Tuesday, September 21, 2010

It's the Climb

Our stair project is finally complete!  It was a lot of work, mostly done by Chris, and it took way longer than we ever expected.  There were a lot of steps (no pun intended), so there are quite a few pictures documenting it all.

Here are a couple before pictures



Luckily I was able to sell all of our old material on Craigslist

We sanded, primed and put two coats of paint on before putting them up.  We really should have waited to put the second coat of paint on until after they were up, because they got a little nicked up while they were being put up.  Plus we had to fill the screw holes, so they ended up getting another coat of paint anyways.  We used the same Bistro White paint we used to paint the trim.

Sanding and painting all of the balusters
We stained all of the hand rails and newel post with three coats of stain, two coats of Red Mahogany and one coat of Ebony.  Then painted on two coats of poly.

Staining the hand rails
We decided to make our own newel posts because they are fairly expensive and we wanted a pretty simple design.  We routered the corners to give it a little something, plus sharp corners aren't very baby friendly.

Sanding the newels, before cutting them

Not Parker friendly

1st Newel Post up

Making sure the balusters are level

Getting the perfect angle on the balusters
Balusters up on the climb up the stairs
Making the Newel Caps - We bought an oak board and cut it a couple inches longer than the diameter of the newel post.  Then we stained it and attached it with one small nail in the center and some wood glue.  
Top piece added
We bought a couple pieces of trim and stained them.  Then cut the trim, kind of like a frame, to go around the top piece.  
Trim added
Once everything was attached and the nail holes were filled and stained, we painted on a couple coats of poly, for a nice finish.

Newel Cap finished

Here are a few completed shots













If I would have known how long this project took to finish, I would have hired someone.  So, not something I really recommend doing yourself...That said, I LOVE the way it turned out.  And a big thank you to my hubby for all his hard work!  It's going to be hard getting him to take on anymore home improvement projects for a while :)

Cheers!

I'm linking up

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

5 comments:

  1. They are BEAUTIFUL! You have such excellent taste!

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  2. LOVE the way this turned out! I totally know how it feels to take on a project and it takes longer than expected, but it's always worth it in the end! You guys did a great job. I just came across your blog and I'm a new follower.

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  3. Amazing! I love it!!!
    www.dashing-home.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete