Lets take a short trip down memory lane. Here is a photo of the staircase shortly after we moved in in August 2004.
Terrible wallpaper, nasty green carpet that we named Dirty Kermit, and a beautiful wooden railing hidden beneath 6 layers of paint.
I first touched stripper to railing Thanksgiving 2004 so we’ll call it three and a half years in the making. The carpet was torn up, the wallpaper was stripped, the walls were insulated, the loose steps were repaired, and all the paint was stripped. There was so much paint caked on every surface and in every nook, cranny, and crevasse that my dad and I thought we would never finish.
We have used many gallon cans of two brands of paint stripper (sometimes mixing them together), two different heat guns, three putty knives, countless scotch pads, even more latex gloves, five different styles of dental picks, two types of dental floss, a gallon of acetone, a gallon of turpentine, and two gallons of methyl hydrate.
My dresser has been scavenged for anything that would make a good rag, our fingers have burnt and bled and we’ve spent countless days high on the fumes from burning paint and stripping chemicals.
We’ve balanced precariously on ladders and then fallen gracefully from them. Every possible variation of paint stripping joke has been conceived of and used and I can recall at least 20 audio books that I have listened to in full while working on the staircase.
Dad and I have discussed it a few times and if I had to give a rough estimate of the number of man-hours invested in this project I would say about 1,200. When the hour count gets to that level I think the project has safely crossed over the line from “labour of love” to “old house insanity”.
Enough ranting from me, time for some pictures:
There’s still a couple of coats of Varathane to be put on the treads but I have to wait a month or so for the paint to fully cure.
As a bonus here’s a shot of the closet under the stairs. Notice the detail around the opening that Dad restored:
If anyone ever paints this railing again I will come back and break their fingers. If I’m dead or otherwise indisposed, Ted the Angry Zombie has agreed to do the honours.
Absolutely gorgeous! What a transformation. Great job.
It looks great.
Love the name of the carpet….”Dirty Kermit”.
One word: Wow!
Ok, a few more: Sunning – Amazing – Transformation….
That looks amazing.. bravo.
Wow, the staircase looks fabulous! What a difference! I know it was a lot of work, but it certainly paid off.