The Floors Are (Almost) Finished! (The Amazing Difference That Polyurethane Makes)

I’ll start with the bad news. Sadly, I didn’t get the floors in our bedroom suite finished yesterday because the polyurethane didn’t dry fast enough. I assume it was because of the weather and the humidity early in the day after I did the first coat. That first coat took about eight hours to dry enough to put the second coat on, so it threw off my whole schedule. So they’re not completely finished at this point. They still need a bit of sanding, and then a final clear coat.

The good news is that they’re looking amazing, even if I do say so myself. 😀 And even though I’ve done this before, and I was fully expecting it, I was still astonished at the huge difference that the polyurethane made on the floors. As I said yesterday, I add stain to the first coat of polyurethane, and that evens out the grain of the red oak hardwood flooring and adds a beautiful depth of color to the floor. I’m not going to go over the details of this process because I did a thorough multi-post tutorial the last time I did it.

I’ll also add that the last time I did this, I was refinishing 70-year-old red oak hardwood floors. There’s a HUGE difference between 70-year-old red oak and new red oak. I don’t know why, but the new stuff isn’t as pretty, and has a lot more grain in it. I still think the new stuff is pretty, but I definitely prefer the old flooring. There’s really nothing I can do about that, though.

The last time I did this, I only added stain to the first coat of polyurethane. This time, in order to match the depth of color in the rest of the house, I actually had to do two coats of the stain/polyurethane mixture. That might also have something to do with the longer drying times, but it was necessary.

So here’s a look at the floors so far. This is the floor in the bedroom…

And here’s a look at the side-by-side comparison of the floors with just the stain on the left, and then with two coats of the stain/polyurethane mixture on the right.

It makes a huge difference, right? See how it evens out that crazy grain in the red oak? I do like the grain in the red oak, but I just like it to be a little more subtle than how it looks with just the stain, which tends to turn the grain really dark.

Here’s another comparison of the stain only on the left, and the stained floor coated with the stain/polyurethane mixture on the right.

It’s not perfect, and I knew it wouldn’t be because I’m not a professional. But even with my perfectionistic tendencies, this is good enough for me. 😀 I have to imagine the rooms with all of the layering of other materials and finishes that will go in here.

The floors will be a background for everything else, so they won’t be the star of the show when all is said and done.

The floors are a bit too shiny for my taste, but I used polyurethane in a satin sheen, and that’s the lowest sheen that it comes in. But from my experience, that sheen will diminish over time.

I wish that it came in a matte or flat finish, though, so that I didn’t have to wait over time for all of that shine to go away. But I’ll just have to be patient. I’m not so good at being patient. 😀

I’m so excited that this is almost finished!! And Cooper has already walked on the floor (he actually ran because he’s not so good at walking like a calm boy), and it held up beautifully after 12 hours of drying. So I’m hopeful that if I can get the second coat on by the end of the day and let it dry overnight, I can cover the floors by the end of the day tomorrow.

And then I can spend tomorrow making my purchase/cut lists for the closet, and then get starting on building my closet on Friday!

So by Monday, I’m hoping to have some closet progress to share with y’all!

And obviously, adding new (and more) lighting to the closet will be on my list of things to do. This room is so dark right now, but I promise that the floor in here is exactly the same color as the rest.

I still haven’t decided exactly what kind of lighting I want to go with, but it’s very likely that I’ll use the same ultra slim recessed lights that I’ve used in the other rooms. But I’ll also have my decorative chandelier and probably some sconces as well. So this might go from being the darkest room to the brightest room when all is said and done.

So that’s it for now! I’m thrilled with the progress, and I’m going to do my best to finish these floors by the end of today so that I can stay on schedule and start building my closet on Friday!

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.