Hard Wood Woes

My husband and I were so excited to pull the carpet up off our bedroom floors and refinish the hardwood. We live in an historic home, and we were told that the original floors were still intact under the carpet. Imagine our distress when we pulled up the carpet and found this...



Oh, they're bad. They're covered with dry wall paste, dripped paint and what looks like 140 years worth of dirt and grime. I thought there might be a chance we could redo them ourselves. There is NO WAY. We're having to hire experts to come in and deal with this little mess.


I WAS anxious to pull up the carpet off the living room and front parlor floors, but I'm afraid we'll find more of the same. Has anyone out there ever refinished wood floors that looked worse than these?! I could use a little encouragement at this point.


They're pine floors. I don't like pine, but I'm hoping they'll turn out okay once they're stained and finished. I had maple at my home in Kentucky, and they were beautiful. Any suggestions from anyone who has redone pine floors?


Also on the list for this room is to redo the walls, add crown moulding and repaint all the wood work. It needs it desperately. This is the room that, after December 2009, will become our den (or my husband's "Man Cave" as he calls it). Needless to say, the next few weeks, I'll be living in a mess while this room undergoes an update. I may need prayers!

Michael surveys the mess. His stress level is quite high at this point...trust me.

I am also feeling the stress. I'm not believing the mess we've uncovered!

My mother-in-law helped us (she works circles around Michael and me!). You can see her foot sticking out of the closet.

Does he look hopeless about now? Oh, maybe that was me.

Isabella seems to be taking it well. This cat can always find a place to take a nap!

Molly is saying, "WHAT were you thinking?!?!?"

So, what do we do? We escape to the t.v. room to get away from the chaos. THIS is more like it.