Because it's never THAT easy

I had a simple plan for today – tear out the carpet on the hallway stairs. Then voila – hardwood floors to enjoy.

Here's what I didn't know, when I started this project:

- This carpet runner, is nothing but scraps. Each stair is its own piece of carpet, which equals 3 tac strips per step and at least 50 staples per stair.

- While I pulled on some carpet to make sure the wood was okay, apparently the spot I looked at was a fluke – the wood is unfinished.

- The unfinished wood is blessed with random paint spots all over it.

So you can witness the joy:

Because of the extreme amount of staples, each stair is taking about an hour to do. My hands are swollen and hurt to move – I am so done for the night. This is how far Brent and I got.


So, the new plan (which hopefully includes having this mofo done by our housewarming party on the 21st):

- Tear off the rest of the carpet and de-staple the stairs (Monday and Tuesday)

- Sand the stairs – this will help the paint situation I have going on and it will also rough up the finished paint of the stairs (Wednesday)

- Stain the stairs (Friday night)

- Paint the back of the stairs white (Sunday)

I have never stained anything before, and I have to admit that I'm slightly terrified. But I guess if it's terrible, it can always be sanded done again.

Towel Deal

$20 for a 6-piece set – not bad at all. :)

The Dining Room

I'm really happy with how it's coming together. I want to switch out the fabric on the dining room chairs, but I'm sure to what yet. As for the other 4 dining room chairs – that's what Christmas is for, as well as a table centerpiece. :)

Dining Room inspiration

Because Brent and I finally bought a dining room table (pictures to come later), I figured it's time to start daydreaming about that room.













Bling tealight lamps – Z Gallerie
Table runner – Z Gallerie
Star candleholder – Z Gallerie
Day without sunshine – DIY
Circuit candleholder – Crate & Barrel
Hurricane candleholder – Crate & Barrel
Napkin rings – Z Gallerie

A Candleholder Knockoff

While I received a lot of compliments about my buffet renovation – I received quite a bit of interest in the candleholder above it.

The circuit wall candleholder is from Crate & Barrel with a price tag of $149. While that price is steep to me, a wonderful friend thought it was the perfect wedding present (thank you, Dominic).

Today, I was in my new favorite store though and found a knock off of similar size for almost half the price. This is the collage sconce from Z Gallerie, and for only $79.95 it's an amazing price and still has a nice brand name – you can't beat that.

While the frames are thicker in the Z Gallerie version, and several squares are a different size – that's basically the only difference. Not only are the number of squares the same in both, but the placement of squares as well as candleholders are identical.

The Hallway

The painting is done! (Well, almost. There are some touch-ups still to do). But the ceiling and walls have now been painted – I don't miss me beige ceiling whatsoever. Goodbye beige everywhere and hello granite dust walls and white ceiling.

Before:

After:

The Mantle

There were 2 projects when it came to the mantle:

1. Level it (the mantle had settled quite a bit. I have no idea how the previous owner's stuff didn't slide right off it)

2. Paint it (the natural wood against the brick did nothing for the mantle)

The before (with the previous owner's things):

After painting everything, Brent put the pieces back in with shims and then mortered it. It was his first morter job, and I think he did great. Oh, and morter totally smells like chocolate milkshake. Then we let the morter dry for several days.


The result:

I am really happy with how it turned out.

Next fireplace project: Spraying the screen. I'm not sure whether to do it black or silver though. I think I'm leaning toward black though.