Back to Nature

The project for last few days has been to remove the old extremely dark stain from our bedroom closet door. We previously tested a stripping agent called "Multi-Strip Pro" with success, so we removed the door from the closet to continue removing more of the stain.




I know it looks messy, but this stain/paint stripper is very low odor, and cleans up really easily with water. The only messy part is the stain itself. We did crack the window while working as there is a bit of an odor when using a lot of the stripper at once. We wore face masks and eye goggles as well as chemical resistant gloves for safety. The stain remover remained on the door 24 hours prior to gently scraping it off and scrubbing off the stain. A lot of scrubbing pads were necessary so that we did not rub the stain back into the wood, but in fact remove it before cleaning the remainder up with water.

This is how the door looked initially after all the stripper was removed. At this stage, the wood is still wet and would be left to dry for several hours.






We left the door to dry overnight. The result was a bare-wood natural finish. Some of the door was still drying when the following photographs were taken. Some areas of the wood are darker than others based on the way the stain took to the door differently in other areas. This doesn't pose a problem at all. We will gently sand the door prior to refinishing it with a new golden stain. The natural discrepancies in the color of the wood will add to the character and beauty of the refinished door.










Here is a picture of the door as it was when we purchased the property to demonstate the before and after.

Take pride in the little things...

Well, I'm here reporting that I've spent the last couple of weeks slowly working on our bedroom. I've come close to smoothing out all the old plaster walls. I've made some good progress. It's a very slow, and patient process, but we only have one chance to do it right before we paint the walls.

In other news, we've had great success stripping the old dark stain from the closet door during our trial test of "Multi-strip Pro." Our goal is to remove the old oxidized dark stain from the closet door and entrance door, and re-finish the doors with a new stain that will showcase the beauty of the wood grain. I can't wait for that!



Liam and I have removed almost all of our bedroom furniture from the room in order to work. We have an air mattress we will be using for the next several weeks while we work. Sanding walls is extremely messy and this saves a lot of time with clean-up.

Master Bedroom Project

We've started brainstorming ideas for the master bedroom. I really like saying master-bedroom, don't I?

Well, we've outlined exactly what needs to be done to make the place as beautiful as possible. We want it to be roaring twenties vintage of course, but functional and as comfortable as 2009.

We're going to need to smooth all the old plaster walls. They are in relatively good shape infact, but they will need to be sanded, and patched here and there in order to provide us with a nice painting canvas. Yes, having smooth walls is the canvas of the whole room. Without this, the rest just won't come together.

We will be removing the old dull base boards and updating them with something more clean and elegant and as romantic as this room should be.

Lots of other things will happen to the room. We'll leave some to surprise, but a lot of stripping, and re-finsihing, and sanding will be the forefront of the project. We will try as much as possible to "restore" what is good about the room.

The room will be finished with all the necessary details, new phone jacks, new outlets, new lighting fixtures, and a completely renovated closet space.

In the mean-time we will be keeping design in mind! Here are some photos of inspiration.

Getting Settled In...

Well, we finally made the move into our new house shortly before Thanksgiving. We've spent the last several weeks, organizing ourselves, and getting settled in. Work is back in progress on the 2nd floor of our house, particularly the master bedroom. We will be working over the next couple of months to renovate, and design our new bedroom suite.

Meanwhile, Liam will be continuing the hardwood floor restoration in the guest bedroom.

Here are a few photos depicting the "settling in" for your enjoyment...