Well, we finally made it to the last day of school for my girls. I’m taking full advantage of this last day and I’ve packed in all sorts of appointments before we launch into full-blown summer mode tomorrow. First up is a dash down to Brooklyn for a meeting with the contractor at the brownstone to talk about refinishing the floors. (whoop!)
We’ve been thinking a lot about it (thanks so much for your input by the way), and because of all the stairs in our place and especially because of the very short window of time when the house will be empty, we’re probably just going to hire out this project. I’m hoping our guy will say they can do the floors for just some fabric advice and a big plate of fresh cookies, but something tells me it might cost us a smidgen more than that. I might be waiting on my DREAM fridge a bit longer than I hoped. (but seriously, isn’t that fridge perfect?)
Some of you mentioned you have used 50/50 Jacobean and Ebony stain mix on your floors, which is the formula used on these white oak floors (from here). We have red oak though and might need a little more ebony stain in the mix. I’ll have to play around with it. I’m also considering going very very light, which might better suit our narrow space. Decisions!
In other news, I’ll be joining the fabulously talented Kevin Sharkey on Martha Stewart Living Radio this evening from 5:00-6:00 pm. We’ll be talking about all the good stuff. Blogging. Decorating. When to DIY and when to call in a professional (let’s see what I’ll say after getting the quote for my floors just minutes before the show! ha.).
Call in! Let’s chat. (PS If you don’t have a subscription to Sirius, the folks at Martha have generously offered up a free 30 day subscription here.)
The floors are TDF and yes, I think you are making a wise decisions to contract the work given your tight schedule and work/family obligations. Congrats on the MSL Radio opp! Love the idea of Kevin Sharkey and the "Queen of DIY…" will try my best to tune in!
We just bought a new house and are having all the existing red oak hardwoods refinished and matching re oak installed anywhere there was carpet. This was our inspiration picture too and we ended up with a mixture of 75% ebony/25% jacobean. You can see the graining a bit more than this picture but we liked the character it adds. They can do water popping to get rid of the grain. Good luck! It has made an amazing difference in our house!
Congrats on being on the show. I'll give it a listen on the drive home.
We have red oak and used just ebony. It looks great and has lasted years now. Our home is narrow and I love the floors.
woah, so exciting- I love Martha and I love your blog- I think the two are perfect together!! CONGRATS!
Wow! I am so excited about you being on MSL Radio tonight!
Also, I think it is wise to go with professionals to refinish your floors. It is a lot of work and you have so much going on, including the start of summer :) Enjoy time with your girls,
Liz
I don't know if you have ever had dark floors before so I just have to say this – gorgeous as they are, they show every crumb, every speck of dust. Just keep that in mind! And definitely go with the professional!
I have red oak floors, refinished in Varathan Espresso, it only comes in quarts. It's perfect. not too blue=ebony.
Dark but not too dark, I have three kids and a white dog.
Martha Radio! How exciting! You are extremely talented and deserve it! Congrats!
Lauren @PearlsPoppiesPinkiesUp
I LOVE this stain color! Very, very dark and rich!
http://www.amazon.com/General-Finishes-GEL-JAVA-QT/dp/B001DSY50Y
That hallway and stairs picture is amazing. Dreamboat house. haha
Our flooring contractor used Cabot's Ebony oil-based wood stain on our floors, and it turned out well. You can see before and after photos here: http://www.onestorybuilding.com/one-story-building/2010/8/19/new-floors.html
Hiring a contractor was a must for us — our guy was so meticulous (and fast).
Light-colored floors would be really lovely as well.
Whatever you choose will be beautiful!
Hey Jenny,
I commented last week about my floors done in a mixture of Jacobean and Ebony and our floors are red oak as well (they truly looked just like yours previously) and we did either a 70/30 or 80/20 mixture more heavy on the ebony. Like you (probably because of your influence on me!:-) I was back and forth between really light or really dark. We ended up doing whitewashed floors in our playroom and I love how they look but will say they drive me crazy because they show every little speck of dirt!
I've seen jacobean but not ebony, we always used special walnut because it doesn't show EVERY piece of dirt. That's what I don't like about the super dark floors-but that picture may have changed my mind.
Holy smokes, we have jacobean and cant imagine darker! these floors are deep!
I used half English Walnut and half Jacobean on my floors. Ironically I have both red oak in the original part of my house and white oak in the addition. It looks much darker on the white oak but is still pretty on the red oak. I would probably go a little darker on the red oak if I had to do it again.
I just had my red oak floors refinished as well. I did have to add more Ebony to get the color I was after. I just love the way they turned out! I did a lot of playing around until I felt like the color was perfect though. I wanted to achieve a rich dark color, but if you get them too black the maintenance on them is horrible. My installer popped the grain which really added a lot. You might want to consider that. I would never do them myself. There is a lot that goes into it, and so many steps.
That smeg. Its just killing me! Why have I never seen that style?
I love that fridge. I didn't see it on SMEG'S USA website, only their '50s retro line. However, you could get a black fridge and add your own brass/gold handles.
Having professionals refinish the floors before you move in = priceless!!
FYI – I'm in the NY tri-state area. We had our floors refinished 2 years ago before moving in. The pricing of refinishing the floors including all labor and supplies should be on average $2.50 a square foot. Give or take 50 cents. But $3 would be considered on the very high end. For $2.50 per square foot it should include installation of new quarter-round foot molding too.
We used Jacobean on red oak and it came out as very very dark espresso brown. I really love it.
at first this picture looks normal and has nothing special, but when you look closely the picture has a beautiful stairwell. I love the shape and the colours of black and white! one of my favourite.
How exciting! and…I totally agree with amy good house… a professional job before moving in is the way to go!!! I'm sure either choice will be lovely. Enjoy those girls… mine are in the midst of shifting into "no school" mode… it's a big change for a busy home :)
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