I apologize to Good Taste for I have offended it!

To paint or stain?

That was NOT the question I asked myself about updating our oak staircase. To paint the treads would be a job half done. I will put in the time to strip and sand the treads in order to stain them to match (as closely as is humanly possible) the Brazilian Teak which will go down on the floor.

Teaser photo:

Isn't this staircase absolutely gorgeous?!

Source: weburbanist.com via Dane on Pinterest

Obviously not my staircase but probably the most beautiful I've even come across.


Anyhoo...

When we bought the house one of the selling features for me was the oak staircase. I am not a fan of carpeting. Everyone in our family has stock in Puffs with lotion because of dust; so, 'carpet begone', said I of the faded rose runner up the stairs.

Fast forward 3 years (omg?!) and the stairs are sans carpet but remain the same 'honey oak' as when we purchased them. I hang my head in shame. I should have done something about them at least 2 years ago. 

I apologize to 'good taste' for I have offended it!

So I now blog to you, dear readers, with wrinkled fingers (*nb* latex does NOT stand up to stripper). I promise to have the stairs stripped and sanded by the end of this week come Hell or high water! I've stripped and sanded 2 treads this afternoon to see how I fair. All is well other than needing new thicker gloves.

There are, wait I have to go count....

....

11 more stair treads to do which I feel confident I can get done in 2 days...spread out over this week...'cus, you know, life and shit.

*bisous*

Dane

p.s. If anyone has used paint and varnish strippers and can tell me of one that works better than Min Wax...do tell! 


*Sept. 26, 2011* Update:


Stairs are moving forward! I've now begun prepping the risers, banisters and posts.

Save Time + Money With Designer Paints? YES!

A few years ago we were selling our house so I re-painted the entire thing. Since it was going to be sold and I just wanted to freshen it up I went the cheap route and color matched a Benjamin Moore colour using Behr (at Home Depot).

Source: tumblr.com via Dane on Pinterest

What a disaster! The computers used for colour matching can never get the same formula unless you get all cans at the same time. You will be in big trouble if you run out of paint and have to get another can. Even using the formula from the first purchase the remaining can was way off. After repeated attempts to match to the original/color matched order, and multiple (mis-matched) test spots on walls (argh!) it became clear I'd made a huge mistake trying to copy a paint colour.

A Home Depot paint manager gave me the low down on why it just doesn't work when you copy a paint colour:

1. After a product (ex. latex flat emulsion base white) goes on the big box shelf the paint manufacturers update the product on an ongoing basis. Therefore you can get a can with an 'older' (last months) formula and a can of the 'new' formula. The cans will look exactly alike; the manufacturers have simply 'tweaked' the base formula which will alter the colour outcome.
2. Each manufacturer has their own 'white' base to which colour is added. So when you take a Benjamin Moore, Restoration Hardware, C2 etc. sample in to colour match you will never get the same...because they are formulated using a different white base.
3. The colour matching done at the big boxes only uses the computer to create a formula. At least at specialty paint stores when they colour match they will take the computers 'match' and then, by eye, tweak till they feel it is right. This can take a whole day of them playing around, a few hours or few minutes. 

Here is what happened when I tried to touch up some spots with a different can of paint purchased at the same time as the original wall colour:

I went back 3 times trying to get the colour fixed...many many cans later I actually spoke with a paint manager. I got my money back for the original paints which was very kind of him.

I will never again colour match at a big box.

I wish I could say I'll never colour match again but C2 is to damn far away and Farrow & Ball is too. 

I'm very fortunate to find a specialty paint store where the paint technicians take their time and will not release the paint till it is a match.

The point to all this rambling: I ultimately used Benjamin Moore's Aura paint. Despite the cost of a gallon of Aura you actually use much less than you would of the big box paints.

1. 1 coat with Aura (like C2)
2. self-priming (OMG!!!)

New drywall or patched? Just paint it one coat with Aura and you are done.

I had already done 2 coats everywhere with the 'color matched' paint...then the touch up fiasco and then repainting in Aura. 

Thankfully I only had to do 1 coat and no priming any patches.

Now that is a lot of time to relax and enjoy the job!

Perils Of Renovations: Public Humiliation

Since I'm working on updating our foyer I've divested it of all things useful. The mirror, useful for that 'final mirror check' before running out the door, seems to be the most crucial item removed from my foyer.

via coco + kelley

Last week I was exhausted. This is my excuse.

The set up:  I had a very busy week; work, kids, foyer (mudding & sanding) etc. I'd put the kids to bed, stripped of my jeans and sat down on the bed to quickly check my email. The Girl came in and asked if she could cuddle with me for a bit so I snuggled in with her...'for a minute' and promptly fell asleep with her in my arms. *heaven*

At some point during the night I recall my bra was hurting my ribs. I vaguely remember having to sit up to get both arms around behind my back to undo it. That is all I can remember.

