The Stain

Stain #7

This past weekend, I stained the plywood floor of Bamboo's (my sister's new blog name!) bedroom. I decided to stain it (instead of paint it) because I really wanted the wood grain to come through AND Bamboo really likes brown. After many minutes in consultation with Raúl at Thybony, I decided on "Dark Walnut."

Midway through the process, late on Friday night, I realized that I should have worn some gloves. I don't know if it was the fumes or the self-empowerment of home-improvement that made me grab the camera (carefully!) and snap some artsy hand photos. These photos mean a lot to me because they're proof that I can do this stuff all by myself and have fun at the same time. If only I had remembered to buy paint thinner...

Saturday morning, I returned to the store, with my stained fingers, to buy the polyurethane (and paint thinner). The poly was sooooo much easier to put down than the stain because I applied it with, basically, a mop. The stain took me about 3 hours to lay down, with lots of arm work and knee grief, and the poly only took about half an hour. Sunday morning, I did a quick sand, which my shoulders and knees did NOT appreciate, and applied the second coat of poly.

The floor is dark, shiny, and still drying. I'm going to let it sit for the suggested 72 hours before I go back in there and take pictures. But I will let tell you that it's probably the swankiest subfloor I've ever had the chance to, well, create.