Stairway Runner

by Erin

I am on the final hours of my glorious spring break this evening.  I felt as though I did a nice job of balancing relaxing, working, and entertaining this year.  Often times, I have a to do list as long as my leg which usually ends in disappointment.  This year,  I had one task that for the sake of my heart and soul I had to finish.  It is a project that has been going on since winter break.  You know how that goes right?  But I got that huge, big, magnificent task checked off our to do list. 

Our staircase runner and pinstripes have been painted.  CHECK!

For to see the full transformation one must go back to the beginning.

------> ugly stairs

Of course, I only have this picture.  Lucky for you it has Max in it (hot!).  See the stairs to the right.  The stairs were built to have carpet on them, that is for sure.  There were some pretty largish gaps between the boards and a couple of those gaps were 'filled' with duct tape.  Brilliance!  I 'fixed' that by filling the gap with a epoxy/sawdust combo and then a bit of sanding.  It looked pretty gnarly until it was painted.  Picture? You would like to see a picture?  Sorry.  I'm an amateur blogger.  I forgot.  Anyway, that stuff isn't exciting anyway.

So way back in December I primed the stairs. 

Primed staircase

About two months later (yes, I realize the significant time gap).  I painted the outer trim white, or if you wanna be high brow about it - Fragrant Jasmine.

Trim and outer edges

Then I had to call in the reinforcements.  I know myself, and I know that precision is not my specialty.  I had to call upon the careful expertise of Max to measure and tape the runner.  It took him all afternoon, poor guy.  But, damn, does it look good.

Runner!

I painted the runner while Max was away at work and he came home to another taping job.  This time the pinstripes on either side.  We left the existing tape on and added another strip 1/2" from the inside. 

Tape mania!

I was nervous about painting the pinstripes.  I thought for sure the paint would bleed through, but I didn't have much trouble.  There was one spot I had to clean up which just took a little doing. 

Pinstripes

Tada!  Look at those stripes!  We have such purpose and direction now when we go up and down the stairs.  Like royalty or something.

The final and probably most important step was the polyurethane.  We had to do quite a few touch ups to the yellow and white before we put the poly on - and that was just a few days of us walking up and down the stairs.  The paint got dirty and scuffed quite quickly.  So if you take on stair painting project, don't skip this step, especially if you are using light colors.  So are you ready for the tape free, polyurethaned staircase?  Here it is. . .

Done and done. 

Turning Minnesotan

by Leslie

I am accustomed to cold winter weather--I mean, I grew up in Nebraska.  We are known for hot summers, cold winters, and lots of wind.  The other thing I have learned is that often Nebraskans fight against whatever season it is.  For example, you will see nary a person walking down the street in the winter.  On a cold, rainy fall day, you will witness people walking in shorts and a t-shirt.  In the summers, the topic on everyone's mind is the heat.

This is not to say that this doesn't happen everywhere, but I felt it a lot when I was living there.  Now that I live in Minnesota, my mentality has shifted a bit.  Winters are longer here--they're drawn out with very few sunny days to break through the cold.  I have found that people "embrace" the winters more here.  They get out and go on walks (even the 90 year old ladies that visit the library), they outfit themselves in hi-tech winter wear, and they spend their winters PLANNING.  Planning for warmer days.

I have found that this is one of the best ways for me to deal with the winter is to plan my garden.  I recently bought a little seed starter kit at Fleet Farm, my new favorite place to wander the aisles.  I bought several packs of seeds--peppers, tomatoes, and a few other things you can start indoors.  I have been reading my Seed Savers catalog like nobody's business.  I am obsessed with the stories behind the seeds and am amazed at the long journeys some seeds have made.

In addition to having the garden on my mind, I'm trying lots of new recipes.  You'll hear more from me on that later!

Before I go, I have to share with you some pretty winter photos.

 Frosty tree Monday morning.

This is an unedited picture of our backyard at midnight last night.  The sky was bursting with snow--no lights or flash necessary.

This is what I woke up to this morning.  I love the little mounds of snow.  We got a lot!

Branches heavy with snow.  Embrace it if you can!