Whoops, I almost forgot to tell you about how I scrubbed and re-sealed the existing hardwoods right before we moved in (literally, like 26 hours before we moved in). The new hardwoods upstairs were looking so flossy and glossy, I didn’t want the ones in the office, living room, and dining room to feel so 2000 and late. So I gave them some love. Wax on, wax off, baby.
First I swept up the random dust and old faux Christmas tree leaves and all the other stuff that was left behind.
Not a bad pile for an empty looking room, eh?
Then I bought this Bona stuff at Home Depot because I had heard good things about it when it comes to cleaning and glossing up floors that are old/dulled/mildly scratched (you know, floors that don’t need a full re-finishing but could use some moisture/polish to fill in small scrapes and seal them again).
You know, little stuff like this.
After sweeping, the next step was to use their floor cleaning spray, by just working my way around the room spraying it on the floor and following that with the mop (with the cleaning pad on it). This made me mad sweaty, yo. So I give it a 7 on the exertion scale. You’re not just swabbing over the floors like you’re swiffering, you’re scrubbing the heck outta them to get them nice and clean.
Then came the actual sealing/polishing step. This was a lot less rigorous (so you ARE doing the swiffer motion here). The idea is just to gently spread out the liquid that you’re pouring out of the bottle as you work your way out of the room. Oh and for this step you have to use a polishing pad on the mop (it’s more like a lamb’s wool pad while the cleaning one is a bit more scrubbing-sponge-like). Note: see the green painters tape on my mop? That thing came out of the box all wonky and broken, so I had to MacGuyver it together.
In this picture you can see how the floor that I had done was all moisturized and shiny (top left of the pic below) while the floor behind the polish pad is kind of dull and dry.
Sadly, by the time I worked my way out of the room I was only mildly impressed. Parts of it had dried and looked just like they did before (dull, grayed, slightly scratched, etc) while other areas that were still wet looked awesome.
But once they dried… they were all chalky and dry again. I’m not sure if it was just something about our floors and the way they were refinished decades ago (some folks must love this stuff since we heard great things) but it wasn’t an awesome enough result for me to get going on the other two room’s floors. So it was back to Home Depot, where I bought another brand called Rejuvenate. It came in satin and high gloss but I chose high gloss since the floors upstairs are nice and shiny, which we like.
I still used the same Bona cleaning spray and the same Bona mop (with the cleaning head on it) since I already had those on hand and didn’t mind the job they did. It was just the Bona sealer that had left me high and dry (ok, just dry). So I switched ol’ Wonky Mop’s head to the polishing one, but this time instead of using it to spread the Bona stuff, I worked my way out of the room with the Rejuvenate wood floor restorer. The room looked like this before:
And this after:
Granted it still had to dry a bit in that shot above, but the comparison between the Bona stuff and the Rejuvenate stuff definitely left us liking Rejuvenate a lot better. It went on more evenly and left everything rich and sealed looking – even well after it dried. Nothing looked chalky a few hours later, and I was able to apply two coats in each room (you could apply them a few hours apart instead of waiting 24 hours like the Bona stuff required) which was awesome. I even went back and did the office again with the Rejuvenate stuff instead of doing a second coat of Bona in there. And I was so much happier with it.
Here’s the dining room all dry. Flossy and glossy, eh? This is how the living room dried as well, and the office looks the same now that we went over it.
Have you used a floor cleaning and resealing system to bring life back to dull, mildly scratched, or chalky floors? Did you try Bona, Rejuvenate, or something else? Ever tried two different options for a smackdown to the death what’s-better comparison?
Psst – Here’s a post with an update on how the floors are holding up seven months later. Still going strong!
Update – We finally created this Shop Our House page to help you hunt down any furniture/accessories that you see in our house, along with all of our paint colors.
*This post contains affiliate links to projects we have purchased and loved*
Kay says
People in the plaaaace! If you wanna get doooown!
Your floors look amazing!
Shelley @ Calypso in the Country says
I have tried Quick Shine to gloss the floors up but it wears off pretty fast and I don’t get around to re-applying very often. I am definitely trying the Rejuvenate! Keep us posted on how well they hold up!
