The Wait Is Over...

Wow have I left you hanging on this one or what!?  Sorry!  Well the stairs have been done for, yes, over a month now  :S  And maybe I'm a little biased but I think they are absolutely gorgeous.  All that hard and dusty, dirty work definitely paid off.

Let's take a look back at what we started with:

How it was when we moved in (and after a little reno wear-and-tear)

Mid- project, this was after the treads and risers had been sanded

And ahhhhhh, a breath of fresh air

So when all was said and done it took just over a month (of only weekend work - and one of those weekends was all baby shower and no stair work, so if you were going to attempt something like this I'd say give yourself anywhere from 3-6 weekends to get it done.  3 probably if there are two of you, but for the most part it was just me on my own so I'm going to say that's why it took so long ;)

Let's take another look shall we??

 

The staircase as we always knew it (with the trim around the newel post busted off from years of careless tenants) and then how it looked after I'd tackled it with the sander.

 It's so nice to touch now, it all feels so smooth and dustless.  We weren't sure of the paint on the panel before we got started on it, but I think it makes all the details stand out so much more than when it was dark and stained. 

For literally weeks after it was done, I would walk up the stairs running my hands along all the treads because they're just so glossy and smooth now, I love it!

Because most of the steps had shifted slightly over the last 92 years, there were gaps where each tread met its riser.  So we added some trim to cover the gaps and for some added detail:

The darker patches on the treads from years of traffic still peak through the stain, but that is A-OK with us because we didn't want the staircase to look brand new

(Yes, paint touch ups are still in order, and we have to re-paint the whole yellow-ish wall after we give it a skim coat to smooth it out)

This post is getting a little long so I'll share a few of my favourite details in another post.  But for now let's take one last gander at what people now see when they come in the front door...

Oh, how we love! 

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, ours was quite busy with get-togethers, baby visits, and errands here-and-there.  I'm already looking forward to the next!!

 

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