My Hardwood Floor Refinishing Reveal

If you missed my previous posts in this series, I had the hardwood floor in my living room and kitchen refinished by Bona. My first post about the hardwood floor refinishing process focused on meeting with a Bona Certified Craftsman to sample and choose a few stain colors and finishes. Then I posted about the sanding and staining process.

Today I am sharing the reveal showing you how the Bona REFINISH treatment transformed not only the flooring, but my decor as well.

The last photo I shared with you of my newly refinished hardwood floor was of the grey stained floor in my living room with no furniture.

Well – I finally had the time to get the furniture back into my living room and kitchen.

Hardwood Floor BEFORE

Here is how the floor looked before getting the Bona REFINISH Treatment.

The floor was in good shape for the most part, but I was not a fan of the amber orange color.

Hardwood Floor AFTER with Furniture

We put everything back into the room except the seagrass area rug. It is undergoing its own makeover that I will share with you soon.

I love seeing the hardwood throughout the entire space, but I also like the way an area rug brings seating together into a conversational grouping. I will be placing the rug back into the room in a few days.

The new floor color coordinates with the cool color tones I like to use in my decor. When the floor was amber orange it only looked good when I decorated the rooms using fall colors. :-)

The stain color I chose is called Bona DriFast Stain in Grey. On my hardwood, it looks more like a driftwood color. When I first thought about what color I wanted the floors, my plan was to go with a darker color to match the flooring in connecting rooms.

It wasn’t until the Bona Certified Craftsman came to the house and sanded a section of the living room that I started to consider alternatives. His demonstration of how different stains would look on my hardwood was invaluable in making me comfortable with a final stain color, which was quite a bit different than my initial vision.

Sampling stain colors is so important as every wood will take a stain color differently. When I saw the sample section with the grey stain – I knew right away it was the color I wanted. It is not too light or dark and blends in with the flooring in the connecting rooms.

Here is how the refinished flooring looks in the kitchen without the movable island...

… and with the island in place.

The stain color looks perfect with the stone fireplace and even my “mollifier” recliners. :-)

One reader wanted to see how the new floor color goes with the brick floor in my foyer that I whitewashed.  It doesn’t match, but now blends nicely together. 

Here is a video showing the process and some cool drone footage of the outside of my house.

How to Clean a Hardwood Floor

Cleaning the Bona REFINISHed floor has been very easy.

I have been using the Bona Premium Spray Mop and cleaner. What I like most about the mop is that both the wet cleaning pad that comes with the mop and the additional dry microfiber dusting floor cleaning pad are washable – you simply throw them in the washer and dryer and then re-use. No need to have to keep buying cleaning pads.

Attaching either of the cleaning pads to the Bona mop takes a second – they stick onto the bottom of the mop head like VELCRO.

• I also like that the cleaner cartridge bottle in the mop is refillable, less plastic waste.

Daily Dust

I have been using the Microfiber Dusting Pad to do a daily dusting of the floor. It uses static electricity to trap dirt, particles, and other household grime.

• I found out that I should avoid lifting the microfiber pad up off the floor as I clean—keeping it in contact with the floor, helps keeps the dirt trapped on the pad so the dirt will not scratch the floor.

Weekly or When Needed – Mop

When the floor needs to be cleaned, I switch out the Dry Dusting pad to the Microfiber Cleaning Pad that came with the mop.

• I simply press the trigger on the mop’s handle and a light mist of hardwood floor cleaner sprays out onto the floor. A few quick swipes and I am done.
• The cleaner dries fast and leaves no residue or heavy scent.

I love, love, love the refinished floor, but you know what happens when you add something new to a room or complete a home improvement project – items around it no longer look as nice.

This scenario happened when we placed the kitchen table back into the room. The natural lightly white-washed top looked too orange.

Over the last 10 years I have refinished the table twice. Over the summer, I plan to lightly stain and then add a new coat of white wax over it so it looks less orange.

Having the floors refinished is the home improvement project that has truly transformed the house. It has made the biggest overall change, bringing continuity to the first floor of my house.

Even though we had to move all the furniture out of the room, eat our meals outside and not use the room for a few days, the slight inconvenience was totally worth it.

Greg Martin, the Bona Certified Craftsman that refinished my floors was wonderful. If you live in the Columbia, SC area and are in need of getting your floors refinished, I highly recommend him. You can find out more about him and his company – Martin’s Floor Sanding on his Facebook or on Instagram.

Inspired to do amazing things with your hardwood floors? Check out Bona’s flooring inspiration site and for even more hardwood floor ideas head on over to their Pinterest boards. 

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