-Shelley
Melissa says
SO. HELPFUL. Thanks for this post. I had heard the same things about Bona but hadn’t pulled the trigger yet on the purchase. Will be going with rejuvenate. That is, after the sod project in the back, painting the house in the house in the front, and redoing the guest room so my mom can come visit! Thanks y’all!
erin says
just bought it based on your review! we also have flakes in small spots. so hoping this does the trick. I think the contractor who re did all the condos did a craptastic job! so we’ve been finding issues! this was our most recent. I’m gonna borrow my mom’s steamer and then do the rejuvenate!
Kaesey says
So good to know, thanks. I’m redoing my loooong back hallway and will try Rejuvenate on the floors once I’m done making a mess with the walls!
Elizabeth says
I’ll be interested to see if the Rejuvenate stuff flakes off later. When we bought our first house (we’re now on our second) we thought the floors in our front living room were glorious. After a visit from our niece and nephew who slide a chair across the floor, we noticed that some stuff sort of peeled up. The flaking got worse. We spent countless hours trying to scrape it all up with razor blades because it would stick to your shoes and track through the entire house. We had our first baby while living there and didn’t want to be tracking it all over the house for him to eat while crawling around. Finally we bit the bullet and had to have the floors refinished. It sucked! Big time! And I don’t like to use the work suck.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man that does suck! It’s interesting to hear from people about this (some have used it years ago and still love it, others have had the flaking issues with Bona and used Rejuvenate to fix them without refinishing, and some have had flaking with Rejuvenate and not Bona). I’m convinced it has to do with what’s under them or maybe how it’s applied since it really does seem to vary a ton! We’ll keep you guys posted for sure :)
xo
s
Haley says
Wehave hardwoods throughout our open plan ranch with foyer and hallway to bedroom- the foyer/hallway/bedroom are in great condition but the kitchen/lr/dr show wear- sounds like i’d have to do ALL the floors -even the parts that dont need it or else there would be a noticiable transition…..what do y’all think?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, that would probably work best.
xo
s
Rachele says
If the stain isn’t scraped off – which was our case you can just buff them and recoat with another layer of polyurethane. I think the process is called “buff and coat” I called several floor companies and asked about these products and they said they are both short term band aids.
Rachele says
Also, we got it professionally done and they only charged us 50cent a sqft. When looking at the cost of these products- it was wellllllll worth it to have them do it.
Katie R. says
Love!! Can I ask how you clean your floors regularly now? Like maintenance? I messed up my brand new wood floors with Orange Glo a few years ago and they have never been the same!
YoungHouseLove says
I just use a damp (but not too wet) mop and mild watered down soap (like Dr Bronner’s or Mrs Meyers).
xo
s
Whitney says
I’m so glad you posted this!! We moved into our house back in October and we have ALOT of hardwood floors. The biggest area was a hot mess and looked alot like yours before you starting cleaning it, like a major layer of film and grossness on top. I did the same thing…everyone said we needed to try the Bona stuff, so I did. Major disappointment, I didn’t think it helped at all and may have left it looking even worse. I went back to using my trusted method which was using the broom first then going over everything with the swiffer and found that the only way it didn’t look absolutely awful was to go with the grain of each of the boards, but it took forever and I still wasn’t 100% happy. I’m definitely going to go get this stuff today!!! Thanks for testing it out for us!
Audra says
I’ve got a 100 year old house, and the hardwood floors can get pretty dull. I used everything under the sun, and finally found Holloway House at my local grocery store. By far, the best thing I’ve found: http://www.hollowayhouse.net/
Audra @ http://audrasally.blogspot.com
Katrina says
I use Holloway House for a once a month shine restore. Used to be able to buy at Kroger, but now I get it on Amazon. I use an old fashion vinegar, hot water, and a drop of dish soap solution to clean regularly and once a month I use the Holloway House floor shine to get an extra boost to my already shiny floors. It lasts awhile and mops on just like Bona. I tried Bona when we first bought our house and was very dissapointed. It was streaky and messy. I went right back to Holloway House.
Troy says
Impressive! Looks so good. Amazing what a few products will do to bringing out that new-floor shine.
Shelly says
Sherry–
Please give us an update. The reviews on Amazon were not good. I was all set to go out and buy this, but I think I will wait for your review.
