Master Bedroom Phase One Part 2...

Ok. So stain. We decided we wanted dark. I LURVE dark wood floors. SO pretty. We went to Home Depot and checked out the selection. There were 2 dark stains...Ebony and Jacobean. Ebony was more like a black stain. We didn't want black, so we decided to go with Jacobean...

And it gets darker depending on how many coats you put on.

So stain. Jacobean. Pretty.

We then grabbed an employee and asked what else we needed. He hooked us up with whatever we needed and we ended up with the following...

We went home. I cleaned the floor with a damp rag and discovered that we were missing a product. The manufacturers instructions said to wipe the floor with mineral spirits. I had never heard of them before so The Hubs went back to the store and picked up this...

...and discovered it's just an alternative to turpentine. So I soaked a cloth with mineral spirits and wiped down the floor. We discovered it's called tacking the floor and it's a pretty important step. Not only does it help to clean the floor but it helps to degrease whatever is left on the floor to give you a nice clean surface.

After tacking the floor, the Home Depot employee said to use Sanding Sealer on the floor. The word sealer really scared me and it was no where in the manufacturer's instructions but the guy said to use it so we used it. The Hubs went ahead and put that on the floor. After that we went put the stain on the floor.

And eleven hours later the floor was still sticky. Like sticky sticky. I went to Lowes (closer to my house than Home Depot) and told the employee that it was still sticky. I went through the steps with her and she told me that the Sanding Sealer sealed the wood and the stain was just sitting on top not penetrating the wood and that we would have to start all over.

I was in shock. And um...I cried. The Home Depot employee had made a mistake and given us the wrong product. Evidently he was supposed to recommend a Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. I went home and called the store that we had bought it from. The paint desk supervisor told us that we had to start all over again as well and offered to give us a can of stain stripper and another can of stain. Unfortunately they're not going to pay for us to rent the sander again. So in the end...it's going to cost us about as much to refinish the floor as it would have to put in a brand new floor. Sad huh?

The Hubs went and got stain stripper, the massive sander again, and we're starting alllllllllllllllll over. But it's a good learning experience. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions ON THE CAN. And at least it wasn't the entire top floor...just the bedroom. SO! Phase 2 will be when we actually are to the point we were in our last post.