the dining room and my DD's love to play with it and call it faancyy, LOL. I got mine from classic accents. I think I have all the cabinet hardware I need, but thanks for the offer. The nine bronze latches are just enough for my cabinets. I got the brass bin pulls from houseofantiquehardware. I tried to find antique ones on ebay but the bids went too high.

That's funny your DH didn't like having a butcher block that's the one thing my DH really loves. He tried to claim it for the garage and use it to butcher his hunting catches. Here is a picture of it:
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the pie safe:
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the antique phone will be over the secretary in the nook area:
{{gwi:1805312}}

The light going over the nook table:
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and this hall tree is going to move to the side entry after I find a fancier hall tree for the front door:

We aren't restoring the stove per se. It's in pieces right now, but I'm polishing up the nickel with Brasso and 00 gauge steel wool. I polished up the stove top with stove polish and painted the back and interior with Rutland stove paint. We blew out the gas burners with compressed air and hooked it up to gas. There were no leaks so I disassembled the burners and now have to polish up the burners. In the top part, DH is going to cut openings for a exhaust fan and two halogen pucks. We canabalized the old exhaust fan we had over our current stove before we put in a micro/fan. It's just a simple exhaust fan. The micro/fan works soooo much worse than the previous fan, but in our current kitchen we REALLY needed the counterspace. I'll be happy to get a real fan again albeit rather plain. I got these ideas from looking at elmira and heartland antique style stoves. Too rich for my budget so we are making do with an actual antique. I think there are manufactures that make hoods that go with chambers stoves. Large rounded ones with nickel trim. There is also a web site dedicated to chambers stoves, chamberstoves.net.

Another thing we are doing for safety because it is an old gas stove is putting in a methene detector with an automatic shutoff valve. They are expensive, but worth not having my house blow up.

Love your butcher block and pie safe!!! No way should hubby relegate that butcher block to the garage. I have been following all of the above's kitchens and progress, which is how I got to soapstone counters and push button light switches (have you seen jgarner53's kitchen? It's where I got the push button switch idea from. I also want to do the waterlox on our flooring when it finally gets laid--any advice would be appreciated. I will have to check out the blogs you posted.

I found the workbench in Madison, GA, at an antique shop that I visit everytime I go through as they always have a lot of good, quality pieces (the majority of which I cannot afford). He had just put the workbench out that day and gave me his best price. I called DH who basically tried to talk me out of it but the more I stared at it, the more I fell in love. We now have it in our present kitchen (I was only putting it there to see how I would like an island as DH didn't want to have to walk around) and he now loves it as much as I. The drawers are great storage and I use the vice to hang my dishtowel on.

DH has also used the vice on the workbench several times when he has cleaned up old cast iron prior to seasoning (he's an expert at it!). For wedding gifts to all of the young couples we have received invitations from we have scoured the antique shops and picked up older cast iron pieces that he cleans and we give with instructions for keeping it seasoned and clean and a few favorite recipes. We usually give a large and small skillet and a dutch oven. So far everyone has loved and believe me, they don't receive duplicates!

The possumbelly baker's cab was purchased from friends of mine in KY (where I lived before being transferred to GA) when they started downsizing. The picture is actually in their kitchen so all of the surrounding antiques in that pic are theirs. However, they are how I really got started into antiques and attending auctions and her kitchen (prior to her downsizing) was pretty much my inspiration for my current and future kitchen. I am really lucky to be having the space for my kitchen, and as I mentioned, we designed it around all of the antiques and have been tweaking now for a few years.

The stove and 8' long cabinet were found on-line and we took roadtrips to p/u. We had a lot of fun on the way, hitting whatever antique store we came across (found some pretty good ones!). Also where we came across some of our lighting for the house. Other than a basic cleaning, we will not do anything with the stove as we like its dings--adds character! Prior to p/u they converted it so that we could use propane gas as it is what we have out at the farm. Y'all have a job on your hands with your stove but I have alot of admiration for what you are doing with it - good luck! It really looks good already. The hood you describe sounds very similar to the one that I have found that I want--just have to save enough up to afford. Again, I saw one here in one of the threads that had done a vintage kitchen and led me to it. This forum is great!

