It’s finally here!  The post you’ve been waiting for!  Drumroll please . . . It’s the FLOOR REVEAL post.  Yes, finally, we’re ready to reveal our recently refinished hardwood floors.  And I apologize for it taking so long, but see, we’ve had a lot of company in town (if you’d like to see who, check out the deets here and here); and, we’ve been busy moving in, unpacking, and also trying to enjoy some pretty fabulous fall weather.

But enough about all that, this post is about our floors.  Which, after ~3.5 weeks of work, were finally finished.  Of course, we didn’t do the work ourselves–we’re not that crazy.  Nope, Robert of James Cameron Hardwood Floors did it for us.  And I’m sure you have some vague memory of me hemming and hawwing about which way to go–dark or light? polyurethane or wax?  And I even posted progress pictures with a vague promise of finished pics soon to follow?  Oops–my bad.

Well, as a quick reminder, we opted to go with the natural look and not with dark.  More on that decision here.  And, since we decided to do a penetrating oil finish plus a buffed wax topcoat (all instead of polyurethane), the floors turned out a bit darker than the purely sanded ones in the picture above.  So, without further ado, let’s just get to some pics, shall we?

And now for some up-close and personal shots . . .

Not too shabby, eh?  They came out great, and overall we’re super pleased.  But (you knew there was a but coming, didn’t you?), I’m still a bit torn on the color choice.  Depending on the light, they sometimes read really orangey, and I’m not totally digging that.  For instance, from where I sit on the couch right now, this is my view:

See what I mean?  Of course, under more direct sunlight, they read lighter:

But every now and then I’m hit with a wall of orange, and I have flashbacks to what was . . .

But no–they’re different, right?  Tell me they’re different.  Please, tell me they’re different!  At least they’re not shiny anymore, right?

Which leads to another added bonus of the new floors–they’re slippery.  Like as in we-slide-everywhere-in-our-house slippery.  And we might also twirl around in circles.  We might do it all the time.

Okay, Mr. Bunches just asked me to clarify that he does NOT twirl; twirling is a strictly Mrs. Bunches activity.  Sorry.  

And yes, I twirl in Paul Frank socks and leg warmers.  Deal with it.

Oh, and just because this post is all about floors, I should point out one more detail: Robert also added oak quarter round.  He did a meticulous job and it looks great.  Luckily, I was able to paint a lot of the base moldings before he started on the floors.

So there you have it–floors revealed!  And for those of you who received our moving announcement and would like to come visit, please do.  Although, keep in mind that with the floors being refinished, there are some new rules in effect: no shoes allowed (we were a shoe-free home before, but now we’re a bit psycho about it), no water or liquids of any kind on the floors, and sliding is highly recommended. 🙂

Okay, so what do you think?  Was it worth the wait?  Are they everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more?  Did that last question go too far?