Staircase 3

We're getting there, and it's a slow process. Our painting today was actually pretty easy since we did not do any of the spindles.

We decided to go with Bittersweet Chocolate by Benjamin Moore on the Rail and Steps and Cloud White, also BM, on the spindles and risers. We decided to go with the new Aura paint and we LOVE it. This stuff glides on and is very forgiving with brush strokes. It was $66 a gallon, but very worth the price and I will be painting with Aura for all our future projects. We chose to go latex over oil and so far so good. A good tip is to brush into the previous paint you brushed on and not brush away from. Better coverage.

Where are we for time

2 more hours of priming

1 hour sanding

12 man hours of painting

We were not sure if we should sand the primer coat and were looking online for some info. We could not find what we were looking for so I took a piece of 220 and lightly sanded a rail. If you are thinking of skipping this step, don't. It made a huge difference and well worth the extra hour we spent doing it.

So, we have finished the first coat of the brown. Tomorrow, we'll add another coat of brown and let it sit for a few days as we want to be able to tape off to get a crisp line for the white.

We went shopping for a runner and think we may have found something. We went to 4 different carpet stores and finally found a place we really liked. Dodd and Souter in Whitby was great and we brought some samples home today to try them out. We're looking to have a custom runner made and add a 2 inch cotton band on either side. Apparantly not many people make then custom, so we were happy to fine this company. Their selection was amazing and while expensive, I think they will do a really nice job.

Total man hours to date = 38