Gosh, you guys make me absolutely jealous! This is the kind of the design direction I started out with in my original vision of a kitchen remodel. And, I was well on my way to achieving it, too -- that is until my grand old dame Smooth Top antique stove gave out on me. (When I weighed the time and cost investment of totally refurbishing her over the cost of a modern-day replacement, I ended up with the Aga.) Now, with significant changes in everything, I seem to have gone over the line into repro, period-cottage-electic design land. :) Best wishes and tons of support to you in sticking with your vintage kitchens! My heart is truly there with you.

Both of you have absolutely gorgeous things! Good to find other vintage/antique lovers.

Farmhousebound, adore your Imperial Chambers! I have a colored Chambers C so will be probably go with white painted finishes rather than wood finishes. Was going to do a sweet vintage 30's style with the old leg sink, now questioning whether I go 40s or even an out there, boldly colorful atomic 50s with metallic touches and an old school Elkay stainless double drainboard sink. Have always been an art deco fan so maybe the cleaner lines would be better, plus it would probably meld better with the 50's appliances. Rest of the house is in 30's/40's style though. Arghh.

YES! jgarner53 was specifically one I was trying to think of because of the time period. She even has the hood similar to what I was thinking.

Marthavila, I was also thinking of your kitchen too and you absolutly can have a period kitchen with the AGA, maybe a bit more eclectic with the red stove, but you could think of it as a kitchen that was added to over time. If I recall corretly you have a rather old house where having a truely period kitchen would be extreamly difficult.

Those cast iron pans are great ideas for wedding gifts! I have a wedding to go to next month too. I do love my cast iron pans and waffle iron. Two of the skillets came from my great-grandmother. You just can't distroy them!

Thanks for the encouragement with the stove. Being a lover of antiques, but not having the money for perfect shape ones I've had to become a bit handy to get the look I want with the function I want. I can't tell you how much I've stripped, painted, glued, sanded, cased ebay, antique stores, estate sales, etc. DH often gets frustrated with my many projects, LOL.

I saw I didn't answer your question on countertops. I only have a 2'x2' area I have yet to consider. The marble is on the island, BB to add to the island, sink with drainboard, shelf behind sink will have the same marble, hoosier has a pull out 42"x27" enamel surface, stovetop has a 2'x2' area where the wood part is and of course there is a little surface area on the pie safe. But that's about it. The 2'x2' area I have to decide on countertop I was hoping I might find an enameled surface or maybe I could put zinc on that space. It will be to the left of the sink sitting under the edge and have my coffee pot. It seems silly to order just 4 ftsq of stone and I don't think I want to put the marble there.

marthavilla - I remember your saga with your stove - so sorry it didn't work out but agree w/ mom2lilenj that the red can really fit into the vintage kitchen. I will have a lot of different accent colors throughout the kitchen, red included. Have you finished your kitchen? If so, I must have missed pics and don't see you in FKB. Would love to see how it turned out. Thanks for the encouragement.

goodcookin - thanks for the compliments! What color is your chambers? Have you/do you cook on it? Don't you love it! DH hooked a small propane tank up for a while and I was able to use a couple of times when I was cooking for large crowds during holiday season. One of the discussions w/ potential GCs is the extra support DH wants to make sure they add under the floor due to the weight of the stove--almost 1,000 pounds. The other question we have been asking potential GCs if they thougt there might be a trouble w/ code and all have said no. All of my cabinets will be painted a light sagey color (best I can describe)--I wanted my stove, fridge, and farmhouse sink to really pop out since they are all white, otherwise I would have definitely gone with the white cabinets.

mom2lilenj - We have several cast iron skillets and dutch ovens that belonged to DH's mother and grandmother. Wonderful to cook in. I'm like you regarding various antiques. I have splurged on a couple, but the rest have been from antique flea markets, ebay, estates sales, etc., too!

