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As a homeowner, I have always kept a ‘to do’ list of projects that require attention. About the time you feel like you’ve got everything in order, something will pop up that needs to be repaired or replaced. I know you know this if you’re a homeowner.
On that list, for the past few years, refinishing our wood floors has been right at the top. The wood floors are in every room of the house except the bedrooms. Fortunately, our house is small.
A week before Thanksgiving we noticed that the floors in the kitchen, going out to the side yard, were buckling slightly. Long story short, we discovered our ice maker had developed a pin hole in the line running to the ice maker. Who knows how long it had been spewing this tiny spray of water?!
With “the holidays” around the corner we got our bids and told Cooper Floors we’d be ready to start the renovation by mid-January. I’m thrilled with the result, and thanks to our sweet friend’s, Gretchen and Stu, we were able to stay with them the 4 days during the work of sanding, staining and sealing, making the experience pretty painless {thank you, Gretchen and Stu}.
The kitchen floors had to be replaced but our floor guy made sure it was interwoven with the existing floors so the new wood, compared to the old wood, isn’t noticeable. All of the floors were sanded down to bare wood and stained and sealed in the end, giving us essentially new floors everywhere.
It’s been awhile since I’ve shared pictures of our house so I thought I’d share the kitchen, where just a couple of months ago, there was chaos and construction, at least where the floors are concerned.
{I hope to get pictures of each room to share with you this year. It requires some planning to dress each room for a photo op. This may take more time than one might imagine}
As you can see, our kitchen is fairly compact but it works well for us. We remodeled it 10 years ago…I still can’t believe it’s been that long.
Essentially a galley kitchen, it’s easy to maneuver when cooking. It is a one-man kitchen, extra bodies tend to bump into one another.
My nod to spring (below). I collect bird’s nests once the owners vacate the premises (when I can find them). The quail eggs are real but store bought. The Halcyon Days enamel egg is the first Easter egg I bought when I began collecting these boxes…that year Mr. B and I had gone up in a hot air balloon…this egg will be a reminder of that fabulous adventure.
The nest in my antique French scale is not real, but the little wren keeping watch over the eggs was hand carved by my dear friend’s dad {Linda (Bainbridge Island) and Gretchen (Irvine)} Linda and Gretchen are sisters and they have adopted me as a sister, which is special since I’m an only child. 🙂
Confession: Since our kitchen is short on counter top space I’m hoping that somewhere down the line I can get the new Nespresso Vertuoline, which would streamline our coffee counter. We’re big fans of coffee…so we have a drip coffee maker and a Breville espresso maker. The Nespresso Vertuoline does both all in the compact confines of a beautiful machine. I only wish this was a paid advertisement for Nespresso!
I must say, the best thing in my kitchen is the Viking Stove. I honestly didn’t realize there was any difference between one stove or another until we bought this hard- working lovely.
The black piece at the end of the kitchen is our pantry. The woman who helped with the design of our kitchen recommended creating a pantry that looked like a piece of furniture.
Here’s a close up of the floors, our large dog has broken them in getting up to chase something outside…we need to buy her some booties.
Do you have any major projects on your list for this year? I hope to take pictures of some of the other rooms in our home and share them with you this year.
Jardin said:
Thanks for sharing a glimpse of your lovely home!
Karen B. said:
Jardin,
Thank you for stopping by. It’s always nice to hear from readers.
Karen
Kelly - Talk of the House said:
Love it! Wonderful wood floors! And how great that you had folks who could let you stay with them while the floors were being installed. I laughed out loud at your “paid endorsement” comment. How true! And your stove!!!! Be still my heart.
Karen B. said:
Thanks, Kelly. We really felt like the leak was a mixed blessing, but it forced one of the most thorough spring cleaning sessions ever! 🙂 xo, Karen
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 4:20 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Tone on Tone Loi Thai said:
Karen – The floors look amazing – congrats!!! I do like having floors done because the process so disruptive. And your kitchen is lovely – very warm and inviting! Cheers, Loi
Tone on Tone Loi Thai said:
Ooops sorry for typo: meant I do NOT like the process – silly me
Karen B. said:
Loi,
[I knew what you meant. No one I know willingly likes to move every stick of furniture out of their house. :-)] We did manage the most thorough of spring cleaning though.
xo,
Karen
Victoria • Restoring our Victorian said:
I love the color of your floors – rich, but not too dark.Do you know what stain you used?
We paid someone to do the floors (the ONLY thing we’ve paid someone to do,) and initially we thought we could stay on the 3rd floor but the SMELL was unbelievable.
I’m sure you are glad to be home. Everything looks great.
Karen B. said:
I even heard horror stories of one person insistent on staying in her home during the process having to be hospitalized, yikes. The stain color is called Antique Brown…clearly named by a guy. I would prefer it to be called Medium Cocoa or something. 🙂
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 6:37 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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beggingforattention said:
charm, charm, charm! and i cannot wait to see the other rooms.
floor re-doing is usually very painful, lucky you for finding just the right contractor. does he come to illInois?
