The Fence Is Halfway There!

I Finished sanding, staining and polying all of the woodwork on the fireplace, archway, window and DR baseboard. It looks amazing! Since I got all of this complete, I decided to paint the firsplace a charcoal/ flynt color. It looks really good. The couches don't really flow with it but we plan on replacing those this winter. Check out how nicely everything cam out:


Since we were putting up the fence I decided to complete the landscape along the front side of it. It's so cute! I planted some red gnome dogwoods and echinaceas. The dogwoods should get pretty big. I bought the smallest ones available since everything else has taken off so much. I can't wait for them to grow- exciting. What do you think about the pattern of the fence?

What was I thinking?

Minneapolis has been rainy and cold the past few days. However, it really screwed up my staining last weekend. Let me rephrase that- I screwed up the staining last weekend. So I don't know if I posted about this yet, but I decided to sand the last unrefinished baseboard in the dining room, the archway leading into it, the fireplace and the window next to it. Yeah- quite a bit of work but I am definitely a pro at this point, not to toot my own horn or anything (toot).

I stained all of the woodwork and it typically needs to dry about 6-8 hours in good drying condition and 24 hours in cold or damp weather. I had a few drinks with some friends last night, came home at 10:00pm and decided to put the first coat of poly on before bed. It's not horrible but in some places alot of the stain came off and it's streaky. Shit. Now I have to resand those areas. I am so bummed. No more working after drinking! Here are some before pictures of the sanded area.


I'll put up some after pictures once my mistake and the poly is complete.

Check out how great our landscape is looking:



Since the weather was so bad this weekend Quentin installed a garbage disposal rather than working on the fence. However the majority of the fence is framed. We're getting there! We also have a new foster dog. His name is Simon and he is so cute. He follows me everywhere and always wants to sleep on me. He's sooo cute. Here is a photo of him with Tito and Roscoe when we we're having nice weather last week.

they're done- almost

Finally!!! That took up about the last 2 months of my life. But they are done and they look amazing. Just 3 more coats of poly on a few of the stairs. In case you forgot what the stairs looked like before we began here is a refresher.



Why on earth would we ever refinish such beauty, right?

View from the top

View from the landing


Just a few more coats of poly and they are complete. We decided to stain them a little darker just because the stairs had so many imperfections from all of the staples/scratches. I think they look pretty darn amazing!

I just couldn't wait

Lucky for me I got my camera back last night. So I thought I would give all of you a sneak peak at the stairs and some of the work we have done around the house. We are not completely finished with the stairs, but we are binished with most of the molding, windows, baseboards, etc. Here is your teaser photo:

It looks sooo much better.
We still have some of the molding to put back up and some painting to touch up but just look at that color and finish on the wood.

We've also been stripping wood with refinsher in in the dining room.
Here is a before and after:



I spray painted the heat grates. They were a lovely brown before and I sort of antiqued them if you will. I didn't want to spray them silver so that they stuck out like a sore thumb yet I didn't want them to blend right into the wood. They almost look brand new.


It's sorta tough to tall but it makes a difference.

And finally- our newly inulated/ sheet rocked guest bedroom:

Moving along

Last night we finished sanding the windows above the stairs. We put the 1st coat of stain on last night and I put the 2nd coat on this morning before I went to vote- Ambitious, I know. I forgot how much I hate the smell of stain. We are going to have to do this bits and peices at a time because your hands cramp pretty bad while you put it on. Mine do anyway. Here are the photos of before and after on the stain.

Stairs


The stain was wet when I took the photo so it looks like it's on there pretty heavy- but I assure you within 6-8 hours it will be ready for it's 1st coat of poly.

After we are done with this... In like 6 months to a year. We will start refinishing the rest of the wood work


PS. These photos are a little large. Just click on them to view the full photo. Oops.

I've just opened another can of worms...

So you know how I was painting the front sun porch and I didn't like the color? Well, I changed it. I really like the new color. It's called quiet terrace and I thought that was fitting. It's not as neutral as I usually go but looks good.

So here is what happened. I bought some semi gloss paint to start doing the trim. Well, the paint was all cracked and the fresh coat of paint looked a little less than fresh. I was reading Ranty's blog (my real estate agent for life) and she had been doing some work with a heat gun. Well I got inspired and took on another huge project. I am stripping all of the woodwork of paint in the front porch.

I guess you really can't see too much of a difference in the paint- but I notice it.


I'm almost debating not sanding and staining the wood because this rustic look is kind of cool. Although I like a clean crisp look so I'm sure it'll be stained and sanded.


There are alot more windows to do... Plus I also began stripping the bead board ceiling... Yeah, you heard right. I am taking on the task of stripping th ceiling and returning it to it's natural beauty. This is going to be an on-going project but it's going to look SOOOOO GOOD. Everything has to be done right.