Another Craigslist Win

It was early Saturday evening and we were hanging out at our friend's house while waiting for the second coat of polyurethane to dry, so I browsed Craigslist. There happened to be a reproduction Eames lounge listed a few hours earlier in the color combination we were looking for: walnut with black leather. I texted to ask if we could see it right away, since we were leaving town the next morning. Within the hour we were checking it out and decided to buy. The couple selling was really cool and we talked with them for a while. Coincidentally, the guy needed a large photo print delivered to Salt Lake, so when he found out that's where we were driving he asked if we could transport it for him. They even knocked $50 off the chair for it.  Here's the photo from the ad:

Needs a little bit of touch up on the wood and the leather could use some conditioning but overall it's in pretty good shape. We took it to the house and left it in the garage due to the floors being refinished. On our trip last weekend, we were finally able to bring the lounge chair into the house. Here is Nick relaxing in the one corner that is now (mostly) complete! It's really coming together nicely.

Nick Refinishes the Floor

After the day of prep work we were ready to put down the first coat of polyurethane. I vacuumed one more time and then Nick started the application. He had done this only once before, but had a complete handle on it. 

I'm not going to include pictures of all three coats, though there were noticeable differences between each of them and I did document them. He did the first Friday afternoon, which took the longest. We allowed the first coat to drive overnight then Nick completed the second by early afternoon on Saturday. We went back that night to do the final coat, finishing that sometime around midnight. This was the first trip we stayed at the house, but these two nights we had to stay at a friend's place. Sunday morning we left there, stopped by our house to see how the final coat turned out, then got on the road back to Utah.

First room: Master Bedroom. Working his way toward the door where I'm standing.

Closet done

Close up: first coat compared to sanded area

Dining area after

Dining area before for comparison

Living room finished

And before shot of the living room floor again. Incredible difference.

Floor Prep

Even with four days of painting we didn't get everything completed. The studio/guest room still needs to be painted but refinishing the floor took priority for the rest of the week. 

The floors were really dull and very worn. There were some water spots in the living room and black marks that resembled tire treads on some of the bedroom floors, which was probably transfer of some kind from carpet pads back when they were carpeted. 

Dining area before

Living room before

Nick spent Friday morning sanding the wood floor throughout the house while I used the vacuum to clear out all of the dust so he could see the areas he'd already done and where he still needed to sand. I ended up vacuuming 4 or 5 more times after he was finished in order to make sure we got all of the dust and anything else that might have been on the floor.

Nick sanding the studio/guest room

He had to spend extra time on areas like the one below, but was able to reduce these marks significantly!

Tire tread-like marks in bedrooms from carpet pad 

It took several hours of sanding, but the floors were finally ready. We had an appointment to have the fireplace inspected that afternoon, so as soon as that was over Nick started with the polyurethane. Here are photos of the living room and dining area sanded and ready to be refinished:

Living room sanded

Dining room sanded 

And Even More Painting...

I'm combining the rest of the painting into a single post. We spent four days painting both walls and trim and finished everything except Nick's studio/guest bedroom. Sanding and refinishing the floors took priority after Thursday since we absolutely need that done before moving things in and were running out of time.

Before and after photos:

Kitchen - before

I pulled the stove (which we are replacing) away from the wall, cleaned and then painted several coats. The large wall on the right was mostly finished on the last trip so I continued painting down the hallway. I removed the ugly yellow cabinet doors and the kitchen is looking better already. I also removed all of the bedroom and closet doors to paint the trim and just left them off since we are going to replace all of the interior doors with slab doors finished with a walnut stain. No more paneled, two-toned doors!

Kitchen and hall after paint

In this photo you can see the finished hallway and some of the finished bedroom. This is the second coat of polyurethane on the floor, and it looks even better with the third and final coat. More on that later!

Hall and bedroom after paint (and floor - 2 coats)

This is a darker shot because the shades are down, but you can kind of see that the room was a light blue with white trim.

Bedroom before

Here is the after shot with the new wall and trim paint. I also painted the window trim the same color and it looks much nicer with the shades, which are an off-white. Again with the second floor coat.

Bedroom after paint (and floor - 2 coats)

Here is a before shot of the hall closet. Same yellow as the kitchen cabinet doors and the rest of the hallway.

Hall closet before

I painted throughout the entire hallway, again including all of the trim for a very modern, monochromatic look. The room on the left is the same color as the hallway, but it looks a little different in the photo because of the difference in the light between the rooms. The handle on the upper door still needs to be reattached, and the room to the right is the last that needs to be painted.

Hall closet after