Kicking into High Gear

Saturday morning started out early. At about 3:30, Wilson and Leo took turns walking on my head, curling up on my tummy, attacking my feet, and causing general discomfort - so much as to force me to escape to the guest room (only to have them follow me and repeat the same behavior.) Then, at 6, we had to rise and shine in time to chauffeur Scott's folks to the airport. But, fortified by coffee, we were able to start our day's work by 8:30.

First, it was finally time to tackle the stain and finish on the high window in the connector. Scott set up the big extension ladder and propped the orange step ladder on the stairs so that I could reach the entire window. I went up and down both of those ladders countless times!

Halfway done with the first coat of stain.

By 6:30, I had two coats of stain and the first coat of polycoat on the window. Tomorrow (Sunday), I will sand and add two coats of wipe on poly. This task wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined - except for the pain in my ankles from standing on a ladder, 16-ft. in the air all day. ("All day" is an exaggeration to add drama to the story.)

In between coats on the window, I added two coats of stain and one coat of poly on the wood trim surrounding the 1920 bathroom door. Scott utilized a mix of original woodwork and new but the sanding, staining, and poly-ing created one beautiful doorway. Another task to cross off the to-do list!

After lunch, I embarked on my next task:  painting the underside of the staircase in the connector. The ladder was called into duty once again as a platform.

The paint we chose a rich chocolate brown, Sherwin Williams 6006 "Black Bean." This is another color we used at Grant Street but it worked perfectly into our noTTafarm color scheme.

Two stairs done...ten to go. The hardest part was the stairs at the very bottom. I had to lay on my back and paint over my head to reach the edges. Luckily, my boss gave my efforts two thumbs up!

The finished paint job makes the stairs look so elegant. The combination of paint and stain will really look great with the railing system Scott has planned. 

Whew! That was a busy day!