YoungHouseLove says
Will do Shelly! We did this over a month ago (right before we moved in) and still love it, but I’ll definitely post an update if it all goes to heck. Haha!
xo
s
Robyn Shelton says
Thank you for sharing!!! We “rejuvenated” our dining room floors this weekend after pulling up the 30 year old carpet. Your post gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get moving and I am so happy with the results!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad Robyn!
xo
s
Sunny says
When I moved into my house, I noticed that the hardwoods had a milky appearance. The previous owner told me that his mother had used Mop-N-Glo on them and that usually shined them up. Well, I used it and boy did they shine! However, when I would mop they would go back to being dull and milky. The layers of mop-n-glo had built up and formed a layer over the floors. I had to spray AMONIA on them and use a plastic scraper to remove it. I spent DAYS getting the stuff off! I do NOT recommend using any product similar to it or other refinishers. I would personally just have to floors coated with poly before I put that satan’s product on them.
It is my life’s mission to save everyone from my heart/back ache that was removing the layer of gunk from the floors. Did I mention that the house was 95% hardwood? Yep!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that sounds rough!
xo
s
Kelsey says
Who actually raves about that bona stuff? I bought a huge gallon of it when I bought my house because I thought everyone “raved” about it. Who are these ravers? It’s horrid! It doesn’t do anything except wet the bona mop-thing and clean the floor a bit. And after awhile, the big bottle took on a wet dog sort of smell (and so did my floors). I finally dumped it.
YoungHouseLove says
Your comment made me laugh out loud!
xo
s
Lori says
I’ll have to give that Rejuvenate a try. We have hardwood in our living room and after two dogs (and who knows what with the family we bought the house from) they have definitely seen better days.
Kelly Bentley says
Rejuvenate is sort of life changing, right! BIG fan! It is like a fresh coat of poly without all of the drying time.
Sherri says
Anyone with a good laminate floor ‘restorer’?
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone?
xo
s
Cori says
THANK YOU!!
Cori says
That sent before I had a chance to finish it. :0) A friend of mine gave me the Bona stuff and told me how wonderful it was, but, like you, I wasn’t impressed. Glad to know there’s another product out there that gets the results I was expecting!
Diane S says
Today was my first time looking at your website after seeing it in HGTV magazine. I landed on this page about Bona and had to laugh at your taped applicator stick..thats exactly how ours is ..we just keep thinking we didn’t put it together the right way..now we know duct tape!! I have to agree with others that I was disappointed with Bona after hearing so many good things about it. I’ll be looking for rejuvenate since that’s the shine I’ve been looking for!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny about the taped applicator! And so glad you found our blog :)
xo
s
Ashley says
YOU ARE SIMPLY JUST GREAT!!! I bought the whole Bona kit and kaboodle years ago and had the exact same results. I have lamented over our wood floors just waiting to be able to refinish them for 10 years. I went right out and followed your exact steps and it looks like I have newly finished floors… I know you enjoy doing what you are doing but I home you know how much joy you bring to other people by sharing your experiences… Off to get my paint sprayer!
Christina W. says
Hey! Just an fyi for you to share with all of the readers, I checked the Rejuvenate website and they have coupons right now good through the end of July.
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet!
xo
s
Evie says
Hi, Sherry. I just wanted to ask if you are still pleased with the Rejuvenate shine. It has only been a couple weeks, but I’d love to hear how it looks now. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we actually did that right before we moved in (took a while for me to post about it) so a month and a half later we’re still happy!
xo
s
Annette L says
Okay I would love to do this since our floor is 13 years old now and is in great need of a facelift! BUT we have furniture in the rooms. It’s a great room so it connects to our kitchen. Is it possible to do sections of a room? Or would I have to take out all furniture so nothing was on the floor and do it all. Yikes! I have always wished we had gone darker but oh well what does a person do when the choice was already made. Help?
YoungHouseLove says
I don’t know if you could do sections without getting a line where they meet. Anyone else try this?
xo,
s
Lauren G says
How are these holding up?? I use the Bona cleaner on our house we just moved into and glad I had seen this post before buying the polish, our hardwoods are in great shape but a little worn and need some brightening. I have the Bona mop, did use the rejuvenate polish pad that covers over the mop head?
YoungHouseLove says
We used the Bona mop and polishing and cleaning heads but just the Rejuvenate polish. Still holding up well a month and a half in!
xo
s
Sara says
Sherry,
I cannot thank you enough for reviewing Rejuvenate! I accidentally stripped our brand new floors when we moved in, using products that were intended to clean wood floors. I have used TONS of different things trying to restore the shine but NOTHING worked until I tried this product. Finally the shine is back and I could not be happier!!
