Stairway From Hell

In my never ending adventures in house remodeling I'm always running across challenges and having setbacks.  It seems as if this house will always be in a perpetual state of deconstruction and chaos.  My latest challenge and obstacle has become the stairway to the second floor.  When we bought the house the stairs were covered in carpet that was completely infested with pet hair.  A:  I didn't want carpet on the stairs, even though it quieted them somewhat, and B:  Said carpet was in my opinion, nasty, I wasn't alone with that though.  So we soon ripped that out and discovered a colorful secret.  Flesh colored risers and red, red treads.  We found this neat and interesting for about five minutes, then it just became a regular eyesore.

 Along with the paint there were about a million and seven staples, brads, and nails.  This took many months to remove since we aren't exactly on top of things around here.  I actually bribed my boys to pull most of them, then I finished up today in hopes of finally filling in the holes and stripping off paint.  Hah!  Best laid plans and all that aside, things haven't exactly rolled along as I envisioned.

I spent the better part of the day on just the top two steps.  I applied the paint stripper, waited for it to do it's job, then scraped, scraped, and scraped.  Results not as expected.  I'm seeing at least 4 different colors of paint here and that's not wood showing through on the risers, that's wood colored paint.  That's going to take a lot of paint stripper and time, so out come the power tools....

Yeah, 3 sanding discs later and it's not doing much.  Mind you I still have 14 more treads and 14 more risers, not to mention the hall floor upstairs that is painted the same high gloss red.  Those expensive replacement riser and tread boards are starting to look a lot more attractive by the minute.

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The Trouble With Paint

Before I started my new adventures in furniture rehab I did a lot of reading and planning and decided spray painting was the way to go.  It would give me a smooth finish the first time, I wouldn't have to constantly clean or buy brushes and would dry quicker.  For obvious reasons using spray cans was out, I needed a gun.  So shopping I went.

After much debate I decided I needed an airless sprayer.  Why would I go with such a thing when we have a perfectly good air compressor you ask?  Portability and noise.  I thought it would be easier to lug around than the big air tank, plus our compressor is super loud and annoying.  Bad idea, but I'm the queen of bad ideas and I simply must do it the hard way first, it's the only legit way to learn.

My new toy!

So I found the Wagner Power Painter Max at Menard's.  Oooh, I can paint upside down if I want!  Ain't it pretty?  Well this is where things took a wrong turn during my gossip bench update.  Things started out well enough, I read the manual and had Jesse there to help get me going.  We started out by putting the handy dandy gallon attachment on and sucking the paint right out of the paint can.  Boy did that use and waste a ton of paint!  I went on with it though and did get a nice coat of primer on that day.  After about an hour of clean-up we decided the gallon attachment was worthless and wasteful and I was wondering if clean-up was always going to take an eon.

First coat of primer went ok.

The next day I went to put on another coat of primer on a few pieces that were bleeding through and that's were the trouble started.  It took off for about 45 seconds then started spitting and sputtering, then quit altogether.  I referred to the manual.  Ok, took everything apart, cleaned, oiled, reassembled.  Thinned the paint and tried again.  30 seconds later, same result.  Rinse, repeat, scream in frustration.  Several hours later, I was very angry, covered in paint, and so done with the Power Dud Max.  It was going back!

No more games!

Why must I always do things the hard way?  I took the Power Dud Max back and got store credit since I wanted an alternative.  The alternative only cost a fraction of the Power Dud, so I got to buy a bunch of accessories and paint supplies, yay:)  I had to wait for Jesse to get home for the weekend and get me all set up since I didn't want to ruin anything. (like that ever happens)  Once he got it all hooked up and running, I was ready to paint and boy was it ever easier than the stupid airless!  Clean-up is a snap too, which makes me very happy.  Finally I'm in business!  Now I just need some ear plugs;)

One of the beautiful results:)

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New Life for Telephone Table/Gossip Bench

