When you are designing or redesigning a space, it makes sense to start from the ground up. Floors set the stage for your entire home. If your flooring looks dated it can be challenging to bring a cohesive design together. The great thing about hardwood floors? You can sand and refinish them when it’s time to change things up! It’s a less expensive route than installing new floors and can achieve the same or similar results as newer materials.
If you are ready to update your house without spending a fortune, keep reading!
Lighter hardwoods have become a trend in the past 5-7 years. The reason we don’t see this trend going anywhere is how practical and beautiful lighter floors are. Lighter floors do a better job of hiding scratches and dirt, making it lower maintenance than darker floors. But what do you do when your floors are dark or even red?
If you haven’t seen our YouTube video where we lightened dark hardwood floors, be sure to go watch it after you read this blog! We were able to modernize a client’s main floor by making their floors light and bright. We are sharing our 4 step process for creating this beautiful look in today's post.
Step 1
The first thing you will need to do is remove your old stain by sanding the floors. This is a job best left to the professionals. Be sure that your contractor has fully prepped the space before starting. This includes sealing off the area from other parts of your home you are not sanding. Will you be living at home during the renovation? Be sure to take into consideration where and how you will be accessing bedrooms and items in your living spaces before this starts. Expect and prepare for disruptions to your normal routine during this process.
Once you have your floors sanded, everything needs a good clean to remove any dust. It’s important to get the floors clean and dry before moving on to step two.
Step 2
Your flooring expert can prepare an alcohol wash to prep your floors. Apply it evenly over your flooring. This step helps prep the wood to absorb the stain better. Again, access to the areas is going to be limited or non-existent. Communicate with your contractor or flooring specialist about what you should expect during this step of the process.
Worried about what your renovation timeline will look like? Visit the Our Design/Build Process page on our website to learn how Infinite Home makes renovations enjoyable and stress-free.
Step 3
Now it’s time to stain! There are a lot of stains to choose from, but the key part to achieving a higher-end look is to mix your stain with white paint. We will share our favorite combination of stain and white paint below.
Mix 50% Country White and 50% Rustin Beige in a satin finish.
Professionals will know to keep it evenly coated without applying it too thick.
Step 4
The final step is to seal your newly stained floors. We recommend using Bona sealer because it doesn’t cause any ambering in the tone of the wood.
Wait for that to dry and then, voila! You are ready to enjoy your new, light floors!
We hope you enjoyed learning more about this process and that you feel inspired and ready to update your floors and enjoy your home even more!
If you use this process in your home, tag us on social media @InfiniteHome so we can see the final results!
Don’t forget to watch our video, How to Lighten Your Hardwood Floors.
Until next time!
-Laurel