You are the best!!!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad!
xo
s
Stacey says
We JUST had our hardwoods refinished (full sand, stain, finish job) and our guy used all Bona products (waterbased, commercial grade finish). He recommended using the Bona cleaner to mop, but never to use the polish. Wonder why–Bona seems to have some other great products, and their finishes are fantastic!!! Seems like they would figure out a new formula for the Polish. He actually recommended having the floors screened and recoated with a single layer of poly in 5-10 years–when they look like they need a refresh.
BTW–had the Bona mop for 4 years, and and it fell apart the second time we used it!! It’s a duct-taped hot mess now.
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Jeff says
Thank’s for posting your success with the Rejuvenate. I just picked up a bottle of the cabinet and furniture formula to use on my stained wood trim. I’m a renter and my landlord doesn’t mind if I paint the walls but doesn’t want the trim painted. The house is about 100 years old and the trim and kitchen cabinets are looking really sad. (dull and dry) the Rejuvenate did wonders. It even cleaned a lot of grease off the kitchen cabinets. Who knew it wasn’t a dark wood stain but they were actually dirty?! I’m so glad I read this post and remembered to go back to it when I had the idea to give the wood some love.
Cheryl says
Hi Sherry. After reading this post I decided to refinish our hardwood floors before moving in this Saturday. I’m using Rejuvenate and the Bono equipment kit and had a question for you. Did you use the microfiber blue pad for the polishing or the soft white pad that looked to be more like a dusting cloth?
YoungHouseLove says
We used the rougher one for cleaning and the soft white pad for polishing. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Tom says
I own a wood floor refinishing company in PA, and I just wanted to tell you that long term REJUVENATE is one of the WORST products out there. In the short term it makes your floors look better, but what ends up happening is it builds a film on your floor, and eventually darkens them, only to be chipped off with light traffic. Stay away from this product. Creates a film, a haze, and all kinds of problems that end up ruining your floors.
Lisbeth says
Thank goodness for this post. The day after we returned from our honeymoon, my husband (!) decided it was the perfect time to rip up the wall-to-wall carpet in our house. Because you know, the day after returning from a 10 day trip to Ireland, you think, “Man, this carpet really needs to be ripped up IMMEDIATELY.” We luckily found hardwood floors underneath (woo!), and I remembered this post. We are in the midst of “Rejuvenat-ing” our floors, and they look wonderful. Thank you for justifying my obsessive chatting about YHL!
Sarah says
Hi Sherry and John! My hubby and I just closed on our first house (woot!), and it’s all old hardwood floors in need of some serious love … I was just wondering how you’re liking the rejuvenate results now that you’ve lived on them for a few months. I would love to know if you think it’s worth giving a try! Thanks so much (and I love your blog :))
YoungHouseLove says
Still looks good! Hope it helps Sarah!
xo
s
maribeth petery says
I have had terrible hazing and clouding on my laminate wood floors using Bona. Called the company and was told I have a bottle that has “broken down” and to use 50/50 water and white vinegar and clean it several times. I did so 3 times, it looks a bit better, not great. The test was to spray the bona on a mirror and wait. If it turned white instead of staying clear, as mine did, it was bad. They are sending me a good bottle. then we shall see. I wonder if I should not just use the vinegar water mix all the time.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no!
xo
s
Becky says
It has been there months since you posted/ applied the Rejuvenate. How is it wearing? The only problem I read of, in some reviews, was that it was beautiful at first and then scratched very quickly and easily. I am wondering what you are seeing? With a kiddo and a dog you probably have your fair share of wear.
YoungHouseLove says
Still looks good, and it has been 4.5 months with a kid and a dog beating on it!
xo
s
Amy says
Does anybody know what happens if you don’t wait a full 24 hours before putting rugs and furniture down on the Rejuvenate High Gloss product?
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone know? I think the risk would be that the floor would still be tacky and it might stick to the rug or get marred by furniture.
xo
s
Lisa says
Ok I have a question. My husband decided to start ripping up our carpet this morning while I was still asleep :) the hardwood underneath looks in really good shape so I was wondering how yours have held up after using this? I know it’s hasn’t been too long but I’m hoping we can skip the sanding and just use this product.
