With a second coat of dark stain being applied to the wooden floors, stairs and bench tops, the patterns in the ASH timber are starting to come into their own.
 
The stain comes from a dilution of stainless steel soaked in vinegar. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity though – it’s quite hard to apply uniformly, but Timber Care were a match for the task.

 
The floors received a (rather noisy) wire-brushing from Timber Care, which scrapes away any soft wood, leaving hardwood behind for durability and the smooth finish of floorboards.

 
Timber Care came and experimented with a number of stains. We finally settled on using the darkest stain for our kitchen bench tops and floors, which is made from vinegar and steel wool stain.
 
For the eco-plywood cabinets, Timber Care used a white diluted concentrate as an undercoat to ensure the oil wax did not yellow the colour of the wood.
After the stains, hard wax oil is applied to make the wood waterproof. This is particularly important for the bathroom, which has wooden benches. Unlike varnishes, the hard wax oil does not need to be sanded to be renewed.