Put in time today in the dining room, also trying to get paper and Masonite down to protect our new floor.
Part of what I did was bring up the table saw, and to do some custom cuts of Masonite. I’m overlapping boards in a few places, but ultimately I’d like to just have a single, smooth surface.
A huge point that both Bob and Nick made to us: tape the paper to the paper, not to the floor. The chemicals from the tape will seep into the wood, and when you go to remove the tape… you’ll remove some of the stain as well. And while it can be repaired, you’ll always be able to tell something happened.
Tape the paper to the paper, tape the Masonite to the Masonite. No tape to the floor, ever.
I’ve been returning to this bit from Dave Chapelle’s SNl monologue from last week. There’s a moment at the end that I thought was particularly spot-on, and worth sharing.
Interesting side fact: I also follow a talented photographer named Jarrad Seng, who ended up touring a lot with Passenger and has directed a lot of videos for him.
It’s odd to see them in this state. Withered from being outside, and a few fresh stems after returning indoors.
There isn’t much to this video. It’s just a snippet of the afternoon, standing on my front porch, as the leaves just seemed to pour down. A hint of fall, a signal of the cold to come.
A quiet, unassuming moment I felt worth capturing.
It’s a challenge with these images, as we only end up coming downstairs well into the evening (we need to wait around 90+ minutes after Nick’s done to walk on the floor). We don’t really get to see the floor much in daylight, as it’s dark when we actually can walk around.
Nick and Milton came by today, to have another pass at the floor. After their normal, full day… they stopped by around 4PM to put down the first layer of varnish.
Similar to the stain, once the varnish is down… we need to stay off of the floor for a set amount of time (about an hour to an hour and a half, until it dries).
We’re being really careful to watch gingerly along the floor. And I can’t help but feel like every step I take is going to somehow irreparably damage all the work that’s been done. It’s like the floor is some kind of delicate, beautiful lava, and I need to just stay off it at all costs.
Honestly? I was not expecting such a stark change, with the slight gaps between boards seemingly removed, and a continuity that stretched from room to room.
I got the last bit of primer on the living room done. And Liz moved her stain tests to the actual floor. In addition to the standard stains, she tried out a few custom blend variations of her own.
We’ve taken down so many walls, pulled up so many floors… there’s precious little left in this house that we haven’t touched or removed, in some way. And yet, somehow. Magically. This house still surprises us, even now.
After work, I spent some time getting primer on the living room ceiling and walls. A slow discovery: I really, really hate priming walls. And probably painting, too.
I thought I’d be ok with it, but there’s a patience and precision that I just seem to lack. Maybe it was my mental state this week, but I was just impatient, easily frustrated, and just angry at the whole process.
I started by day in the basement. The shuffle work continues, with us needing to relocate everything down here. But first, I needed to clean up this spot, which has grown a bit unorganized over the past few months.
Liz has taken on the challenging and stressful task of removing all the tile in our dining room fireplace. They’re all pretty loose, and need to get re-installed.