4renovators

There's some dust in the air in this shot, but this is the wood after 26-, 60- and 120 grit passes. The colors really come out when you get to the higher grits.

I bought this palm orbital sander and we were very happy to have it. We also used a rectangular orbital and a belt sander to bring down edges and smooth transitions. But this puppy was really effective for finish work.

The really tight corners we had to do by hand. Justin helped a lot with that (I even forgot to give him the tour until a week later!)

Three passes at 36 grit sandpaper on the drum sander (and 20 on the edger) began to bring out the raw wood. At least we have something to work with here.

The drum sander can't get closer than three or four inches to the wall so you need to use an edger for that. This is heavy and shakes you all up, but it's not that hard to run. And you can push it right up against the baseboard (or carpeting in this case) because it's got an independently swivelling shield between the front edge and the sander.

This is the beast that owned me for a week. It's not that hard to control after you get used to it. The key is to feel the wood. Or something.

Some of it has been sanded off, but the nasty stuff is still there. I am sure it's pretty when it's new, but when it's old it just looks dirty.

This is what the living area looked like when I bought the house. The carpet had been there many years.