YoungHouseLove says
So far, great! It has been 4.5 months.
xo
s
Catherine says
Rejuvenated my foyer this past weekend. Still needs a real refinishing some day, but it looks soooo much better in the meantime. I’m glad I had your advice to go on – thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad!
xo
s
Renee says
We sanded our floors about 4 years ago and my husband choose to wax them instead of poly. Wish we would have just polyester them bc the wax needs to be redone. Anyone know if we could use this on floors with old ass wax on them?????
Renee says
Sorry about my autocorrect polyed not polyester lol
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, we’ve never attempted that. Anyone know?
xo
s
Josh says
I have used Bona for a couple years, both high and low gloss. Sometimes, the floors turn out as beautiful as your final result, sometimes they look like your first result. Bona doesn’t seem to care, to be honest. My question: did you remove the Bona polish before you applied the Rejuvenator? Or did you just slap it on over top? I’m going to remove all the polish using Bona’s remover (they FINALLY released a product) but if you didn’t bother with it, I might not either.
YoungHouseLove says
I just left it in that one room, and it seemed to be ok. Although that room isn’t as glossy and pretty as the other two that had only Rejuvenation, so if you have the remover on hand and want it to be perfect it couldn’t hurt to get that off first!
xo
s
Reticula says
I’m so glad I found this. I just bought a 140-year-old house with original pine floors. I’ve been told they’ve been refinished too often to do it again, but they definitely need something. I’m going to give this a try. Thank you so much!
Amy says
Thanks SO MUCH for the info! Unfortunately I read it TOO LATE! I used the Bona Polish on an area and am SO upset how it turned out. I am heading to the Depot now to try Rejuvenate! S excited, I hope my results are as great as yours!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! So sorry Amy!
xo
s
Gina says
How do you clean the floor once you have applied Rejuvenate on it? Does the cleaner affect the shine you have applied?
YoungHouseLove says
We just use mild stuff like Dr Bronner’s soap (or Mrs Meyer’s soap) watered down on a damp cloth or mop. Seems to work well!
xo
s
Sara says
I’d read some not-great things about Bona here and other places, but our floors needed some MAJOR help. After a little digging, I kept hearing about Holloway House QuickShine. It dries in a half hour, which is good since we have three large dogs and two kids.
In any case, I wasn’t very hopeful because said dogs had done a number on our floors, but HOLY MOLY the stuff worked.
I have honestly been exclaiming, “LOOK AT MY FLOORS!” to anyone who will listen.
Unfortunately for my husband, it’s usually him that’s listening. He humors me. In any case, if you can find teh Holloway House stuff, I’d HIGHLY recommend it.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Sara! Sounds awesome!
xo
s
Michelle says
I am so glad to read this post! Unfortunately I paid professionals almost $1,000 to sand and refinish my floors using a Bona product for pros and I am so disappointed!!!! It is that same dull/cloudy kinda look and I work so hard to polish but never get anywhere. And the Bona cleaner leaves streaks, and I’m basically using it on clean floors. So even higher end Bona…so disappointing…Even though my floors are recently (within months) “professionally done” I’m going to try this product. And don’t get me started on the lint and hairs sealed in…
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no!
xo
s
CharlotteNC#1 says
Why do people from Raleigh and the Triangle call them “HARDWOODS?” Even the Realtors there think it is “cute” to use that term in ads. The term is simply hardwood – NO “s” needed.
Hope says
Hi Sherry,
Thank you for this post. I know I’m EXTRA late to the party, but I have a question for you. I just stained my stairs (with a wipe on wipe off stain), however, they are looking unpleasantly dusty and dry. I have been encouraged by the helpful people at my local hardware store to just poly over the stain but I’m worried that the dry dusty look will just become immortalized under the polyurethane coat :( Is it appropriate for me to use the Rejuvenate to brighten the stairs up before I poly? Or is that not appropriate? Should I just wipe down the stairs with a dry cloth and then put the polyurethane on and hope for the best? Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!
-Hope
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, I would be tempted to get the poly they recommend and do a test spot. Just somewhere like the corner or the back of the steps or something and just see how it looks and if it still looks dusty maybe do a test of the Rejuvenate? Good luck!
xo
s