Regarding countertop - if you have any local stone yards near you check them out--you may find the perfect piece of soapstone or marble to go on that 2'x2' area. I know the fabricator I will be using for the soapstone has a lot of remnants--that is how I found my marble for the island piece as well as a piece for several more places around the house. Although we wanted to stay away from the more green soapstone for the kitchen, when I stopped by their shop to check them out, they had a vanity countertop already fabricated that whoever had ordered decided they did not want out of Green Mountain. I made it work on a piece of furniture and they gave me a great deal on it, so now I'll also have soapstone as my vanity top! Found another piece of marble for the guest bath vanity that again, made it work.

Any advice of using waterlox would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the encouragement back, Mom and Farmhouse! As far as having completed my project, Farmhouse, you have missed nothing. If there is an honor roll for people who take forever to get their kitchens remodeled, I'm sure my name is on it somewhere! Now that I finally have a designer/pm and good plans in hand, we're about to start interviewing for contractors. Hopefully, construction will get going again in the next 6 weeks and I may actually have a kitchen to show you all by mid-late summer? Sigh.

Mom, I agree with Farmhouse that a soapstone remnant might be the perfect answer to that 2'x 2 countertop.

marthavila - don't get discouraged, we have been at the planning stages for a few years ourselves and are just starting to interview GCs. When we do get started, it will be in phases and the complete kitchen is not in phase 1 (at least not at this point--haven't started working on DH yet about moving some of it up LOL). In fact, the kitchen plan has already been tweaked more times than I can remember. I have to be thankful for small increments, though, as we had originally planned on waiting until I retired (3 more years) and we sold our present house. By doing this in phases, we are hoping to go ahead and get started by adding the framing of the new addition, new roof, electrical, and plumbing. We will will do all of the the painting and trim work before GC comes back in to start phase 2. From the sounds of it, you will be finished way ahead of me--I will be following your progress and rooting you on!

I picked Waterlox because from everything that I read I felt it was superior to all other finishes in preventing water damage. I don't really care much about scratching, our floor is far from perfect anyway. There is even a 4" round burn depression from what we figured a log rolling out of the fireplace. I also liked soaking the old wood with oil thinking that's got to be better for it. And soak in it did on our floor! The color went from a tan color to dark brown. It's pretty and I like it but a bit darker than I originally intended. We refinished the dining room at the same time as the kitchen which was a total area of 15'x24' and 4 coats used 3 gallons, the first coat took 1 1/2 gal. We also had some places we had to patch with new wood and the new wood barely changed colors, so I had to stain the new pieces to match the old wood. If you stain you have to get the non-sealing type stain, I used a mixture a various zar stains to get the color right. We ordered the low VOC version online because living in PA we could only get the regular version in quarts and my environmentalist friend would have KILLED me if I didn't get the low VOC. For the installation we pretty much followed the directions on the Waterlox web site. I think for waterlox it is ABSOLUTLY critical to have smooth floors. We thought ours were sanded well, but while putting on the first coat with the lambskin applicator the graining started to raise up and I started to catch splinters on the board edges. Anyway the first step (after sanding to smooth) is to clean with mineral spirits. The next step is to start applying the first coat of waterlox. I wore socks so no oils other than waterlox would get on the floor. And waterlox needs airflow to cure properly so I placed a fan at one of the entrances and the other in the window opposite. It also helped keep the smell from getting out of hand because it sure does STINK! I had some trouble with the sheepskin shedding and was thinking I should have used a brush, but later I found online that I was supposed to clean the applicator with mineral spirits first. I didn't find out that tidbit of info until after I went around the next day picking out the lint on my hands and knees. Also the instructions says there is no need to sand in between coats, but I found it necessary, followed by a tack cloth, to get a smooth finish. Allow each coat to dry 24 hours and then apply the next coat up to 4 coats. For oak they recommend 3 coats, but for my century+ wood the first coat was soaked in before I moved to the next area that I thought 4 coats would be better. Also it didn't seem to matter if I went with the grain or against, I guess with the lambswool there are no brush marks. After the last coat we stayed off it for 7 days and because I wanted to get ready for our big holiday dinner we moved the furniture in and did end up scratching the floor in a couple of spots, but those cleared up with a rag and some mineral spirits. Now after four months, not even dragging chairs and moving furniture faze it. I used the original sheen for all coats because I wanted the strongest finish and it was quite shiny, but now its a cross between satin and gloss and very easy to keep clean.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress marthavila! Do you have any pictures of your AGA yet?

