But for our house. Specifically, our stairs. The same way that a little mascara creates drama for the eyes, this project will take our stairway from plain jane to something a little more dramatic. Like the transformation from Sandra Dee to Sandy, but less spandex and no platform shoes. And I can't wait!
This is what we're starting with:
This is what we're starting with:
Nothing wrong with it as is, but we're looking to punch it up a bit. We're going for something like this:
or this:
Or even this:
After doing some research online, we decided on Polyshades by Minwax because only a light sanding is required before application. And it includes the stain and polyurethane in one coat, which means a huge time saver since I'll be tackling the rails and the treads at the bottom. Eventually, we'll be ripping up the carpet and adding a runner instead, but for now the carpet will be hanging out a little longer.
Before getting started with the full project, I sanded and tested a single coat application on a piece of railing that's not visible from the ground floor. I wanted to check on how "light" a sanding would suffice, and I wanted to monitor drying time. That's pretty important since we have a lot of traffic going up and down those stairs on any given day.
I broke out 220 grit sandpaper and sanded the railing so that the topcoat of the current poly was roughed up (it no longer had a shine to it). Using painter's tape, I taped off the tops of each spindle where it met with the rail since we're leaving those white. Then, using a short handled 2" brush, I lightly applied one single coat. It's important to keep a steady hand, going slowly with the grain of the wood. You can see from the image below that 2-3 coats will be needed to achieve the desired depth of color, but it worked well!
Before getting started with the full project, I sanded and tested a single coat application on a piece of railing that's not visible from the ground floor. I wanted to check on how "light" a sanding would suffice, and I wanted to monitor drying time. That's pretty important since we have a lot of traffic going up and down those stairs on any given day.
I broke out 220 grit sandpaper and sanded the railing so that the topcoat of the current poly was roughed up (it no longer had a shine to it). Using painter's tape, I taped off the tops of each spindle where it met with the rail since we're leaving those white. Then, using a short handled 2" brush, I lightly applied one single coat. It's important to keep a steady hand, going slowly with the grain of the wood. You can see from the image below that 2-3 coats will be needed to achieve the desired depth of color, but it worked well!
I'm not sure if I will be finished before Monday, but that's my goal. Have a great weekend!