The next day got off to a crazy start as it always does on days when both The Boy and The Girl have school. I slept in, they where chatty when eating, pokey when getting dressed and constantly trying to sneak in to the family room to watch tv. So I ran around with my tooth brush in one hand, lunch bags in the other shouting 'get dressed', 'brush your teeth', 'leave your sister alone'...before we go running out the door with me sprinting and yelling 'come on you can do it up on the way'!!

All in all the day got off to a regular start...except the funny looks I was getting from the other parents dropping off kids...at the grocery store, liquor store...and then again from the teachers & parents when I was picking up the kids after school.

I didn't think too much about the extra looks I was getting. My short term memory is not what it used to be so I forgot quickly and therefore never paused to consider the reason beyond my new bangs (we'll save that for another day of shared humiliation).

While making dinner I reached under my t-shirt to scratch between my shoulder blades. I'll be damned if I didn't feel the bra I thought I'd taken off the night before.

OMG, it was across my chest at armpit height all day. All. Day.

I have got to get the foyer done. I've decided to totally mirror one wall.

*bisous*

Dane

Waiting For the Dust To Settle *cough*

Not a photo to draw readers looking for some pretty pretty is it?

I will confess though...working on one of the too many 'existing' projects does feel...good god(!) it feels like I should be paying someone else to do it.

I'm so not a happy camper right now. I have this niggling in the back of my head suggesting I've given Steve too many things to do.

There is no way I can get around it. I've over booked him and now I've got to do more than just sashay in with the paint, fabric, tile etc. and make the place look fabulous after his, admittedly, down and dirty, work. Now I've got to get 'ahem', down and dirty.

*sighs* I so deserve some libations after this day.

Natalie will know just what will go with the Mulligatawny soup I've made. Yes, I do it all Lovelys...just some things better than others.

P.S. I was thinking...how about instead of re-tiling the entrance...I'll put down a stained cement floor (with radiant heating natch) like this one from Metropolitan Home:

P.P.S. Don't worry the sliding closet doors are going out to the curb. =)

*bisous*

Dane

I've been 'told' I'm not to start another project in our house. I actually have to finish the ones I've started!

This is so hard to do. Yes, there are many projects in our house which are 'in progress'...but they are stalled at points where I have no control over their advancement towards completion. Well OK not all of them...I could do the plaster repairs in the foyer since I've already stripped the popcorn ceiling. But that is so messy with all the sanding and so not fun.

source

So I pace. I pace around the house from project to project and pass...all. the. potential. projects.

I could start any number today....

I need to get out. Really. I will start a project if not distracted soon.

Are you spinning your wheels? Do you have projects desperate for you to get started?

I really want to get my dining room painted. But...I have to remove the dreaded popcorn ceiling first...which then entails having to re-plaster the joints, sanding, more plaster and sanding.

Steve would not be impressed to return home from work today to find the ceiling stripped. But I could have it done in like an hour and a half tops! How can I NOT do it?!

I need to get out of the house before I do something Steve will regret.

*bisous*
Dane

Rainy Day Project - Snake Print Tray

Needed something to do to feel slightly productive today. This tray has been in my dining room holding the 'booze'. The interior lining has been a source of iritation going on 3 years now. Talk about procrastination!

This afternoon I decided to use some of the fabric I'm upholstering the back of the Louis XV style antique chairs. A sexalicious snake print!

Much better!

Back in place.

How do you like my 'new to me' retro floor lamp? Needs to be rewired...another rainy day project.

Now, show me your bar set up.

*bisous*

Dane

Another Louis XV

This is TingTing (aka Baby) on one of the side chairs after I'd partially stripped it. The chair is lovely as is!

I've completed the first of 2 arm chairs. The quality and lighting of the photos are poor. I'd apologize but really, I have to be honest with you...I use my iPhone for photos 99.8% of the time because I'm too lazy/impatient to go looking for the camera.

I will eventually get some decent photos done but not till the dining room has been done. Till then it's iPhone photos.

To let you in on just how lazy I am:  I feel my knees are chubby and don't like how they look in shorts. So I asked Steve if he knew of any exercise that would target my knees. His suggestion was to get out and exercise. Ha! Lipo is what I hear.

My thinking is if I can see a change in my knees within 2 months (see I have a realistic time frame) THEN I'll consider taking on more exercises. I can commit to 1 or 2 individual exercises...particularly if I can sit while doing them...and we are talking knees here after all. I think I can reasonably assume I'd be sitting for any knee exercises.

So for now, with no exercises for my knees as of yet, I'll pour another glass of sangria and add some photos of the chair.

I found some of the original upholstery under the fabric I was removing. So I left it there for someone else to find some day. Hard to tell but the velvet was a poopy greeny colour...I'm sure it was very nice for someone at one time.

