Almost finished... but I just found another sanding project.

Well, I am almost done reassembling the baseboards and staining/ polying. The wood work on the first floor looks AMAZING! What a difference. I almost can't remember just how awful the old woodwork used to look. You would think I'm beginning to like sanding woodwork with this new project I've taken on. In fact, here is a glimpse of how dull and boring the old woodwork looked.

That is a floor grate made out of wood up against the baseboard in the dining room (which I've already refinished). BIG Difference. This is the new project I've taken on. I have pulled one of these apart already and plan on sanding it down this weekend. The floors on the first floor are sort of the last to do for us when it comes to woodwork. We plan on tackling those within the next month. Oy! 3 days of homelessness.

Here is a peak at how some of the other woodwork turned out:



Quentin also framed out the stairwell ceiling so that it matches the rest of the woodwork. We sort of assumed that it looked like this at some point before the gorgeous tiled ceilings we installed. Whether it's original or not, it's going to look amazing when it's stained and polyed.



This Friday we finish the tiling on the fireplace!!! Can't wait to have that complete!

We just can't stop

Starting new projects that is. Last weekend I made a trip out to Home Depot to grab some stuff. During my trip I got some wood refinisher. You use some steel wool and this product and it takes the old finish right off. Last night we did a stretch of baseboard in the dining room. I already put the 2nd coat of stain on this morning. It looks really good! The wood is already condidition so it's not as raw as it usually is with sanding. I can't wait to show you guys pictures. This is what we are doing on the rest of the house. It's going to go so much faster!

Happy Earth day!

I hope everyone does something special to take care of our good earth today. I'm happy to hear that people are still reading the blog. I was almost certain you had all given up on me. I'm posting a bunch of pictures today!

The stain is complete. He is what a bad photo of the buffet looks like- I took it without day light.



The final photo is the color change between the interior and the exterior of the buffett. I'm psyched to get some poly on there.




The stairs I'm working on are next. There are atleast 60 staples in each step so I continue to pull them whenever I think about it. I've also been scraping the wallpaper in the upstairs hallway so that the glues doesn't get all over what will soon be our gorgeous new floors.

And last but not least, the ugly floors left under the carpet we tore out. The floors in the office look pretty similar. We will be paying someone to come in and do these. It shouldn't be too bad.

I'll keep everyone posted on the stair progress- Grr....

More Progress!!!

Sorry I haven't written a thing in what feels like months to me. We finished sandy the buffet! We have begun the staining process. Rather than changing the color of the wood we decided to keep the exterior of the buffet the same color as the rest of the wood- which is an antique walnut. We did a light cherry wood stain the we aren't thrilled with but it adds more depth to the buffet and highlights the glass shelving area. It still looks better than having the entire buffet the same color. The old stain was darker on the interior and you caould barely see what we had in there without opening the glass doors.

Other than that I raked 18 garbage back of leaves from the yard with a few left to go. We are also pulling some type of weed bush with HUGE roots. They seem pretty hard to get rid of but I've gotten some good advice about cutting them about 6 inches underground. I'll post yard photos on the next blog (which will be soon!)

Here are the beginning photos of the stain. Once we are finished- we'll have 3 coats of top coat to protect the buffet with a medium sheen.

I'd like some new stain with a side order of shine

So this weekend I began sanding the buffet, what a task. Eventually all of the trim is going to need sanding and stain as well. The current stain on a majority of the wood work is a darker walnut. It's something that doesn't necessarily need to be completed immediately but something that would make a HUGE difference. Of course there are paint splatters, scratches andscrapes throughout. There also isn't much of a shine to it.

I want to get all of the big messes done in the first year or so, so why not just begin the sanding now? Here is where the problem comes in. I am stumped on what color of stain to use on the wood. Should I do a light cherry, a dark cherry? The possibilites are endless. I want a deep dark rich red, but then again a medium cherry might be nice. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I may just end up going with a dark cherry stain to keep the woodwork looking classic, yet giving it some vibrance. I'll post some pictures of the work in progress very soon.