Movin' on Up

Now that we're done with the mud room, it's time to tackle the stairs. I painted the ballusters and stained/varnished the railing while Jim is working on the floor. There was some debate on whether to rip up all the floors and replace them or to just try to patch and match. We decided to go the patching route. In the end it will mean less money and less waste. We're going to put in the new floor and sand it all down, including the old stuff, stain and varnish. It should be messy but what house project isn't right? Jim is planning on showing off some of his crazy carpenter skills on the stairs case. I'll show you plenty of pictures as he gets going. I just can't wait for people to walk into our house and not say, "Oh you're under construction, still..."

Here you can see the new floor and what we have to match. Wish us luck!

First Day

Built-in Complete

Sorry for the grainy pictures. I took them last night. Anyway, we're done!! Another thing checked off the to do list, a big thing. Eventually we might build some open shelving above the taller portion but for now it will serve it's purpose of keeping our junk out of sight. I was going to make a cushion for the bench part but we were thinking that we might just paint it the same charcoal color of the surface of the taller part, or maybe both? I feel like we need some color or pattern in the room but maybe do it with window treatments? What's your opinion?

BTW-can you see Benny in some of these pictures? The whole time I'm taking them he's following me saying, "take picta uh me, take picta uh me!"