Hmmm...something is fishy about this thread.

;-)

Amazing how much "carp" we collect over the years, isn't it?

That's awesome! I'm glad to see your back in your place and hope you had a good Christmas!

May I ask about your floors? I can see they're oak, but can you tell me more about them? They look quite purdy. Love your DR light too.

Nice work!!

sheeisback, the floors are finished in Rubio Monocoat which is a wax oil rather than urathane or varnish. It was a super PIA to get them done because it is not very common around here and contractor didn't want to take a chance on a finish he wasn't familiar with. And then the only company that does it, was booked up and had to fit us in in bits and pieces backing up our move in schedule even more.

Rubio Monocoat is amazing stuff. I really wanted to use it on my kitchen counters, but I got four samples and it was hard to use, expensive, didn't know how to get the right color....If you have a pro, though, who knows what they're doing, esp. with floors, it's awesome stuff.

tib, we already have one deep scratch in the dining room from the movers and are kind of excited to try doing the touch up. If it had been urethaned, we'd just have to live with the scratch. Supposedly we just wipe a bit of the product on and scratch disappears. Contractor has since conceded the point that Rubio is superior to urethane.

We have the same finish on our floors and do not understand why anyone would have a polyurethane finish, unless their floors never get used. Wax oil is a common finish here, and the floor installers know why.

My brother and I live 1400 miles from the rest of the family, and therefore we have not ended up with hand-me-downs from deceased relatives - unless we made a concerted effort to obtain them. We lived a pared-down life after our move in 2009, but now we are getting close to needing a purge ourselves.

Exactly, Daisy. The technology of the Rubio Monocoat is so cool, bonds the wood fibers, so if you get a scratch, all you have to do is rub some of the Monocoat into the scratch (you can do it yourself and save a lot of money!), and the scratch will disappear because the surrounding unscratched area will not accept any new Monocoat. It really is amazing stuff.

I decided, though, to use stain and Waterlox on my kitchen counters. I was too nervous to attempt the Rubio, since I'm doing the staining/sealing myself.

I am so looking forward to seeing this finished product! These little sneak peeks are tantalizing. That is an impressive amount of stuff you are getting rid of, wow!

Tib, I had the same experience with Waterlox that you had with Rubio - I was worried about what I read about applying it properly and then I couldn't even buy it here and I couldn't get it shipped because of environmental laws. But I did hear very good things about it. We've decided to keep our maple island top food safe so I've just oiled it with mineral oil and beeswax. There are already some stains and cut marks on it, but I am big on patina so it doesn't bother me. Our contractor took a deep breath and shook his head when I told him this was my plan for it. Sometimes I think he forgets it's not his house :)

jlc, I promise pics if we ever get it (mostly) done. Still have to hang art and I just ordered rugs online today. I have had really good luck with rugs from Wayfair, so I'm hoping for the best but buying rugs online can be a bit iffy.

I have to admit that the garbage bags are 75% packing materials - still a lot of stuff though.

Fortunately, Waterlox becomes food-safe after 28 days, FDA rated. Something I definitely had to look into. But I don't have an island and these are my actual counters, including the sink surround, so they have to be very, very protected from water. I do use mineral oil only on my wood cutting boards, of course. I also just bought a rug for the kitchen from Wayfair that I love.

Btw, LOVE the windows in your house.

So happy you are finally back in your home Daisy.

Truly exciting - both to be back in the house, and to be purging. When we downsized in late 2012, we purged, purged and purged some more. We threw out more than we would have liked to (Salvation Army was the only one that would pick up furniture, and they were closed because it was Christmas - hopefully, someone "rescued" some of the furniture we tossed), but we also gave a ton of stuff away (bags and bags of stuffed animals to a teacher, who works with at-risk kids, household items to a single dad just out of the military, that kind of thing), and it was a great feeling to do so. Not only did we help others with material things, we helped ourselves in doing so. we don't have much "c**p" left, and what there is we are trying to go through and pare down even now. Very freeing!

I purged when I downsized before and after the move. I still need to do more -- I have so much stuff.

sjhockeyfan, good for you!

There was a family with 6 kids and no insurance that lost everything in a fire here about a week ago. I'm going to try and see if they want/need material things (I have a feeling they will just be in need of cash at the moment as they don't seem to even have a place to stay). I thank my DH daily for making sure we were insured to the hilt.

Congrats on being back in your house! And awesome job purging all that stuff. We purged a lot of stuff before and after our remodel, still trying to purge more stuff. Like sjhockey said, so freeing!

Good to hear you are moving back, and WTG on the purge!!

Thanks for the info. I'm still making notes for when we finally get around to installing hardwood throughout the house. So there's no stain on the oak? Is it white oak? Sorry if these are obvious answers to most people!

The oil and stain are combined with the Rubio so it is all done in one step. We went with "Pure" which is really no colour. We did have samples of the chocolate colour and it looked nice, but I'm glad we went with the pure on our white oak. It is just enough colour. It is very gold and highlights the gold in our 100 year old trim.

Good on you for the purge! After our flood we also had tons of restoration company boxes...used them to hold stuff for a garage sale. I have to say we have somewhat kept it simpler. Not as much junk in the house.