I have a new hobby.  Shocker right?  This is one that I've always had a passion for though, just never the time or space to work on anything.  Now that the kids are finally getting beyond the demanding, messy, irritating toddler stage, I get to sneak off the shop once in awhile and pursue my passion for giving new life to old, ratty furniture:)

Many moons ago I found this telephone table/gossip bench at a thrift store.  It was in sad shape with peeling, chipped veneer, rickety legs, and a very ugly, flat seat.  I'm shocked it made it to the sales floor it was in such bad shape.  I had been looking for one of these for ages, so I wasn't the least bit put off by all the obvious work it needed.  I snatched it up and brought it home for the exorbitant fee of $8 and put it in my shed with the rest of my junk treasures and promptly forgot about it.

 Well I finally dragged it out and decided to rehab it last month and in the process, jump start my new hobby.  Great piece to start with right?  We all have to start somewhere;)

 After addressing the peeling surfaces and removing some of it all together, I had to concede that one leg was a goner.  Lucky for me Jesse was able to fashion a new one and after some sanding, it turned out perfect!

I had a lot of gluing to do, some repairs to make with wood filler, a lot of sanding, more gluing and clamping, then finally it was ready to paint.  Here is where things take a left turn at FML, but that's another story I promise to tell soon.  Suffice it to say after weeks of frustration and getting no where, I did finally get to paint this thing.

 Isn't she pretty?  The camera hates me so the color is wrong in the picture, it's not blue, but a very lovely shade of turquoise that I found in the oops section of Menard's.  (I think the last picture comes closest to showing the color best.)  I sanded and distressed it a bit to show some age, no point in fooling anyone into thinking she's younger.  I used an ebony stain to age and darken the paint and give a nice patina, then added new padding and a nice black and white floral print to her seat and she's ready to go.

 I need to add some wax and shine her up a bit, but was just so darn happy to finally have something done that I couldn't wait to show her off.

All ready for some new gossip!  I just need to find a vintage phone to dress her all up;)  Sadly I will not be keeping this, I don't seem to have a space for it.  I keep looking around, but the seat/table configuration is opposite what would work for our house darn it.  It was a good learning project though and I'm proud of it:)

Thanks for stopping by!

Progress, Sort Of

Bad drywall is gone.....now the real fun begins.

 We are slowly pulling down the remaining plaster and lath and preparing to finish the new entry.  We had to continue up and around since it's all tied in together, not to mention it all looked like garbage and we would need to fix it eventually.  Unfortunately it's still winter and hauling off the plaster is a pain, not to mention the dust!

 The ceiling above the stairs is two stories high and reaching up there to work without scaffolding is not an option, so we put in a temporary 'floor' above the stairs in order to work in the highest areas since we don't have any scaffolding and are too cheap to rent any.

 Total disaster, but getting there.  It's too bad the people who lived here before us felt the need to put drywall over the plaster rather than fixing it.  In fact, most of it was in very good shape before the million drywall screws messed it up, it would have only needed a few crumbles fixed and a coat of paint to look nice.  The ceiling, however, is a loss.

It's amazing how slapping drywall over existing wall can make a space feel smaller.  Just removing the drywall made things seem much bigger and in the areas downstairs that are done feel a lot nicer than they did before the tear down started, and they are not even finished out and painted;)  Can't wait to finally see this mess all over with.

Best piece of advice I can give?  Do your remodeling before you move in!

The Foyer Has a New Floor!

The new entry/foyer/closet is coming along!  We finished installing the new floor this weekend and it looks great.  Amazing what a difference it makes in this small space.  In the picture below you can see the trap door to the 'basement', or what the people around here refer to as hell.  Everyone has a similar 'basement'  in this town, they all flood, they are all dark, crumbling, dirty, etc.  No one actually uses them, but our water meter's are located there and once a month someone has to climb down there and read it.  So, getting back on track, it's the door to hell, but I think we did a nice job on it:)

 My plan all along had been to paint this floor a glossy black.  I love the elegance of a shiny black floor and didn't want to spend a lot of money on the more expensive hardwoods, so I bought the cheapest oak hardwood Menard's had.  I usually hate oak, I think it's cheap and ugly, but since I was painting it, it was perfect.  Unfortunately I may have to revise my opinion.  I think this floor looks beautiful and now I don't want to paint it.  I'm debating and looking at all my options, but I am now leaning towards a very dark or onyx stain.  I'll still have my dark, elegant floor, but the wood will still show through.  It may even turn out better than I had originally planned:)

You can see all the work that still needs to be done, but time and patience will get me the room I have envisioned.  Plus, it's winter in North Dakota, why get in a hurry?

