Home Reno Project #98,723: The Floors Part 1

Maybe Ray and I both have the nesting bug or maybe we are just crazy.

We decided that while our house was ripped apart, why not take it to the next level? While building the closet and painting the front room (being transformed from office to our bedroom) our office is in a pile in the middle of that room. So, we are both using the living room as "office."

The middle room (being transformed from our bedroom to office/nursery) was virtually emptied by the chaos already, so we thought why not move the rest out into the living room (no more room in the front room) and refinish the floors like we always planned on doing?! So, we are currently living in what we affectionately call "our studio," which is the living room and kitchen of our house, while the front half is a construction zone.

We went to Home Depot's super cool tool rental and got a drum sander, an edger sander and a buffer and spent two very long days sanding and cleaning and filling cracks and sanding and staining and buffing (repeat several times). We even used an eco-friendly stain for the floor with no VOC and no polyurethane, so it is much safer for us and baby. Yay! We did the middle room and the hallway for phase 1.

And while we were doing that... why not add baseboards where missing and clean and fill and repaint the the mouldings and wainscotting? So, that is where we currently stand: working on the trim bits. We have no "after" pictures yet, but here is some show of our progress:

The line between the old (living room) and the new (hallway)

The nursery/office-to-be

Birthday Dogs!

This past weekend we celebrated Mela & Ikaika's 8th birthday! Somehow 8 seems so much older than 7 and then I started thinking how next year they would be 9 and got so sad... maybe the hormones contributed, but I sure do love those oafs and I hate seeing them get older.

We took them for a long walk in the morning on the Sunday Streets in the Mission. During the summer San Francisco closes streets in one neighborhood on a Sunday for people to explore and play. Last weekend it was our neighborhood, the Mission, so we "explored" and people watched. There were bikes and roller skates to rent and lots of kids and dogs running around. We had fun, but at least 3 of us needed a nap after our walk...

They also got a new chewy toy that squeaks (Ikaika's favorite) and has black fabric for Mela to unravel (her favorite) which they also play tug with.

All in all it was a wonderful day and they spent it playing and sleeping (not that far off from what they do every day actually). Here is a pic of the happy birthday dogs snoozing after all of the excitement: