Be sure to start with Dining Room Makeover Part 1.
Back to the dining room with the wood flooring install. After ripping up the green carpet I found very worn and patched wood floors. They were to far gone to be refinished plus and were the very boring 2 1/4 inch red oak. I'm guessing these were not original to the house but were put in in 40's or 50's as that species and size was the norm and still is to some degree. Home owners now are leaning to more exotic woods in wider widths. Needless to say the old floor came up and I put down 3/4 inch sub-floor over the original 1X6 boards that were nailed to the floor joists. This built up the height a bit but it actually matched to level of the kitchen nicely once the new hardwood was down. After much research and debate I chose to go with Wide Plank White Oak flooring in a random width pattern. The boards range from 3 inches to 7 inches wide and I was able to get them in long lengths of 5 to 10 feet. I don't care for the look of short little 2 or 3 foot long pieces as some of the boards I received span over half the room. The random width takes more time to install because you have to plan it out so you don't wind up short of a certain width at the end and so you don't fall into a pattern. You want to wind up with a nice random patter across the whole room which I was able to do and not have two of the same size boards next to each other. I must say it really looks nice! Be sure to click on the pictures for a close up view.
Back to the dining room with the wood flooring install. After ripping up the green carpet I found very worn and patched wood floors. They were to far gone to be refinished plus and were the very boring 2 1/4 inch red oak. I'm guessing these were not original to the house but were put in in 40's or 50's as that species and size was the norm and still is to some degree. Home owners now are leaning to more exotic woods in wider widths. Needless to say the old floor came up and I put down 3/4 inch sub-floor over the original 1X6 boards that were nailed to the floor joists. This built up the height a bit but it actually matched to level of the kitchen nicely once the new hardwood was down. After much research and debate I chose to go with Wide Plank White Oak flooring in a random width pattern. The boards range from 3 inches to 7 inches wide and I was able to get them in long lengths of 5 to 10 feet. I don't care for the look of short little 2 or 3 foot long pieces as some of the boards I received span over half the room. The random width takes more time to install because you have to plan it out so you don't wind up short of a certain width at the end and so you don't fall into a pattern. You want to wind up with a nice random patter across the whole room which I was able to do and not have two of the same size boards next to each other. I must say it really looks nice! Be sure to click on the pictures for a close up view. |
| NO FINISH |
As far as the appearance of the floor I went with a Country Grade which has some small knot holes, worm holes and a more varied color. It really fits in with the whole plan for the house and the decor. Again I don't care for the perfect looking floor, more the rustic look. For the finish I also went against the grain, that is a bad joke. Seriously everyone is using polyurethane on their floors, I used Tung Oil. It is actually from a Tung tree and it produces a beautiful water resistant finish. There are some companies that sell a tung oil finish ready to apply but I chose to go with a 100% pure tung oil and thin it down with mineral spirits. A 50/50 mix is good. I put on three coats but the beauty of it is it gives the floor a
somewhat matte finish meaning there is very little shine to it. Again the rustic look.
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| VERY CLOSE TO WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW |
After a few years you can go right over it with another coat to make it look brand new then do it as often as you like to keep the floor looking new forever. The tung oil penetrates to wood and lets the floor patina or age over time. Once you put a coat of polyurethane on it covers the wood which won't allow the floor to breathe and needs to be sanded off in order to re-coat. I have included the link to the supplier I bought the wood from, I can't say enough good things about company. It is actually one guy who gets his wood from a mill and has it made to his specs, it is good stuff. Check out his website for tons of info and prices. You will be surprised how cheap a unique looking floor can be. Be sure to look for the info on Tung Oil.
Wide Plank Flooring
Hope's Tung Oil
When I remodeled the dining room I started replacing the heating grilles with new cast iron ones more in keeping with the character of the house. They are definitely more expensive that the cheap ones at Lowe's but these are very high quality and look amazing with the wood floor. We have a lot of black accents in our house so these fit in nicely. The link to the company is below. I ordered right from the factory. 
This wall sconce I bought from Connecticut Lighting Center in Southington. It was a special order but not too expensive, $90 or so. The big box stores just don't have things like this that are hand made. They also have a very nice selection of fixtures in stock ready to go. I have purchased many items and am very happy with the quality and service. The link is here. Lighting FixturesMy wife and I would always stop in antique stores whenever we saw one. Now that we have three kids that really can't happen anymore, maybe someday in the future. Anyway we picked up this red sideboard and the chandelier over the table. The sideboard we really just use for displaying more antiques, I think we paid $200 for it. The chandelier we paid like $30. You never know what you will find at an antique shop.
Below are a few pictures of the completed room. Enjoy and I hope you have gained some knowledge and ideas for your projects.
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| POCKET DOOR PULL |
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| STAIRS COMPLETED |
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| POCKET DOOR AND PANTRY |
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| LOOKING IN FROM LIVING ROOM |
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| TABLE FROM PIER 1 |
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| BEFORE(two rooms) |