The Cat Crapper Deluxe

Cat Crapper Deluxe How-To:)

Step 1:  Acquire cheap cabinet.  I found this microwave cabinet for $35 at a thrift store, it was in great shape and will help organize the bathroom, perfect!

Step 2:  Burn up some blades cutting a hole in the side of your new cabinet, insert cat flap, secure.  Cat flaps can be found at major pet supply chains.               

Step 3:  Install litter pan, toss in cat, quickly shut the doors and let them figure things out.

Step 4:  Stand back and admire the odor-free and nicely contained awesomeness that is the Cat Crapper Deluxe!

Just a few notes;)

The boys were a bit worried about Fat Eve fitting through the small sized cat flap, we debated long and hard on which size to buy, in the end I felt the $15 difference made the smaller flap the best choice and since most of her fat is in the rear, she could ooze through.  Turns out she fit just fine:)

Since the litter tray is a larger one(Fat Eve has issues hitting the smaller ones) there isn't a lot of room in the cabinet once the pan is inserted, so the cats tend to step from the pan right out the door, tracking litter, so I slid an old piece of carpet under the cabinet to catch it.  Works great and looks just fine.  Maybe one of these days I'll buy a nicer rug, or not.

Having the litter box double as a piece of furniture has many advantages.  We now have storage in a room that has hardly any, it's neat and clean, and best of all, we don't have to look at the wretched litter box!  Oh, and no stink!!

Winter Project #1

So as many of you know I have a virtual tribe living in a modest 100+ year old Victorian that was clearly built with economy and small families in mind. Or maybe they were just really close and the mom was a much better housekeeper than I am? Anyhow, we have a shoe problem, and a coat, snow pant, glove, mitten, hat, boot, ski, etc. problem. And this is the woefully inadequate closet I have had to work with. It's hard to get a picture since it's a small space in here, but you can see the coat closet pictured is not very deep.

I took this after taking out the closet rod and shelves and of course I couldn't wait to start ripping it all down, cause that's just how I roll;) To the left you can barely glimpse the living room and to the right of this closet is the stairs for the second floor. Directly opposite is the front door. Not exactly a foyer out of Architectural Digest. Behind this useless closet is another closet, a much bigger one that I plan to make much better use of.
Closet wall is down as well as the wall next to the stairs! And here you can get a gander at that secret door Aaron was all excited about;) There is a really nice space under and in back of the stairs that will make wonderful closet and shoe space. Oh, and notice the red and peach color scheme on the stairs.  I'd really love to meet whoever decorated this place years ago.  I'm simply fascinated.
Another angle, here you can see that I've already started finishing out the half wall and shoe cubbies under the stairs. You can also kind of see that there is a space behind the stairs. This is where I plan to hide the coats and the majority of the shoes/boots.
All the drywall is up! It's so much brighter in here already and it's hard to imagine that small closed-in space we had before. I didn't capture it here, but we also widened the door into the living room, getting us more light in there and making it easier to bring things in and out. Next I need to mud/tape the walls and I plan to start installing the new hardwood floors this weekend.

This is just the beginning, I plan to continue on up the stairs and re-do all those walls. Lucky me, I get to first tear down the bad dry-wall job a former owner did over the plaster walls, then of course the plaster. I wish it could be salvaged, but as we started pulling drywall down it became obvious all the plaster was going to have to all be stripped off:( Good thing there's nothing else to do right now;)