It's taken us quite some time ourselves and I expect it to take even more before we are done (is done even possible in an old house?). The kitchen planning started 2 years ago with plans to expand we even hired a home designer, but we ended up not using her plans and I redid the whole thing last year keeping everything within the same footprint going back to the houses original rooms. I did have to make comprises, the laundry is tight and my pantry is much reduced (I still have a large pantry in the basement) and I don't have a mudroom, but it does have the things I most wanted. I'm hoping I have a new kitchen by Christmas and the back end re-do next year which includes the nook, laundry, bathroom and my office. Some day, sigh...

mom2lilenj- Thank you, especially for the little tips you found out after finishing!! I had heard similar on here regarding the waterlox. Right now we have 5 dogs ranging from 20 pounds to 125 pounds. I am not worried about the inevitable scratching that comes with use, but it sounded like the waterlox woud be the easiest to maintain. DH and I are planning on having the floors installed and sanded, then finishing ourselves with the waterlox. We will be getting 2-1/4" quartersawn oak. Since they will be new, would you recommend 3 or 4 coats? How long did it take before your floors went from shiny to its present finish? I was leaning away from shiny to the satin finish, but if the original is the strongest and will tone down . . . What did you use to sand between coats? Also, we live in the south with normally a lot of humidity and if things fall in place, may be the floors late summer, early fall--any advice regarding the humidity?

I also liked easy maintainence and really liked being able to just touch up the worn areas without resanding and finishing the entire floor. But you do have to stay off the area for 7 days, I think after 3, you can put throw rugs on it during the day but have to lift up at night. I would suspect curing would take a bit longer doing that and with 5 dogs it may be difficult to enforce the "no go" zone. I'm kindof worried about that myself with two kids and a large dog.

In between coats I used 220 grit sandpaper in one hand and a tack cloth in the other and went over the floor until I couldn't feel anything with my hands. I would think your new floor should take 3 coats. The new pieces actually got 3 coats because for the first coat I was busy trying to get a stain to match the old wood and I really don't think the new wood would have soaked in another coat anyway. Once you get going you can tell if the wood is soaking in the waterlox or not. For the old wood, the third coat soaked in after a couple of hours and the last coat finally took on the shiny finish.

I'm not certain if the satin finish is any less strong than the original. I was suspecting that because they recommend for a satin finish to put on the original for the first two coats then put on the satin.

We did the floors in December and it was in the teens outside the whole time. The air was very dry and I had the heat cranked to keep the room temp up with the fans going. So I don't know what to tell you about the humidity other than maybe running a dehumidifier might be a good idea.

well gotta go to soccer!

Farmhousebound, my stove is bright red.

Marthavila and Farmhouse, you probably know this already but just in case..... Right now there are a lot of smaller new home builders whose work has dropped off. They offer great prices as they are trying to pick up renovation work, but often don't have laborers with the craftsmanship or skills to work on older homes - they usually do fine with new construction additions. Depending on the type of work you are doing you might want to ask for several old home references and judge their level of enthusiasm for the work. The new home guys view it as a pain in the you know what and the old home guys love the challenge of old homes.

mom2lilenj - thanks for the additional information on the waterlox.

goodcookin- Our problem right now is those individuals we have obtained names for that have a reputation for good work and a willingness to do renovation/addition work are covered up with work because a tornado went through a local town and did a lot of damage. DH and I joke about we might just have to buy a big tent and put all of our stuff in it because we won't be able to get anyone to build and the current house isn't able to hold all of our furniture and the stuff we have purchased for the new addition. Hope it turns out to be just that--joking. What type of stove do you have? I bet the red is beautiful.