To me, this transformation was one of my favorites. I have hated the orange wood in my house since the day we moved in. And systematically removing all the orange has been very therapeutic, albeit time consuming!!
But this project served a dual purpose. When we went on vacation, one of my kitties decided to use my newel post as a scratching post. URGH!!! The results were disastrous.
Seriously?!? Bad kitty. Bad, bad kitty.
After my usual ritual of sanding, I had to spend considerable amounts of time sanding and sanding and sanding and sanding and sanding the newel post to rid the post of all kitty scratches. I knew that the results would leave the newel post considerably warped, but my other alternative was less than desirable. I had one of my contractors come and give me a bid to help me fix the problem, and he said I basically needed a new newel post. Then he said if he took the newel post off, he'd have to replace all of the balusters. Because, he informed me, my current balusters are 4 ¼ inches apart. And current code states that all newly built staircases must have balusters no more than 4 inches apart. Then, he said, he'd have to replace the newel post at the top as well to match the one on the bottom. Then he'd need a new hand rail, and a new set of trim. His bid came in at over $1,800 whopping dollars!!! Um, no. I don't THINK so. So as much as I despise the orange wood, and as much as I abhor the kitty damage. And as much as I dislike the round knobs on the top and REALLY want an upgrade to a different type of newel post, I was NOT willing to fork over $1,800 for what would amount to a few hours' work over the course of a few days. Um, no.
So I sanded and sanded and sanded, and I made a doozy of a warped newel post. BUT, once I stained the post, the warping was much less noticeable and very livable, considering the $1,800 alternative. I mean, really, do you know how much chocolate I can buy with $1,800?!? Or clothes? Or a vacation?!? Geesh. Since I already had the sander, the stain, and the sealant, it cost me a whopping $5.47 for sand paper to make this dramatic change. In the next 4 pictures, you can see the warping.
I did have a problem with the stain job on the stairs. Evidently the real wood on the stair railings was not the same type of wood on the cabinet doors from the laundry room. So my mahogany stain which I liberally slathered all over the freshly sanded wood, came on REALLY dark REALLY fast. Normally it comes on almost like an English Chestnut, a rather medium brown with some reddish hues. As I add the next two coats, it darkens into a beautiful, stunning mahogany. I wasn't even thinking that the colors would be different on the stairs. Sigh. So, to remedy the situation, I bought a small can of insanely red sedona stain, and slathered that on. The nearly black wood changed slightly with the first coat, and by the time the second coat of red stain had been applied, I was tickled pink with the results. I'm so relieved I didn't have to go back and start over, sanding the entire thing once again, and reapplying new stain color. I did learn my lesson, however. So when I sanded and stained the hallway louvered door later that week, I made sure to stain a 'test' strip on the back of the door. When I discovered the same black stain result, I switched the rest of my first coat to red chestnut. Then my second coat I used the red mahogany, and I was thrilled with the results. I'll show you the before/after pictures of the hall closet door in another blog.
So, back to my staircase. Just think of how great it's going to look with my lovely, new hardwood floors, my fabulous 4 inch white baseboard trim, and my newly carpeted stairs! I'm so excited to see what it's going to look like!!
All in all, I was very pleased with my project. Now, let's go shopping with my $1,794.53 savings!!!
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