Those Terrible Stairs- Revisited

When we last left the stairs they looked like this:

 And while lovely, they're also near deadly. 

The treads are shallower than in a new home and everyone over the age of 35 that climbs them acts like the earth is shifting while they do. "Oh wow these are scary." "Be careful!" "You actually carry the baby on these?" "Wow you could fall right over the side of these." "You USE these stairs?!" I realllllly heard it when everyone came to the house after Lila was born. You'd think I was carrying her upside down the way everyone acted about me actually transporting her from one floor to another. I've gotten used to them. I navigated them in the dark while pregnant multiple times a night going to the bathroom! 

We added a gate at the top since Zulu has started getting forgetful. We were afraid she would accidentally turn and fall down during the middle of the night (she has fallen down once before and it was terrifying). We also figured it wouldn't hurt to get a jump on Lila-proofing the place. But we knew that wouldn't be enough. We need a railing and something to keep her from going over the edge. Fortunately, my family is in the carpentry business and my uncle and cousin came out to make them safe. It about killed me to not DIY this, but I just couldn't figure out how to attach a post and railing without significantly narrowing the stairs. 

Get ready for lots of pictures:

Just a reminder of where we started...

Then I added stripes and painted the railing white:

Then I ditched the carpet and found something scary underneath:

 Tried to stain it and hated it:

 And finally painted the treads black and added a thin crown molding to the back (making the stairs 1/4 in shallower and adding to the fear and agitation people experienced near the stairs)!

So Lila, the pets, and I packed up and moved to the basement for a day while they set to work. 

 She then proceeded to have a blow-out and got to hang out like she was sunbathing while I went and apologized for needing to climb the stairs to get her new clothes!

These are the inspiration photos I gave to my uncle to see if I could achieve something like this:

He pointed out that this would be easy to climb like a ladder for a little kid. There went that plan. I would LOVE to have a glass wall to keep the look of the stairs the same:

But that would be expensive and the Kardashians have stolen my idea. So there went that. My uncle sent me these two pictures and basically told me to pick one. I was glad for the lack of decisions and just to be done:

Ready to see what I picked and how it turned out? Well… I'm writing this post as it's being built so stay tuned for part 2!

Tea Staining Wood

Have you ever heard of staining wood with tea? Neither had until I got a free table. 

I loved my other table. It's still sitting off to the side waiting to be sold actually. But the drop sides led to the surface being a little uneven and the top wasn't real wood. When I told someone had an antique that had a bad finish and needed some work that was going to Salvation Army if I didn't want it, I jumped. 

I didn't know what to do with it so I left it as is while I thought about it and made sure the size worked for me. It had lots of scratches and water rings, which made me feel not guilty about possibly painting it. 

I finally decided I'd paint the legs white and stain the top. I found this great looking grey stain that I would stain it with after I got the original stain off.

It was a super super messy job. Note the floors.

I was covered in oak-colored dust. There is something about sanding furniture that helps me find myself. I got lots of great finding myself done and good music listened to. 

This was it when I was done. Isn't it soooo pretty? I wanted to leave it like that but knew I'd need to protect it if we'd be eating on it.

So I got my gloves and brush and went to work

Here it is after getting it all on. It was really close to the cabinet color so I was hoping it would coordinate well

Here it is after rubbing off the stain. I HATED it. Maybe this is someone's cup of tea, but it's not mine. 

So I was back to square one. And I remembered my french doors directly behind the table and realized it'd make my life and clean up MUCH easier if I just dragged the table out there to sand. The grey stain was way harder to get off than the oak for sure. After 2 days of sanding I got the table mostly back to its bare glory. My mom sent me a link about tea stain as a possible idea for the table. 

So I grabbed a glass jar, some steel wool, and vinegar. 

Rip/pull apart the steel wool and pour vinegar over it to completely cover it. Loosely put the lid on and put it in a dry cool place for at least 24 hours. 

While I was waiting the pets and I sanded

Taped and painted

and moved it back in

Again I adored the rough top but needed to protect it. I decided that if the tea thing didn't work I'd sand it and leave it as is. 

Next you brew some strong hot tea. After it's cooled brush it on. 

This was it going on

Here it is after it dries. The top went back to the way it looked before. Here is the "stain" after it's ready. It looks no different. I was quite sure that it wouldn't work since it didn't smell any different from vinegar and was clear. How nice to work with something easy on the lungs!

Here it looks after brushing it on. I knew that it really worked when I saw the marks that it left when I accidentally touched it to the white paint. It didn't come off either! 

Here it is about 5 minutes after brushing it on to one side of the table 

Here it is after 15:

And after an hour:

Doesn't it look good? I love that it's natural and rustic and not 100% painted like the rest of the kitchen

After it dried I gave it a couple of coats of polyacrylic

I love it. It's weathered but slick looking

And it has some really cool looking depth

It was so easy and fume free to tea stain! I will definitely do that before Minwax next time!

Bar Stool Makeover

Since I got this table I've needed a seat for it

I was looking at something like these from Target:

When I remembered my old bar stools:

They were out in the middle of the basement for a long long time. They are really high though. If I wanted to use them something had to change

We don't have a saw but my brother did. I marked 7" up on the stools and my brother came over and chopped

They were a little unsteady with the second set of crossbars not there. But, we needed to trim those down to fit into a narrower place. So we pulled out the traditional saw and got sawing:

Then I made some paint. I wanted this to be another free project and I thought grey would work perfectly down there. I pulled out my old samples from this project and started mixing

This is it  after two coats. I didn't care for how flat it was though and wanted to coat it with poly acrylic 

See how much better it looks with a gloss? (and that we still haven't sold the dumb couch)

My drill battery is having some issues at the moment so I haven't reattached the crossbars so this is the 95% done after-shot! 

What do you think? I'm loving the free makeover!