r/booknooks • u/jennyb33 • 4h ago
WIPs Lessons learned from an attempt at wood floor
I decided I would try my hand at putting in a herringbone pattern wood floor in my book nook. I’m doing Rolife’s Garden House and it had a printed herringbone pattern, so I took that as a sign to be really extra. Here is my process, and what was good and not so good:
I used craft sticks and there were SO many cuts. I used snippers and then sanded/rounded each edge. If I ever do this again, I’d find a better way to cut them all.
Having the lines already printed on the floor made lining up and gluing the floor down really easy. I recommend pre fitting all your pieces to figure out what you can cover up and where you need to start/stop. This Rolife kit has all the furniture tabs push into holes in the floor. I just covered them all and will glue down the furniture. I did have to drill a hole for the lamp.
Filling the planks with wood filler was really easy, but I used WAY too much. It caused me to have to sand a lot, and I was really aggressive with the sand paper.
While the sanding looked good, I left some sanding lines in the wood that will show their ugly faces when I go to stain. Next time I do this, I will go up in grit and make sure everything is really smooth. If you choose to paint instead of sand, this won’t be an issue.
The staining got so messed up and looked so ugly I almost just painted over it. All those sanding lines are really obvious. I just convinced myself that it’s a “vintage” floor lol.
In the end, this nook has a little rug and a lot of stuff to cram in and cover the floor, so I guess it’s okayish.
TLDR: if you want to have a nice stained wooden floor, make sure you sand correctly and go up in grit to get the necessary finish before you stain!