Stairway to....Well, The Top Floor of Course!

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It's hard to explain how bad these stairs really were. They are original, and I believed they could be beautiful again, but how in the world was I going to do it?

I tried sanding them, the sander got all gummed up, and it took forever to get four steps done.

Since I thought it couldn't get any worse, I neglected to cover them up when the drywall mudder came. BIG mistake.

One day I just tackled them. I probably broke all the rules of staining, but I'm a rebel like that.

I first stained them with Minwax stain, and then immediately stained them with Java Gel Stain, until I had a reasonably even finish. It worked! After fretting over what I was going to do with these stairs for 4 years, I finally did it!

You see? I wasn't kidding about how bad they were, but the floor upstairs looked great, and the floor downstairs looked great! So I had to try.

Here they are after the staining was finished. I also used Java Gel Stain on the hand rail and spindles.

I then varnished them two times.

Can you even believe these are the same stairs?

I cannot even tell you how much I love them!

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Blue Moon, You Saw Me Painting Alone; Blue Dresser Makeover

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This dresser was one of my daughter's finds at a garage sale.  She finds me great stuff and totally supports my junking habit!

At first glance it looks like it's in great shape, but it did have some problems.  I filled some holes and sanded it down to get rid of some ugly looking stuff.

The veneer on one side has gone wavy, I have painted over it but am not sure if I am going to leave it like that or scrape it off and repaint, the jury is still out.

I painted the whole thing in a soft blue, I struggled with whether to add a design that would enhance the little bit of original carved design on the drawers, or ignore it and go ahead with something more bold.  I decided to go with a bold design.  As I was cutting out the stencil my plan was to paint it with white or silver, but I was leaning toward white, once I put the stencil on it I realized it needed to be black.  In the '70's my cousin had a baby blue Plymouth Duster with black stripes, since painting this dresser blue I couldn't get that colour combination out of my head.

The picture above is a look at my first attempt.  It was still lacking, so I added to the design in the top right corner and decided to carry it onto the top.

Now the ever present question, to antique or not to antique?  You guessed it, antiquing won out again.  I love the clean crisp look of fresh paint, but also love it when a little character is added.

I spray painted the original hardware, and it's done! 

Isn't she pretty?

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Vintage Trunk Makeover

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It appears as though this post just does not want to be written.  Last night I had most of it written out, and then I lost it, man I hate that!  This morning I was having a hard time getting the pictures to move down so that I could enter text, sheesh!  I hope that's the end of the troubles.

So this is what I was trying to tell you last night :)

Years ago I was banned from bringing any more treasures junk home.  Luckily, I have a short memory when it comes to some things.  This piece however, was not added to my stash in one of my forgetful moments, this piece was delivered by a friend, to my husband.  You see he can't say no to anybody but me!  Now, had the friend brought it to me I truly would have refused it, because it was in terrible shape, and  I didn't think it was worth getting in trouble over.  Luckily fate intervened and I ended up with it.

Notice that the lid is caved in, the wood where the hinges were attached was broken right out, and the inside was a mess, and smelled very musty.

                        
I turned the lid upside down on the floor and built supporting framework, slipped it inside and then stood on it to straighten out the top, then screwed it all down.  It worked, a nice flat top!

                 

Each step of the project was a decision, I started by painting it white and sprayed the hardware silver, I had a few ideas about black and white bold designs, but I kept being pulled toward something a little more rustic.

I added some gray, now if my goal was to make an old trunk look pretty good, it would be done, but I wanted more that.

I decided to go with a Railroad theme.  My husband is retiring from the CNR after 35 years of riding the rails.  The names on the trunk represent some of the sidings between Sioux Lookout and Armstrong, Ontario.

I googled CNR emblems and picked this one that would have been in use when I was a kid.

This is a look at the back.

I stripped the paper off the inside, sanded, stained, and varathaned it.  Notice the supporting framework inside the lid, it should be good and sturdy now.  I also stained the outside so it was aged.  No more pristine white.  It is actually darker and dirtier looking in person.  It looks like it's been around a while.

I added a piece of wood where the hinges are attached because the old wood had broken out, therefore support was needed to re-attach them.  

In the end, I'm happy with it, and that, after all, is why I do this, if you like it too, that's a bonus!
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Resting on my laurels, Part IV; bedside table/ end table fabulous

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I've been busy for a couple of days, I have to remind myself that I've taken on this new venture.  I took Friday off work and went to pick up siding for Buddy at Menards.  Ahhh, a trip to Menards all by myself, where I could look at whatever I wanted, for as long as I wanted!  I could easily go back today and look again!  It's never enough, just gets the creative juices flowing..  In fact, when I got back my husband was telling me that he and the boys were discussing how much I would be enjoying myself, walking around the store looking at everything.  If you live in the city or near a good shopping area you just can't understand.  when you live isolated (it was a 3 hour drive just to get to Menards) like I do you really appreciate shopping and seeing the selection available.

Yesterday we started putting the siding up on Buddy's house, I wish it was as easy as it sounds, but because we kept the cement basement, we are working around someone else's handy work (someone not as precise as we are), we will be so glad when that part is over with once and for all.  Yesterday was 90% prep work and 10% siding, but it does look great, I love progress.

Anyway, on to more creative things, hmmm, what will I share today, have to take a few minutes and look at pictures to see what else I have here, I will be right back.

Okay so this is what I have found, 2 bedside/end tables.  Please excuse the picture quality, I was not blogging at the time, just taking pics for myself and my Facebook friends.  Suffice it to say these were ugly when I got them. There are 2 of them, they were painted dark brown and had ugly little drawer pulls. My daughter graciously picked these up from Kijiji for me.  I have no access to Kijiji without her.  She lives in the city and I live in a small town where I need to rely on garage sales and the kindness of good friends to get my "junk".  Having said that, I have done quite well relying on friends in the past, sometimes people just call me up and let me know that have something to give away or sell.  I love when that happens!

                     Before

This was a quick fix.  I sprayed them silver and changed up the hardware,  I love the new hardware!  Although I used 2 different knobs I will probably be changing them when I get around to it because I have new plans for the bigger knobs.

After

Which leads me to the next project... 

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