(If you’re reading this post, then I’m assuming you’ve already read the posts before it, starting with “Welcome to Cottonwood Creek“.   This is a consecutive story.  I advise you to start there, first…)

The (FREE)  hardwood floor of our Bed and Breakfast is over 130 years old.  The boards are semi-warped.  They are tongue and groove, and don’t fit together perfectly…but we say that gives it “character.’  haha.

Some rain had gotten onto the floor during the building process, further warping and puckering the wood slats.  It gave me tons of stress the entire time we built.  I feared that the floor would never lay down correctly again, and that we’d have to just rip it out.

But, Steve (my Mountain Man) got the boards to lay flat, screwed them down, and now it was time to sand.

Reese was all over it!  She started running the machine…until the vibration of the machine made her hands go numb.  Then she had had enough.

here’s a picture of the before and after of sanded/varnished, versus not varnished.

One project I don’t think I ever showed you was the bathroom counter.  I started with an old butcher block table.  Steve cut it down a bit, and then cut a sink hole from the middle of it.

Next up on my chore list was the bathtub.  We managed to find a clawfoot tub for only $80 (won’t find one of those “free”).  Seeing that old ones range from $200-450, we think we got quite the deal, and I still give God the credit for leading us to it.

It was my time to become armed and dangerous.  I used weapons of warfare on this thing to get it ready for painting.  This angle grinder was my first weapon.  It grinds the rust off the tub.  For such a small tool, it’s very LOUD.  But, nothing is competition for that planer we showed you earlier.   After the grinding, I used primer, to stop the rust from spreading.

Next it was time to paint.   I used the same color that I had painted the bathroom counter.

Days later, it was raining.  We still had work to do, so we stuck with indoor chores.  Reese put the outlet covers on for us.  She’s our little helper.  And she helped Steve turn a gas lantern into an electric one!

See the lightbulb in it??  Now we have a front door porch light.  (Check out that ceiling!)

The next post will show the place furnished! “It Is Finished“….(click on the link)

Or, click on Welcome to Cottonwood Creek if you haven’t started from the beginning of our chronological story.

Or click on What is Cottonwood Creek if you want to know what this blog is about. It’s being read by people in over 100 countries!!