We refinished very badly worn, scratched (deep grooves in some areas), and stained (a few pet stain areas and black ink/paint stains from an artist daughter doing her work on the floor-ugh) red oak floors. They are the original floors of a house built in 1959. Oh, and a myriad of previous owners had done quick fixes that were sloppy and looked awful. Upstairs, each room had a different stain! We thought we would go with oil base, natural. The sanders did a terrific job with the gouging and the stains. Except for the hallways, the sanded floors were like new. And for the wear in the hallways, we were very pleased with the great improvement. We are really glad we didn't pull up the floors. The new engineered flooring varied significantly in quality, and personally, I hated the beveling. Just a dust trap. Plus, in the light to me it looks a little cheap. So our old floors came out great when sanded, they've moved and aged with the house so we don't have to worry about cupping and expansion/contraction issues a new floor might develop. And we went with -biggest surprise, and great anxiety-Bona traffic. The oil based poly looked awful on the floors (we had the contractor do a test area of oil and water (bona)) on the sanded floors. We decided we weren't staining at all. We decided natural would be the best look that would stay timeless. And posts of dust against dark stains were worrisome. Plus, our house is modest-a cape, but with lots of light. We wanted to keep things light and bright. So, end of story, well sanded floors to original bare natural wood, application of sealant, and Bona Traffic, in semigloss. The floors are beautiful! With no stain, I look at beautiful natural wood, not yellow, not orange. Looks great with our traditional furniture. The finish is a nice soft luster-yes it's semigloss-gorgeous! And I sit and look off into a hallway where I know I need to sweep, where there are dust bunnies-and I can't see them at all! I will get to them eventually, but seriously I have no intention of becoming a slave to my floor. Anyway, very happy with the result! The contractors we used were well used to using Bona, and I think that was key to the happy ending. And we're glad it's better for the environment and the people using it. Win-Win.
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I don't like white chairs but something in this I like--the blend of fancy and farmhouse?
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