Our friend Tammy has been doing an amazing job of stripping our 100+-year-old staircase...
Thw wainscoting is new and yet to be painted, and we're getting rid of that old white piece of moulding above it.
What idiot thought it was a good idea to paint this beautiful wood?
We don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's a warm, gorgeous colour with beautiful grain. Around here we have maple, birch, pine, spruce, some oak... anyone have a clue? It's not a softwood like pine.
I can't wait to see this when it's done.
The wood on the stairs is pretty crappy (and that's carpet glue across the risers) so we are going to paint them but I have no idea what colour!
Alex approves! I will post more pics of the progress as it goes along. Tammy is so damn fast. She thinks she's slow, but she's amazing.
Amazing!!! I've stripped wood before and it's Not Fun. Tammy is a magician, indeed. It looks like a birch table I have...but I'm no expert.
ReplyDeleteAnd she is SO FAST!!!
DeleteI'm going with the maple diagnosis. We have birch and maple floors in the house. Of course, my diagnosis could be wrong...
I think it looks like maple because of the grain and your renovation of that staircase is amazing. Lots of work getting that paint off, but it's going to be a spectacular when done. Love the wainscoting too; I have it in my hallways, dining and living rooms. XOXO
ReplyDeleteTHe grain on the wood is just gorgeous. I am looking forward to that wainscoting being painted!
DeleteLooks great! It takes an awful lot of dedication to get into these projects. In the end they are very rewarding. Can't help you with the wood.
ReplyDeleteIt's easier when you pay someone else to do it!! :)
DeleteWow, transformation indeed! It's going to look fantastic when it's done.
ReplyDeleteI've got all our ceiling beams to do, which have been painted black. In some places black gloss paint :( I know, why do people do it? Fashions change I suppose.
Oh THAT will be fun, stripping black paint. :(
DeleteThat is a lot of hard work stripping that paint!!! It looks really good afterwards though!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see it finished. And there are as just as many spindles upstairs on the landing. A big job!
DeleteIt's lovely.
ReplyDeleteI always liked stairs with the white risers and a coloured stringer - perhaps a lovely sage green.
It's what I plan to do with mine if I can find a convenient place to lock up the cats while I do it!
Yes, that's a good idea, white risers with green or another colour!!
DeleteThat looks great, Natalie. I know how hard this is to do because it took both of us to strip our stairs many, many years ago. It was well worth it. You will love it and looking forward to seeing the finished look.
ReplyDeleteI am in love with it already. Wood is so beautiful!
DeleteBirch and Maple are very close in appearance but they do stain differently. Birch usually has just bit more variation in it then maple so my guess is maple. :) It looks grand!
ReplyDeleteI know a forester who might be able to tell me for sure! :)
DeleteWoops, it's early. It's looking great. It should make quite a difference to the house, it'll seem much warmer. Well done Tammy.
ReplyDeleteShe has magic hands. In her other life, she's a nurse! :)
DeleteThe house looks beautiful. Your friend Tammy is doing an amazing job. Truly a labor of love!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding! I need to pay her more. Her rates are too cheap!
DeleteAnd every line of that grain is the growth of a specific long lost year. Which ones, I wonder? Fixed, but unknown.
ReplyDeleteAmazing, isn't it? And that staircase is over 100 years old...
DeleteThat's going to look beautiful when you're done. I think I would recarpet the stair steps rather then painting them simply for sound proofing.
ReplyDeleteI would if I didn't have pets hell-bent on peeing on, pooping on, barfing on, and depositing hair on any scrap of carpet in the house! :)
DeleteBeautiful. The finished restoration is going to be awesome.
ReplyDeleteAll the doors in the house are being stripped and refinished too! I love it!
DeleteIs it maple? Such a beautiful grain. There is something "warming" about bringing that natural beauty out. I don't know why anyone would paint it. I need someone like Tammy around here.
ReplyDeleteI vote maple! And Tammy might like a trip down south :)
DeleteJust Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThanks Vicki. Tammy is doing an fabulous job.
DeleteSplendid! Lots of work but I always think that the place you call Home is worth it. I might ask Tammy if she could restore an old lady....
ReplyDeleteYou are perfect the way you are, Claude. No restoration needed!
DeleteEvery time we watch one of those home improvement shows, the designer wants to paint over the wood. I'll never understand it. So nice to see the wood restored. It will be beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost done now. I need to post new pics!
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