DIY hardword re-finishing Part 1

When we moved into our home, the corner bedroom, previously a little boy's room, was full of holes in the walls and nasty carpet. The majority of our main level is hardwood so I pulled out the nasty old carpet and carpet pad. For a few years this room was just storage for my husband and I, but since we were planning on starting a family soon this room needed a major clean up!

After cleaning out all of the stuff we had been storing in there for several years, and researching the best way to go about our project we began our adventure!

Tools for this project:
Tape and tape measurer
Drum Sander (rental)
Various grits of sandpaper for your drum sander
Hand sander for edges (rent or buy at local hardware store)
Belts for hand sander

Shop vacuum
Masks and goggles


Some before pictures:

As you can see, there were many black marks, scuffs and scratches throughout the floor!

In the entryway of the room the floor had a very grayish discoloration.

This is the tutorial we used as a guideline:
Family Handyman Hardwood Floor Sanding

My fabulous DIY momma and I rented a drum sander. We went to a local tool rental place and found their advice very helpful as well. There are several different kind of drum sanders ranging in different powers too! Some may be very difficult to get in your home and maneuver in the room. Measure the room you are working in prior to going to the rental place so they can guide you on what will work best for this space and tell you about how much sand paper you will need for the size room. You will need several different grits of sandpaper too.

Money saving tip: do as much prep work as you can before renting your drum sander as they usually rent for 6 hours or so!

First, we removed any nails sticking up in the floor and covered the vent and outlets in the room to prevent dust from spreading to the rest of the house. You will definitely want some safety goggles and masks as this project is VERY dusty!

Once we were ready to begin sanding we decided I would maneuver the sander and my mom would be in charge of keeping the cord and shop vac out of the way. In such a small room you need another person for this job. You will need to sand in the several different levels of grits (see above tutorial) and try to go in a pattern starting in a corner or closet and keep the sander moving.

The first time we turned on the sander and realized how difficult it would be to move around the room with the cords and all, we both started laughing so hard in our masks that I had to turn if off so we could re-group and come up with a plan of which way to move around the room best!

Once you get in a grove, it is much easier. Be careful not to use the same sandpaper pads too long or they can burn down and gum up on the floor (the opposite of what you want!)

Here is a during picture:

This is what our drum sander looked like. As you can see we were able to get up almost all of the old worn finish and black marks. Only in the one area to the left were we not able to get all of the old finish off as the boards were slightly un-level here. You can try to hand sand areas that you are not happy with after using the drum sander and edger.

Stay tuned for the next post on the staining process and more pictures to come for our future nursery!!!

DIY Holiday Napkin Rings

When I was finishing putting away holiday decorations, I remembered a super simple DIY project I did last year. Is it just me or are napkin rings wayyyyyy over priced? Sure they look really pretty, but for some thing that is purely decorative, who wants to pay $20 or so for a set of 4?!!???!

For this DIY project, I bought some holiday garland at Michael's on clearance (make sure the garland is very flexible and that the wire is not too thick to cut).
Simply estimate the size you need to cut for your napkin rings and how many napkin rings you can make out of your garland. Next, you would cut your garland into the appropriate sizes, and mold around a round object about the size of a napkin ring (a key ring works good for this, or you can just wing it!)

Using only one piece of garland, I was able to create 12 napkin rings (to go with my set of 12 red napkins on sale from Home Goods)

I plan on making another set of napkin rings using dollar store shower curtain rings and wrapping them in some thing decorative!!

Patio Project

One of my biggest DIY projects to date is one that my mom, hubby and I worked on a few summers ago. When we bought our home in 2010 the previous owner's took along their above ground pool. This is what the back yard looked like before..

Not the best pic of the pool area but you get the idea!
So basically we were left with a pit of sand and rocks in the middle of our yard. Flash forward a year (the inside projects took precedence over the outside for the first year!) of weeds growing in this sand/rock mess and you do not have a BBQ ready yard!!
My mom, a veteran DIY'er, suggested creating a patio since there was a walkway out to where the pool used to be and sand is the base layer that you would start with for a patio project anyway.

Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of the weedy mess that the area was before cleaning it up to get the full transformation. 
For this project you will need: pavers, sand bags, a level, a 2x4 or larger, hand tamper, a lawn roller, paver edging, man power and lots of patience!

-Obviously the first step was to clear out any weeds and rocks.
-My mom the math teacher came up with the layout and pattern of the patio (you need to make sure whatever pattern you are using will fit within the overall dimension). Then you can calculate exactly how many pavers you need
-Next, we leveled out the area with some extra space around to work with. Using the hand tamper and lawn roller, make sure the area is level and the sand is packed down well. You may have to add sand bags and level with your 2x4 then pack the sand down again and repeat this process until totally level.

- You can use stakes and string to measure out and mark the exact dimensions of your patio. You would then start your first row of pavers in your pattern.
-Each row must be carefully placed, take your time measuring or you will be sorry later having to take up whole rows to fix this (unfortunately, I know this from experience!!)

 My wonderful momma and I posing here with most of the pavers unloaded by myself, my dad and my strong hubby! If I remember correctly it was 90 degrees and up this whole week! Don't forget lots of water, sunscreen and breaks in the shade!!!

This was after many hours of hard labor and meticulously placing each row, being careful not to step in the packed sand too much!
As you can see, we used the paver edging (black strip on either side of patio). This helps keep the patio design in place as your working and also prevents weeds and grass from creeping up into your patio later!!

As you can see in the above picture to the left, we had to match up the walkway that was previously leading up the the pool area. This required taking up several rows of the walkway and adjusting the curve to match up just right.

When you are done laying out your patio and have placed the edging on the last side, you will need to sweep sand over the top of the whole patio. Your hardware store sells a special type of sand for this layer that helps seal and fill in the cracks of the patio (can't remember exactly what brand I used)

When you are finally done your patio you just need to clean up around it, plant grass or your garden, place furniture, then kick back and relax!!!!

Finished product!!!!!