Feb 06, 2012: Reno Work Begins

Today we (and by "we" I mean our friend Phil) started with our renovation work, taking up the maple flooring in the living and dining rooms. We hate to lose our classic, wooden floors, which show the house's history (built late 1940s) and still look pretty decent. So I'm hoping they can be salvaged and re-finished, then used to clad the lowered ceiling alcoves/halls that I have in mind (as I channel Frank Lloyd Wright for my design).

Phil estimates he's been able to get them up with only about 5% lost to splintering, so we've got lots to work with for the next step of sanding. The good thing is that it won't receive any wear after being put on the ceiling, so it doesn't have to be as technically sound as it would for floor use. We'll see how it looks, and whether it will be suitable to re-purpose.

Here's a photo from Houzz that shows an idea of what I'm thinking of:

More photos of the actual work, and our (still somewhat tentative) plans to follow soon!