my wood flooring arrived all the way from China. you would think it was something super rare and special to have to order it from all the way around the world, but alas, and sadly, like many things it was much cheaper to purchase it there. now that i'm typing this i do feel a slight bit of guilt about my purchase. however, in this case saving about 70% off the cost wins out. it was pretty easy to cut with scissors. much easier than i thought it would be (though i may be needing new scissors soon). it may be a bit challenging where i have to add small pieces to fill in. i'm not quite looking forward to that. staining the floors was an awful mess. i decided to use minwax express color, a water based stain, so as to avoid handling heavy chemicals. i was torn between using a super light and a very dark stain and i went with the latter. i'm not sure how i feel about the color i chose, but what's done is done. i think this color is probably more appropriate for a colonial style house anyway. as i've mentioned before, i'm looking at this as sort of a practice house. mistakes will be made. at any rate, i'll make it work! i have a feeling that i might regret not using a varnish, but a) i didn't buy any and b) i really don't want to do it! so messy and smelly and ugh. i'm toying with the idea of putting on a second coat of stain, i'm curious to see what it might look like. maybe i'll test it out on a spare piece of flooring. i keep hearing from people that they're following my progress here, but no one ever comments! please feel free to leave a sentence or two! it's way too quiet around here!
I just found you! So, I have been following you. Post how the wood floor works out. I have used these types of flooring many times and, unfortunately, they always warp on me. It's a real pain. What I have used for bathrooms and kitchen floors is really, really cheap peel and stick one foot square tiles from Home Depot. Then I cut them with a heavy duty paper cutter into one inch squares. I stick them on graph paper (to keep everything square) then glue the whole sheet on the dollhouse floor. Works well for me!
Posted by: Melissa Johnson | 10/26/2010 at 04:39 PM
uh oh. grr.. i hope they don't warp! i used glued and i put heavy books on top. the wood seemed fairly heavy to me (not like the crap wood flooring i've seen at Hobby Lobby), so perhaps the weight will make it less likely to warp? i like your idea for tile, but it sounds like it's probably too labor intensive for me! lol
Posted by: lisa shobhana | 10/26/2010 at 07:51 PM
Just came across your blog....warping in flooring is almost always caused by moisture. In trying to stay away from chemical based finishes, many people tend to use waterbased finishes, which become part of the problem, as they dilute the adhesive. PRD Miniatures will soon be offering flooring on our website, which will be laser cut from 10mil veneer sheets, with peel and stick adhesive on the backside. You will also be able to cut and splice where needed, just by using an exacto knife and straight edge.
Just a suggestion on finishing your floor. Try doing a light sanding with 400+ grit sandpaper, and then finish with Watco liquid finishing wax. It comes in natural for light woods, and dark for darker woods. When you apply the wax, poor a small amount onto a rag, then wipe it onto your floor. While the wax is still wet, use your fine sandpaper and sand the floor. This will work the wax into the grain, giving you an ultra smooth finish. Once the wax is dry, buff it out with a rag until ultra smooth. That should be it! No messy polyurathane to deal with, and easy to keep clean.
Posted by: PRenfroe | 12/11/2010 at 09:52 AM
paris,
thanks for the advice! i'm looking forward to checking out your flooring!
Posted by: lisa shobhana | 12/11/2010 at 05:10 PM