cateyanne, Check out the "U-Sand" floor sander and "Waterlox" floor finish. I just sanded and refinished my "new" master bedroom floor (antique heart pine original to the house) and had great results with the U-Sand and Waterlox Original. The U-Sand uses four 6" random orbit disks and comes with its own vacuum system; there was some dust, but not much. It also gets right up to the edge of the floor -- you probably won't need to rent an edger. Yes, it's probably lighter than a "pro" machine and it'll take you longer to do the sanding, but as a first time DIYer I found that to be an asset. (I don't mind a little extra time if it means I'm less likely to damage the floor.) Waterlox is a penetrating finish that is very easy to apply and, since each coat "melts" into the previous coats, you don't have to sand between each coat. (Next time I'll probably screen before the final coat because in an old house dust particles seem to generate spontaneously.) I'm very happy with the product and final finish. I don't have any floor-specific pics online, but (provided I can do this correctly) here's a "before" finishing (mid-woodwork strip and refinish) pic: [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd195/Synrgystyk/Bedroom%20Renovation/baseboard.jpg[/IMG] and an "after": [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd195/Synrgystyk/Bedroom%20Renovation/P1020089.jpg[/IMG] The lower right corner of the "after" pic shows the same area of flooring as in the "before" pic. HTH Lorree

If you used water based finish, it only takes 2 weeks to fully cure. Oil based takes well over a month--maybe months--not sure how long, but the manufacturer;s website will tell you. If it were me, and the floors look okay now, I think I would wait until after the party as I would hate to pay for the refinish and then have something happen at the party. Even the best finish won't stand up to problem high heels, ect. I wouldn't want to be worrying about my floors at my party.

Ha, Becky...you are not wrong. At this point I think that I’d rather have multiple root canals while touring colleges than ever, EVER do another kitchen renovation. I should have known from reading the posts here that it wouldn’t be smooth sailing, but I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve disliked the process. Mostly due to our own poor planning but also some unforeseen complications, we’ve had to have the plumber and electrician out countless times over the past week. The appliances were installed today, but because of the position of the gas line, the slide in range sticks out an inch beyond what is called for/looks reasonable. The only solution would be to have our cabinet installer come back out to re-set the two small base cabinets on either side of the range, but he is booked out til infinity and I can’t even imagine how bummed our cabinet designer is going to be when we reach out with this request (she’s gone so far above and beyond for us on this project that I feel dreadful even asking). We obviously can’t have the counters templated until we deal with this situation, so we’ll have plywood counters for eternity. My husband decided that they needed to be more water resistant so he bought fake marble contact paper to add to the plywood and at least that is making me LOL. I’m just kind of down in the dumps and questioning my choices again (this time appliances). I have to head out of town on Thursday for work and honestly I think that it will be good for me to have a bit of space from this. I intend to take some stellar naps when I’m not at the conference.

If there is enough visual separation between spaces, and especially if there is a door-they don't have to match. They need to work with the room context and with curtains themselves. Metals in a room don't have to match either, even though some look better together, than others.