Home Improvements - Round 1

To motivate the process of unpacking to move along, I didn't allow myself to start any improvement projects until I had all the boxes emptied.  I admit, not all boxes are completely empty...I haven't hung much on the walls, so all the pictures and decor are still waiting to be sorted.  But, since we are functioning and in line to becoming more organized, I gave myself the green light to start changing a few things.

The first thing on my to-do list was to make what I affectionately refer to as my 'command center'.  

Since the weather had finally warmed up, I was able to stain the beautiful mantle Dad made at Christmas time.  I love this piece so, so much!

I figured I might as well stain other things at the same time, so I sanded down my Adirondack chairs to get a much-needed makeover

and then before I could think about it too much, I made the decision to stain the railings on the staircase.  I was probably a little ambitious with this last one...but I'm happy to report that it's finally done!

The stairs took almost a month to complete.  One thing I've learned is that people who write DIY tutorials lie.  They downright lie to your face.  I can't tell you how many people bragged about how easy it was to refinish railings!  I am here to set the record straight.  It's a lot of detailed work, people!  Is it worth it?  Yes!  Is it easy?  No!  Okay, maybe it's easier than tearing the entire thing down and rebuilding...but I don't use this word 'easy' lightly.  Anyways, enough of my ranting.  The gel stain I used definitely lengthened the time it took to complete the project.  The first coat took a week to dry!  Yikes!  Needless to say I was pretty nervous if I got myself into a pickle, but everything worked out in the end.  It just took four coats of stain, primer on the spindles along with two coats of paint, and then touch up work before I sealed the whole deal with polyurethane.  During this time, touching the railing was off-limits, so the morning I announced to the girls they could finally touch the thing, Eliana made sure to touch every single square inch of wood.  Oh, she makes me giggle.

(No, I do not miss the red walls!)

While the gel stain was curing, I decided to start some painting.  I tackled the front doors and mailbox first.  I spray painted the doors and side panels and have come to the conclusion that spray painting indoors is NOT a good idea. 

No matter how much protection/coverage you use, the over spray will still haunt you.  For a week, the girls' feet (and knees) were blue at the end of every day.  Even after I mopped and mopped the floors and wiped things down, it took a long time to get rid of every trace of blue.  Thankfully, I'm happy with how the doors turned out!

(I know it's picture overload, but I'm kind of pumped about the finished results!)

Since I was painting door trim, I thought it would be great to give the fireplace a face lift.

And last but not least, I finished painting a closet I transformed into a mini mudroom. 

I've order some shoe cubbies...but I didn't want to wait until they came to post about it on the blog!

We have family coming in town this week, so I've packed away my sandpaper and paint brushes...but there is more to tackle after I enjoy my little break from projects!

Any guesses on what's next on the agenda?

To be continued...