We took a break

We took a break from sanding this weekend. We were both just so sick of inhaling and cleaning dust week after week. We finished all of the stain and poly coats on the windows above the stairs and they look really good! We also began stripping the pink/ purple butterfly wallpaper in what used to be the outdated wood paneling room. We pulled out the old gross insulation and reinsulated as well. This weekend we are going to put up some sheet rock and do some hole/ ceiling repair as well. We will also do a little more sanding. Grr.

So close

This is now the 3rd weekend we have spent sanding the stairs. Granted we only sand 1 day out of the weekend. That's about all we can handle. We have the stairs and the baseboard and windows near the stairs sanded with the coarse grit. We even bought a paint scraper with a carbide blade to get the corners of the steps that were unreachable with the sander. Now it's time to go back over them with the fine and very fine sand paper next weekend. Hopefully we will be able to get that done in 1 day. That's definately some wishfull thinking but you never know. We would like to get the 1st coat of poly on everything before we leave for Thanksgiving.

I am so happy this project is almost over. We have so much motivation this time compared to when we sanded and stained the buffett. Now we know what we were getting ourselves into and know that the best thing you can possibly do is just keep pushing yourself until the job is done. If you wait and take weekends off you only make the job more dreadful for yourself. That's why alot of people have unfinished projects. I won't be one of those people! I'll have photos of progess for you tomorrow. Get ready to be amazed!

Faster than I thought

After devoting 2 of my entire weekends to sanding the stairs I think we are almost done. We are offically done with the 40 grit sandpaper on the steps and just have a little bit of 60 grit left to do on the trim. In the middle of sanding this weekend my Ryobi sander died on me. I took it into Home Depot and they gave me a new one. Apparently my drive belt broke. I press a little hard on the sander to get more off in less time. I had to break the new one in for an hour or so to get it back up to my standards of sanding =)

Here is what the stairs look like now:


Top of stairs looking down:


Next we'll sand a medium grit, then fine, then very fine. The great thing about the other sand paper is that you're no longer trying to get rid of any imperfections so it goes pretty quick. In fact we might be able to get it all done this coming weekend.

Oh yeah... I'm soooo sick of dust!

Fun With Sanding...

So I'm sure you remember the long tedious process in which we recently sanded our massive Buffet. This weekend we just began another awful sanding project- the stairs. I have been dreading this for soooo long. The time has finally to just get them done and over with. This weekend I began working on the stairs and probably put a good 6 or 7 hours in of sanding. The worst part of sanding, besides vibrating hands, dried out sinuses and nausea, is the clean up. I have about 5 stairs left to go so I am almost done with the 40 coarse sand. After I am done with that I'll switch to medium, then fine, then very fine. I am hoping the have the stairs done within 2 more weekends of working on them. The worst part is using the course sand because you and sanding out all of the imperfections/ old stain and you spend about 1/2 hour or so on each step. The good news is that all of the other sand paper we use goes pretty quick!

So our plan is to sand the floors throughout the house with sanding machine before we stain and poly the stairs. Poly for stairs smells so awful that I would prefer to just knock out the entire house over the course of a weekend. Since you can't walk on it and all... Here are the photos of what the stairs use to look like- in case you forgot. I'll post updates tomorrow.


Not only do I have to sand these steps, but I also have to sand the landing and more steps to the right of that. *sigh

The sweet taste of success.

I am beginning the poly process tonight on the buffet. The poly process is alot less work than the staining- atleast I assume. We are waiting to start the drawers. If weather permits we'll probably be working on them outside this weekend.

In near future news- I am going to begin sanding the stairs once I've fully completed the buffet. The last thing I want in my life is more sawdust all over my house but this will be the last sanding project we do oursleves for a bit. We are also going to be paying someone to come in and sand the floors in the office and the upstairs hall. I have a feeling it'll cost around $500 give or take. The room isn't very large nor is the hall. Having those floors redone will make a huge impact on the upstairs. I CAN'T WAIT!

Outside we have begun ripping out bushes and I am going to start seeding our non-existent grass this week. I'll post photos soon.

More exciting news- we just had family move near us (John & Kendra) right down the street. They got an awesome fixer upper as well and I'm hoping they blog about it as well. We are super excited to have them as neighbors!!!

Sorry I haven't updated this in so long. I hope you're still reading the blog.