Friday, January 4, 2013

My Staircase Project & Black Bean Soup!....

You can tell this project has been hanging around for a while because 
as you might notice....the front door is wide open!

Yes, it's true, this project started back on
June 25, 2012....
I remember this because it was on my
Birthday!

 What should we do for Mom for her Special Day....
Let's tear up the carpet!!!

Let's do it in Style....
 In our dresses!

 Yeah and let's grab those tools that will get the job done!
Like the log poker from the fireplace....
and maybe Dad's chainsaw sharpener....

~Oops~
Sorry Dad, didn't mean for that to happen!

Well the job got done and the carpet was off the stairs and out
of the house by the next morning. And we were left with this....

 ~UGLY~
 broken stairs and risers. Thankfully only 3 steps were broken
really bad.  But there were carpet nails and staples to be pulled.
The girls did ~most~ of that too, but we found more as the 
months passed.  Why "months" you ask! Because hubby had to
research how to fix these steps.  They couldn't be removed and replaced
with new.  First it would involve trying to remove the spindles
without breaking those and there wouldn't be all the nicks and dents
that we call ~Character~ ! 
 After all, our Home was built in 1879!

 I thought about leaving the edges all rough and worn, but it 
was recommended to me not to do that.  

 So I washed them down the best I could

Then primed the "good" ones.
And waited for my guy to figure out what to do with the
broken steps.  That took a couple of months!

 But he finally figured it out and he spent alot of time
filling all of those nail holes and sanding it all down for me
to start priming.  You can see the sanding dust on the 
wall.  No matter what we did to try and trap all that dust
in one area, it basically covered the whole downstairs
of our Home!

 There is just one area that stands out and there
was really no way to fix that.  

I knew I wanted the risers to be white.  But it had to 
match as close as possible to the rest of the trim.  I
was dreading the possibility of having to paint each and
every spindle on this stair rail.  We were lucky enough
to find some paint that ~amazingly~ matched close
enough that you'd have to be pretty close to see a difference.
It was Antique White!
Found at Menards and it is meant for
Property Management, Tenant Improvement & Drywall Maintenance!
in Semi-Gloss

Now on to the fun part....
putting on the final color!

But, wait a minute....
What does Black Bean Soup have to do with 
re-doing your stairway?

That's the name of the paint color I chose!
It's dark brown black....
~just like~
Black Bean Soup!

It is the next best thing to having stripped each and every step!
Well, that couldn't have happened because of all of the nicks, 
nail holes and staples!  After all of the hard work that my
hubby did, the stairs are so sturdy sounding.  It use to be
you could hear every creek of each and every step.
Not any more!


 And I love the detail of each step from the side.
They use to be just plain ole' white.  Nothing special!

 But now your eye is drawn right up the stairway.

and then back down!
I played around with painting the curly cue decorations,
but it looked too busy for me.  And actually, with the steps
being painted such a deep color, they stand out alot more.

This was one long project for sure.  I finished the final
 touches today.  But I must say
 it was worth the wait!  The carpet is long gone.
It feels so much cleaner and my worry of them feeling cold
beneath our feet has not bothered us at all.  
Sometimes those dreaded projects end up being
well worth the time spent doing them!

Now we're onto the next Big project!
Hopefully it won't take quite as long to complete!
(well, it kind of will, but I'll explain later)

What Big project have you done that you've dreaded?
Let me know, I'd love to hear!
Thanks for stopping, I always appreciate your visits!


17 comments:

  1. They look so pretty with the contrast of the dark and the white. Sometimes it takes a while, but the end result is fabulous :-)

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  2. Oh so wonderful! You all did a great job. Nothing like teamwork!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Vee! Amazing what can be accomplished with a few extra hands!

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  3. You (and your family) did a beautiful job. You've inspired me. The back stairs leading to my basement are covered with the most awful, dirty, disreputable carpet you've ever seen. Now my house isn't old like yours - only about 60 and no lovely spindles or anything but I really need to remove that carpet. I would love to just paint them - hopefully that's possible - if not new carpet. But your post has put this on my list for January! J

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Julie! I say go for it. You'll be surprised how much cleaner it will feel! Good Luck!

      Delete
  4. Wow, Lisa, they look fantastic. I love the contrast of the black and white. Great job.
    Hugs,
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your whole family did an awesome job on your steps!!

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  6. Lisa your steps look great and I like curly detail painted white!

    I'm half way through my stair project. I painted the risers white and the steps black and used floor/porch paint but I've noticed that the dogs nails are scratching the paint. I think the first time I painted them I used a satin latex and I never had any chipping or other problems. So I'm dreading having to repaint my steps!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Manuela! I used Dutch Boy Porch & Floor satin latex. Hopefully it holds up. We have 2 dogs, but they aren't allowed upstairs. So hopefully we'll be okay! I'll be posting about it if I have to repaint! LOL

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  7. Lisa- I just love that black bean color up against the white. Pretty. Is having the darker color on the stairs harder to keep clean. Good for you , being able to scratch one project off the list. Good luck with your next one!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by Laura! We have 2 dogs and 2 cats. They only thing I have noticed is our long haired cat's clumps of hair that he seems to drop all over the house. Otherwise, it hasn't been too bad! Maybe when warmer weather arrives and the front door is open all the time I'll notice more. Until then....out of sight out of mind, as they say!

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