XX
DEBRA
Karen B. said:
Thanks, Debra, Funny story, we did our floors in stages and one of the contractors in the middle (not Cooper Floors) did a terrible job and whined the entire time he was working on our floors. Why we didn’t use Cooper for all of the floors throughout the years is a mystery to me. Karen
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 6:43 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Msshe said:
I love everything, floors, kitchen cabinets and countertop, and especially your black pantry. I love black painted furniture…so this really appealed to me. So very pretty. Can’t wait to see more of your home tour, but I understand that it does really take time to stage them just right. Sheila
Karen B. said:
Sheila, Thanks so much. I marvel at some of my blog friends that seem to take amazing pictures of their homes every day. We keep a very tidy house but I can’t tell you the number of pictures I’ve taken where when I view it, it has a used glass on the counter or something amiss. It gives me a huge respect for shelter magazine photographers, not to mention admiration for their photo quality images. 🙂 Karen
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 7:22 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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msshe said:
Yes…if you want to see how clean or straight the house is, just look through the lens of a good camera. Ha! Funny thing…I can see dust and dust bunnies with my new camera lens. Mixed blessing. Ha! Your kitchen details are just lovely! And I so appreciate your being a regular reader of my blog. Sheila
Karen B. said:
It’s always my pleasure to read your posts. I knew there was a reason I didn’t buy a better camera. Ha, ha, ha. Karen
Sent from my iPad
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taylor greenwalt said:
Don’t you love having wood floors? They look amazing and your home is charming!
Karen B. said:
Julie, Thanks, coming from you it means alot. I so admire your work! xo, Karen
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 7:37 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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around the table said:
Oh goodness.. don’t get me started on refinishing floors.. We JUST did this prior to the sale of the house and had to vacate for two days while the finish dried. What a dusty mess. My husband and I did it the first time and had it professionally done the second time (we learned!) Don’t you like the end result though:) ??
Your kitchen is beautiful Karen and I like your little Easter/spring vignette:)
Hope your week is going well! xxL
D'Arcy H said:
Karen, what a lovely kitchen! Thanks for showing it off. We have a few things in common from this post: I am an only child, too … and we have a Nespresso Citiz, which we love! (We also have a regular coffee pot, so I can appreciate having everything in one appliance.) I have also been hot-air ballooning–with my dad many years ago. Great memories. And … can you guess what I am going to blog about next??
–D’Arcy
Karen B. said:
D’Arcy, I knew we were kindred spirits! That will be a post I look forward to. The hot air balloon ride we took was probably one of the most magical experiences we’ve had the pleasure to enjoy. Xo, Karen
Sent from my iPad
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Gretchen said:
Your floors look beautiful – the perfect color! I think there’s nothing that compares to the richness of traditional wood floors. I also loved the “watercolor” of your house. Was that done with the computer program you told me about? The photos of the interior of your home were impressive too!
Karen B. said:
Gretchen, Yes, the little image of the front of our house was a picture taken by me, uploaded to Waterlogued, and voila! You should do one of your house, you have such great curb appeal! Karen
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 11:04 PM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Jeannine said:
Absolutely love your kitchen. It’s just beautiful. Thanks for sharing it and I look forward to seeing other pictures of your home.
Karen B. said:
Jeannine, Thanks so much. I’m trying to get some decent shots of the various rooms in our house. My photography skills could use some help but while I promise myself I’ll take lessons, I don’t seem to get around to it. 🙂 Thank you for joining in the conversation. Karen
On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 10:15 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Found This Painted That said:
Love the black pantry. Good call!
Karen B. said:
Thanks! karen
On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 10:30 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Wanda Allen said:
I just love that 1985 Easter egg and the floor look wonderful. We need to get insulation around some of our windows and the hardwood floors in our spare room desperately need to be refinished. We are also getting a hot tub and I can’t wait for it to be setup.
Karen B. said:
Wanda,
Hot tub heaven. Thanks for stopping by Wanda!
Karen
Jayne on Weed Street said:
Great job on the floors! Your kitchen is so warm and inviting; it must be a joy to make that first cup of coffee every morning!
Karen B. said:
Jayne, Thanks. Yes, that first cup of coffee is essential, whether prepared at home or at work! 🙂 Karen
On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 4:30 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Linda Coble said:
Karen,
Having just seen your home in person, I can only say that the new floors are stunning! I was happy to see you do a post that included your kitchen since it’s always been one of my favorite rooms. The backsplash above your stove with the rooster is a show stopper. Everything looked wonderful and I know how nice it must be to have everything put away again after all the sanding and staining finished up. Congratulations on putting some nice new vignettes together too! They really complenent an already lovely home.
Karen B. said:
Linda, You are so thoughtful and sweet, thank you! It was so much fun visiting with you. Come again soon, or I’ll visit you, either way. xo, Karen
On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 11:12 AM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Daniel said:
Hi Karen,
did you do the floor sanding yourself?
Karen B. said:
Daniel,
No, we hired a company called Cooper Floors and they sanded, stained and sealed the floors for us. Our floors are 3/4″ solid red oak on a plywood base.
Thanks for stopping by.
Karen
Daniel said:
I was wow, because it looks so professional, anyway job well done. You have one beautiful house there.
Karen B. said:
Thanks so much, and thanks for stopping my…you live in England, right? My favorite destination for vacations.
On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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Daniel said:
Hi Karen,
yes England.
Andy said:
Beautiful wood floor, nicely done. We appreciate great floor fitting.
http://www.timbernatural.com
Karen B. said:
Andy,
Thanks so much.
Karen
Teresa @ Splendid Sass said:
Karen-
I love your floors, and a galley kitchen is my favorite of all. So much easier to cook in. I agree on stoves. I would log dot have a Viking or Dacor.
Your home is beautiful.
Teresa
Karen B. said:
Thanks, Teresa! Happy Monday. Karen
On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 3:39 PM, Garden, Home & Party wrote:
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