I think the San Diego climate sounds nice, no worries about snow/ice. In Colorado, easily accessible garages are appealing, especially if they do NOT face North (snow melts better with a solar assist).
Sorry cb I was not clear. That garage door reminded me of your previous flip. Apparently, that trend moved here to my neck of the woods… That, and million plus prices! 
Thank goodness you don’t have to spend extra on a fancy garage door for this flip.
Wow, CB, sorry for the damage and destruction on the project. You’ve done amazing work and things are looking great. Glad you’re not letting yourself get fazed by the bad apple(s).
Glad you gave security. Take care and know we are all rooting for you!
I loaded a couple of pics of the dark stained floors and bathroom floor tile. I could only take one picture of the floors by sneaking up the garage staircase and looking at floor at top of staircase. That area is the new oak floors.
This morning I should be able to open the front door and look at the floors in the living room.
I love that dark stain on the floor…and hope the LR looks the same. I can picture some gorgeous orientals or Mexican wool rugs on those floors. Everything you put on top of them will really pop!
Beautiful!
Yes!
Walked in to inspect floors this morning. First thing that leapt out at me was that the floors were shiny. This is just because he has applied a sealant to floors over the stain and it is in between coats. He put on another coat of sealant this morning and then the floors will be buffed down to final coat of polyurethane. I have chosen a low sheen satin for the floors. We tried some matte finish on the floors and it didn’t look that good.
Next thing that I really hated was that the dark stain looks wonderful on the old wood floors. It didn’t turn out as dark as the sample that I took pictures of earlier. BUT, the dark stain really brought out a ton of grain in the new wood floors. This is because the wood is younger and has a lot more grain than the older wood. You can almost see the difference as the floors are weaved into the older floors - but only to the trained eye. Unfortunately I do not like how ‘busy’ the floors look. It’s like a giant zebra is all over the floor. It’s really fighting with the kitchen cabinets - in my eyes.
I could be over reacting because I have always done muted driftwood tones on old oak floors that is more contemporary and/or beachy and easier on the eyes. This floor is really hard for me to visualize against the kitchen. It’s ‘OK’ everywhere else, but its bothering me in the kitchen. I think our only choice at this point is to try and add a little more dark stain in the final layer (that will not be absorbed into the wood) to try to ‘even’ out the wood. It’s too late to go back and start all over again. One of the key reasons I choose the darker stain was to minimize the grain.
Our front wall is finished. The guy did an incredible job repairing and raising wall with the concrete block. Then he put a base coat of stucco and you just cannot tell the difference at all. Matches front gate wall perfectly. We will put a final coat of the white stucco with the Santa Barbara style texture and then I can top the wall with the same dark stone and it will all blend together
I spent most of the day taking 3 loads of returns back to Home Depot and Dixieline. I actually made $1,200 today in returns!! I still have one more load of big lumber… hoping they will let me return
Photos loaded
I think the floors look great – not too busy!
I don’t see any new photos. The last ones I see are the ones from earlier…from the stairs. Nothing after that.
And nothing of the wall…new.
Good news!
Because I haven’t spent a lot of time trying to find another painter, and the guys cannot go up into the house while the floors are getting done, my carpenter spent some time puttying up the white doors to see if they can be saved. He has done a superb job! They are sanding out really nice and we will be able to salvage the purchased custom doors. Now we just have to find a sprayer somewhere that is good enough to apply the final 2 coats of paint on the doors to cover up the patches.
One of the other guys climbed up the scaffolding today and puttied up all the small nails in the ceiling shiplap, sanded and gave the ceilings a final coat of paint. Also he checked that we have all the drywall blocking needed. I have postponed drywall installation because I don’t want anyone walking through house and up the stairs with 70 sheets of drywall until next week. We are going to have to lay fabric drop cloths and then sheets of cardboard on the main traffic areas of the floor to try to save them while we finish drywall and paint upstairs. Then the flooring guys will install upstairs while we finish everything on the main floor.
Tomorrow the toilets and vanities are going into the jack and jill bathrooms (because we can sneak into that area through backyard door). Lights are already installed. Only thing left is install the doors and door knobs, baseboards, mirrors and towel rods and switch/receptacle plate covers. I have to get on the ball to order all the lighting!!!
Kitchen needs detailed woodwork, countertops and appliance installation.
We need a couple of custom things that will have to get built. I am going to install a beautiful black walnut ‘bar’ across the top of the island pony wall and we have to custom make the dumbwaiter doors to fit the openings.
Then lots of cabinetry into laundry room and pantry area.
I think a darker stain that gives a more uniform appearance would be great. I personally would find the grain a little too busy, too. But I think a darker floor would look fabulous in the house, so I think your solution will work very well.
Looking good!
Dang… forgot to add to the Group. They are in the group now
Tomorrow we have to take all of our ‘security’ off the house (cameras, motion detectors, signs) because the stucco is getting applied to the house for the next 4 days or so. Then we have to wait 10 days for the base coat to dry and then the final white coat will get applied. We will have to get creative where the cameras get mounted for awhile.
I love that curvy outside wall…love it!
Re: the floors…I like them. They are wood…and wood has a grain. When I see wood, I exoect to see the grain in int…otherwise…well…it looks like plastic.
But I do think you have excellent ideas…so if you really think an evening coat of additional stain will help, fine. But honestly, I like it…a lot.
And like I said…I can picture really nice area rugs on those floors!
Bare floors can look a little overpowering because there is so much of it. Once some rugs are down and furniture is in place, the floors will sink into the background and not be so noticeable.
Signs and cameras… At least some signs can go inside the house and be displayed in the windows. You can also have cameras inside pointing out of the windows.
The reason I am worried is that the new floors that are showing such a busy grain are located in the pantry and hallway area (and the kitchen). These areas will not get staged with furniture or rugs so the floors will end up overpowering the areas. The areas where the floor looks nice are the living room and dining room… which are the areas that will have staging and rugs. Just cannot win!
The flooring guy has all the stair treads cut and stained. We are going to use one of those floor treads to experiment with more stain to see if it evens out the grain a bit.
You could put up some freestanding steel shelving in the pantry if it seems overwhelming.
When I looked at your photos I thought the floors look great. Of course, that may be because our hardwoods show a lot of grain, too, and I like the way it knocks back the formality of our house. Also, in contrast to the hardwoods in a previous home, no one has ever mistaken these floors for laminate. YMMV.