Looking Glass Floors

It feels amazing to be able to post this tonight. After all the delays and frustration with parts, to reach this point is liberating and amazing. All new nosing, newels, handrails, cove and balusters. Two staircases. This is just overlooking the entry. But to see it come together...Doug and Andrew will sleep well tonight. #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #stairs #stairrenovation #renew #rebuild #design #stlcontractor #glowup #morethanfloors #allthingswood #stairdesign #smallbusiness #lookingglassfloors

It’s so good to see the first coat. White oak wire brushed. Stained graphite. Bona intense seal. Mega one satin. Next coat is Traffic HD. Can’t wait to install the finished Aria Vents and show them off! The team has been through a lot on this project. Very pleased with how well they’ve rolled with it, adapted and keep moving forward. We love working with these clients and want to give them the best floor possible. #refinish #design #bona #doitright #bonacertifiedcraftsman #artisans #woodlovers #woodgeeks #wirebrushed #godark #elevate #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #smallbusiness #local

We love stairs. Right now our shop is full of treads, risers, handrails, newels for 3 projects. Right now, we’re working on the gorgeous white oak treads we wire brushed and stained graphite. Ready to install next week. Too bad the delays from the manufacture on newels are holding this up. But we’re getting everything else done and ready! #staircase #refreshyourhome #renovate #upgradeyourstairs #stairs #newstairs #design #stlcontractor #lookingglassfloors #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #elevateyourstyle

Standard stock of 2.25-3.25 white and red #1 is still ready in 1-2 weeks. All widths 4 and greater are running 4-6. Some mills are 10-12 weeks! The industry of feeling the pinch of supply and demand. Staircase parts are 6 weeks out as hardwood supply is low compared to demand. So get those orders in! (We only use high quality mills. Your floors need to last decades. So we don’t cut corners or settle for lower quality flooring.)

People often ask us what we used on our floors. We used a penetrating oil. Why? It’s THE BEST!!!! Low to no VOC. ... This one has a 24 hour full cure! We have two kids and two dogs. We NEVER clip our dogs nails. Our kids actually Play on the floor with ALL their toys. Shoes...we often forget to take them off at the door. These are all the big no-no’s with hardwood floors . And we break all the rules. We are so busy taking care of your floors, we neglect our own. So we needed something strong, durable and easy to repair. There is ONLY ONE FINISH in the world that can take a beating, be neglected, damaged and easily repaired, AND still look good. EVERY PENETRATING OIL. top coat polyurethanes cannot hold a candle to penetrating oils. Yet homeowners are afraid of it. It doesn’t look finished. Yet a penetrating oil adds real strength to your hardwood. Polys can’t do that since they sit on top. Penetrating oils nourish your hardwood. Again, something polys can’t do. You can’t see all the scratches on my floor in this pic. I can’t see them looking down at my floor. But get close or at the right angle, you can see what we’ve done. We’re going to do a maintenance coat and video of it all to show you the Magic of penetrating oil. Oh, and the floor your seeing has already had a scratch repair. Took 30 minutes and it’s gone! No need to tape off multiple boards and sand. No need to redo the whole space! No need to replace boards. We’ve used Loba, Bona, Woca, Rubio and Pallmann penetrating oils. We have our favorites. We have some we’ll never use again. But no matter which you choose, penetrating oil beats out top coat polys over the life of your floor. *the highest sheen look is a matte. Some can be buffed to a soft velvet look. But you must like the matte look which really highlights the natural beauty of the wood. See more

I love seeing the floors before any cabinets, appliances or other finishing is done. We get to have a moment to really see the end result of our work. Doug and Jackson made it happen. Really pleased with the results. This floor, especially! Knowing how it started and all the work it took just to get it ready for the hardwood, makes this part even sweeter. Swipe left to see where it started. (And Doug’s thoughts on how to fix it.) ##lookingglassfloors #hardwoodtheworld #contractorstl #refinish #renovate #renew #smallbusiness #design #challenges #teamworkmakesthedreamwork @314scs

We’re all and how beautiful this peg and plank at @314scs project,shined up. We had to custom mill boards for the lace in work. Seamless! Sealed with Bona Natural seal and finished with Mega One in Satin. ##lookingglassfloors #hardwoodtheworld #contractorstl #refinish #renovate #renew #smallbusiness #familybusiness #bonacertifiedcraftsman #custom #design #natural #hardwoodfloors #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

We have been holding out for so long to post more about this project. But it’s too good to not share! @stlrenovators brought us in to work on thi whole home renovation. LGF is handling the floors and this staircase renovation. Getting to install an all new staircase with new handrails, balusters and newels has been a huge project. @stlrenovators and the homeowner (she is such a badass with amazing style), came up with the design; including the newels. We bought the baluste...rs and handrails in unfinished maple. Fabricated the custom newels out of maple ourselves. @snlpainting beautifully finished the balusters in white to contrast with the black rails and newels. Can we just take many moments to gawk and admire those jaw dropping, stunning black mirror finished rails and newels by @shanewoods75 This staircase is an incredible statement and it took an amazing team of craftspeople kicking butt to bring it to life. We’ll post more on process and finish pics once it’s all done. But for now, we couldn’t wait any longer to share. See more

Packing a lot into this picture. This follows the last post on milling our peg&plank. Andrew milled it to spec at the shop, Doug laced it in. With the floor repairs complete, this room is finally ready to sand. @314scs ##lookingglassfloors #hardwoodtheworld #contractorstl #refinish #renovate #renew #smallbusiness #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #custom #craftsmen #skills #bonacertifiedcraftsman #nwfa #hirethebest #artistry #design #designer #weloveourjob #wecare #elevate

Sometimes you get crazy surprises. And then you solve problems and make something ugly into strong and pretty. Swipe left to see the new custom steps. We’ll be finishing them to match the floors when we get to them. ##lookingglassfloors #hardwoodtheworld #contractorstl #refinish #renovate #renew #smallbusiness #stairs #welovestairs #custom #problemsolved @314scs