The front porch, landscaping

The front porch had to be completed gutted and rebuilt. I changed the design a bit and I'm very pleased with the results. It was torment deciding what material to use for the floor. When I discovered the very arduous and time consuming process to put down true wood tongue and groove, I decided to look for other alternatives. I ended up using Azek tongue and groove and I love it. Most people think it's real wood and it holds up better than the usual composite decking - plus I get the old tongue and groove look.




My friends made fun of my purchase of this shabby bit of picket fence. But they aren't laughing any more - they all love it. The American flag is ceramic and picked up at a yard sale for $3.00



The front door is the only one that has been stripped. It's just the natural heart pine with some tung oil and the color is beautiful!




I also did considerable landscaping out front including these stepping stones that I love. Before, it was mostly dirt.

Refinishing the floors

This was a nightmare to say the least. I don't have time to go into the whole evolution of the floor refinishing, but will give a brief. First was removing the layer of vinyl flooring on top. Of the 4 rooms, 3 had only one layer. The kitchen, as can be seen in the following photo had two layers. The bottom layer was actually a cool old tile, but beyond it's beauty. Second was removing the underlayer of some kind of fiberboard that was profusely nailed into the beautiful heart pine. Hundreds and hundreds of nails had to be removed. What a job that was!



The dark perimeter was the result of years of a linoleum "rug" that was typical of those days and this area.



The work was well worth it. We actually refinised only two rooms this time. The two undone rooms, we simply put on dark mahogany stain that's holding up well and looks beautiful. It was a matter of room - only so much room to put furniture while you refinish.

Eventually I will refinish the office. But, I think I'll leave the bedroom dark. It's the one room that had only one layer of heart pine and it's rougher than the other floors and steps down a bit. It will never match and the mahogany looks very pretty. Of course, I could change my mind later.