Arr Haus

There were great leaps forward in the appearance of Steve’s apartment this week. They started working on refinishing the floors!

The transformation is incredible. Even though the floorboards are over 100 years old, when sanded they smell piney and fresh.

This guy uses the big sander for the main floor areas.

And this guy goes around the edges with the small sander.

Pretty grain on the naked wood. We’re pretty sure it’s “heart pine.” The wood of the Longleaf forests was the flooring of choice until they were depleted around 1900, during the building boom that produced our house and most of the others in Boston.

Several different phases of floor renovation, all visible in one image. Starting in the foreground we have the old subfloor. Behind that is the brand new oak flooring for Steve’s bar area, then the sanded dining room floor. The interior of the “picture frame” design there is in the process of getting stained darker. Then way in the background is the shiny, freshly finished living room floor.

Update: apparently, the floor guys screwed up which part was supposed to be stained dark. This picture shows them today doing the correct dark/light staining. Doesn’t that wood look great?

Peeking through the dusty front door window we can see how beautiful the front hall and bedroom look!