Get the blond look baltic pine.

The owners of this Elwood house wanted a clean blond looking floor. They did't want the boards to turn orange as it can with solvent based polyuruthane. So Bona Dri fast white direct stain and Bona Traffic HD satin finish was their choice. As Bona Traffic Hd is one of the markets most durable and has the lowest VOC, the choice was easy.

Here are some before and after photos.

Renovating a teak outdoor table.

The owners of this imported Spanish teak table ( Ketal) asked me if I could help them with finishing the table. I sanded it to a 100 grit finsh as I do with deckings. Enough to be smooth but still absorb some oil. We used a Norwegian decking oil called Flood Deks Olje ( for teak and other fine boating woods). I started with 2 coats and then it's a once a month wipe over to keep it looking good.

Here are some photos:

    Finished.

To keep it from going grey and getting water stains, it needs to be wiped over once a month with the oil. If its in direct sun and weather. Otherwise if under cover maybe once 6-12 months to keep it in good condition. It's all a matter of personal prefrence when you think it's needed. But do it more often than not to keep it to your liking.

A beautiful oak parquetry floor.

The owners of this parquetry floor in Toorak were looking for a natural looking finish. As I was called in they were tired of the wax coated floor as it keept on wearing out, especially in the kitchen. With Bona Traffic HD extra matt finish they found what they were looking for. A natural look and easy maintenace.

Here are some before and after shots of this oak parquetry floor.

    Before.

    

   After.

    During prep work.

    After.

   

    During prep work.

    Finished floor.

    Here are some more photos of the 

    finished floor and stairs.

   The table works well with the new floor

    The furniture realy looks good on this       

    natural looking oak floor.

    The stairs b4 and after.

And after.

As this was a big job the owners appreciated the non- toxic coating and the fact that they could stay in the house.

Nord Living. A Scandinavian shop in South Melbourne

My sister in law Madeleine and her partner Maurice bought the Scandinavian shop Nord Living in Hawthorn. They relocated it to 220 Clarendon street South Melbourne to gain more space and a better possision. The new shop space needed the shop counter to be relocated from the middle of the room. It was inbuilt around a copper post. So I had to do an inlay in the counter to fill the hole. Maurice and Madde wanted a black infill wich workes well with their black stool infront. After the counter was moved the place was painted. Then I sanded the Yarrah floors as the counter left some exposed flooring. So the whole floor had a sand and polish with Bona Traffic HD Satin finish. It made the floor lighter and brought out each individual board. The whole floor looks more interesting as you get more colours showing instead of masking them as solvetbased polyuruthane does. So if your in the neighborhood, pop in and say hi to Madeleine and Maurice and check out their great selection of Scandinavian stuff!

Some b4 shots.

Some after shots.

Staining Tassie Oak boards

In this apartment next to the MCG, the owners wanted to match the flooring to the original skirtings and architraves. Since Tassie Oak is a predominatly light flooring (when raw) I had to stain it. I did some samples direct on the floor as it is easier to choose when you see it over a range of boards.  Bona Drifast stains goes into the grain more so than covering up the timber. It can create some very nice featureboards depending on the grain. There are 15 different colours to choose from in the Bona Drifast range and they can all be intermixed. Herer are some b4 and after shots. 

B4

After

B4

After

After

Here are some colour samples I did on the floors.