Foyer Floor

The wood floors in the foyer were disrupted when the new front door was installed.  There was some stabilizing work required underneath the house that caused the repairman to have to take out a section of the wood floor and therefore replace it with new wood.

The new, naked wood had been staring at us for several weeks, beckoning us to clothe it!  I didn’t take action because I thought I would have to pay someone, a professional refinisher type, to match the stain to the existing flooring.  I couldn’t be bothered to search for this person and the possibility of paying alot of money uninspired me.  But I also knew I couldn’t leave it that way much longer.  Especially since the door itself was painted and looked much better!

After taking pictures of the rugs I planned to sell (this round rug is still for sale), I decided I needed to take action and not continue to accept this look.

I already had these basic supplies from previous projects so this project didn’t cost anything extra.

I used  Olympic Gel Stain in Mahogany.  I rubbed a little bit on the unfinished wood to see how the color looked.  It looked like it would work.

I started off with a piece of cotton, A’s old t-shirt, but figured out a better method that involved two types of application.  I brushed the stain on lightly with a natural bristle brush and then used a piece of cotton to go over it and rub it in.   I just worked in the direction of the wood grain, lengthwise, and did one plank at a time.  The color matched well enough, but the gel stain dried with a matte finish. That was no big deal though.   I’d already planned to put a polycrylic clear coat on.  Polycrylic is water based and polyurethane is oil based. I used polycrylic because this is a small area and I already had it. I figured if it did not hold up, it could always be sanded.

Speaking of sanding, I did make a mistake that will cost me more time and effort (but at least not extra money!).  I should’ve sanded the new flooring to a smoother finish and I probably will go back and sand and then re-stain.  Overall, I think it turned out well considering a rug will be in the front entry most all of the time anyway and it’s definitely nice to not have to look at the unfinished wood anymore.  It’s also cool to get something else crossed off the list and not have to pay someone a lot of money to do it!

-J