Here's the snake print fabric completed on the back. I was just moving on to the seat. The snake print fabric is fantastic. It is textured just like the skin of a snake and it reflects light with a silver gray shimmer. (No snakes were harmed in the making of the chairs).

A detail photo of the in side of the chair back.

One of five layers in the back of the chairs. Five. Layers. That is a lot of freak'n nails and then there are the nail heads after the five layers! I did not use staples to redo the chairs. In fact, I reused many of the nails. 

Ok, the reveal:

Yippee first armchair completed! Without the proper work bench set up thingys my joints and muscles are killing me...I did this sitting/kneeling on the floor. Simple task of recovering a chair has me in bed the day after...you really can't expect I'm going to exercise now can you?

So what did it cost for the chairs:

• 
  
  2 Louis XV style arm chairs, 4 Louis XV style side chairs and 1 Louis XVI dining table found on Kijiji: $450 so divide by 7 x 6 = $65 / chair
• 
  
  4 meters 100% cotton velvet deeply discounted:  $30
• 
  
  2 meters snake print fabric deeply discounted:  $80
• 
  
  2000 nickle plated nail heads: $40

Total for purchase and reupholstery of all six chairs:  $ 540 not including labour (because I did it as a diy project).


Oh happy day they've added a spell check link =)

It Only Takes One Visit

I've mentioned in earlier posts I've been on a thrift store hunt for a couple of credenzas or dressers. I've been hunting for a good 4 months hitting every thrift store on the East side of Toronto...takes an entire day...literally. I've on occation found peices I liked but none of them jumped out screaming to come home with me.

My son is in desperate need of one in his bedroom, but I refused to settle, and I really wanted one for my dining room.

A little info on my dining room: it was the kids 'craft' room until early December when I stumbled upon antique Louis XV style dining chairs (4 side & 2 arm) and a Louis XVI dining table. I found them on Kijiji (much easier to search and just as popular as Craigslist in Canada). Kijiji is my fix for when I can't hope in the car to search the thrift stores.

This came as a surprise to dear Steve. One day he comes home from work to hear he's driving me to pick up the table and chairs for the 'dining room'. I got a blank look...it had been a 'craft' room for well over a year with nigh a mention of ever being anything else.

Now I have to add here that I'd been trying out different paint colors on the walls for about a year...and had an inspiration photo taped to the wall...but apparently that does not say 'plans'. I thought it was evident.

So the beautiful table and chairs, turns out, have a history. I met one of the easiest people to be around when we went to get the set. Emmanuelle and her family had moved to Toronto from Paris...via Brussels and Washington D.C.

The dining set had been in Emmanuelle's family in Paris for generations. The chairs are antique reproductions 'in the style of'...hand carved I might add but the table is on original. I *love* them.

I've been to Kravet and Lee Jofa numorous times looking for the perfect fabric to cover the chairs in. Each time I find the perfect fabric I'm told they are on back order. It is now mid-February and I've no fabric to cover the chairs...can you say depressing?!

 Yesterday however, I did find 2 credenzas. What luck! And they were both in the same Salvation Army for $25 each. I'm so happy. I couldn't stop talking about them and grinning last night after Steve got home from work and helped me unload them from the truck.


I now have a lovely bar area in my dining room with a felt drawer for the silverware from my Grandmother. 

So now my dining room looks like a dining room...in need up work but it looks like a grown ups room not a kids paint and play-doh mess. My plan is moving forward, snails pace for sure, but as I like to tell my kids 'slow and steady wins the race'!

Some day I'll find liming wax and refinish the credenza, get the walls lacquered in F&B's Mahogany and get the chairs covered. The room will be stunning. Some day. For now I'm quite happy to have the pieces of the puzzle.

*bisous*

Dane

Thrift Store Finds to Pass the Time

'm between clients and going just a wee bit bonkers so I've been hitting the thrift stores. I've got a few items on my wish list to find for next to nothing...don't we all?

Of course I didn't find the credenza nor the dressers I could restore and lime (cerused).

via Shelter

I did find a chair I can turn into a nice conversation piece while I wait for a call from a new or previous client! waiting....

I wanted to see if there was anything (special) around the house I could use to cover the back of the chair with and found an old skirt I've been keeping despite the sad fact it hasn't fit me since I got the 'momma hips'.

It will *just* fit across the top and is long enough. I never noticed before, but the label says the skirt design is copyrighted...cool it's ART!

Perhaps the chair will be inspired by Stephen Sprouse's Tuxedo Jacket Cher wore when she sang "I Got You Babe" with Sonny, one last time, on Letterman. I totally wanted the jacket...still do but would *have* to lose those shoulder pads.



Looks like this chair will be a fun piece! I will, of course, do a reveal upon completion.