Landing Part 2

Hi Friends!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! My Valentine and I have been working really hard to finish a few projects around the house. On Sunday, I showed you the destruction that was my landing and my stairs (they still look like that... ugh!). I am so happy to announce that the landing is officially done. The project of the stairs will continue this week and this coming up weekend.


I thought I would share with you the process of the landing and landing stairs. Here they are before (well after ripping up the gross carpet):

Once we had cleaned up the landing from the carpet and staples (I despise that part), we had to add a bullnose to each one of the treads. We secured the bullnose to each tread with both nails and construction adhesive.

Hubs then added the hardwood to the landing. We used construction adhesive to secure the hardwood to the plywood subfloor.

Side Note: When we added hardwood flooring on the main floor of our home, we made sure to buy extra, knowing that we would eventually have to do this landing and another two at the top of the stairs (these projects are on the "to do" list as well).

Once the landing was covered with the planks - we needed to match the color of each bullnose to the hardwood color. This was NOT an easy process. We could not find an exact stain match at our local home improvement stores - so we had to make one.

I pulled out my collection of stains and started experimenting. It took me two frustrating hours of playing with several different colors of stain to come up with the right combination.

The right combo was a layer of Mahogany, two layers of Provincial, then a light wash of Ebony.

Once each bullnose had time to dry, we added a coat of polyurethane to lock in the color.

Finally, we painted the risers white and HOORAY we had the finished product!

This project wasn't nearly as hard or time consuming as we thought it was going to be. We should have done this a LONG time ago! It looks so much better in my opinion. I am trying to convince Hubs to spring for those wrought iron balusters for the railings... we will see if that happens any time soon. HA!

I will update you guys soon on refinishing the rest of the stairs. Talk soon, friends!

xoxo,
Brandi Nell

Current Project: Landing and Stairs, Part 1

Confession: I am not a fan of carpet. Apparently, the people who built our house loved it. It was even in the bathrooms! When we are finished with the overhaul of our home, it will only be in two rooms - the two guest bedrooms.

This weekend we made some major progress on my anti-carpet mission. We removed the gross carpet from the landing and the stairs leading up to the third floor. My dogs (who are not ALWAYS angels) have been known to use the landing from time to time in emergencies - or in protest - as an area to "relieve" themselves... another reason for the carpet to go. Hubs and I are tired of shampooing it!

It felt so good to rip the carpet up off of the landing and the stairs.

Hubs should be finished hardwood-ing the landing this week.

While Hubs is working on the landing, I have been (and will continue ALL week) working on the stairs. I still have a TON of work today and I HOPE to be finished with this project next weekend.

I will post later on this week with the step-by-step process and the after pics. Can't wait to cross this project off of the "to do" list.

This stairway has the potential of being one of my favorite areas in our house. Going up the stairs we have been working on a photo gallery of pictures from both sides of our family. We have a ton of great pictures of our families even dating back to my great, great, great grandfather.

Can't wait till this whole project is done! Hope y'all have had a great weekend! Talk soon, friends!

xoxo,

Brandi Nell

Old Doors Turned into Home Office Storage

Hi Friends!

As I mentioned in several posts before, Hubs and I have been working on the home office. For the past few weeks, we have been working on a shelving and storage unit for the office, using items we found on our family farm in South Georgia. Well we finally finished the unit late last night. I couldn't be happier with the way that it turned out.

Hubs thought I was crazy when I begged to bring home these old doors. I knew I wanted to do something special with them. A storage unit/set of cabinets was immediately what came to mind when we were loading them up in the back of the truck to carry back home to Atlanta.

Here is what they looked like before. You can read the full post on "antiquing the antique doors" HERE.

Hubs built frames, hung the doors, cladded the cabinets in some beautiful barnwood (also from the farm), added some beadboard to the inside as well as some shelving.

I decided to paint the inside of the cabinet the same color red as we did the chandelier for the office. Remember my sassy chandy? You can read more about the transformation of the chandy HERE.

Here is the inside of the cabinet - with the red beadboard and shelves. LOTS OF STORAGE... HOORAY!

We added some "chicken wire" where the glass panes once were. This kind of gave the cabinets a Pie Safe look - which I am totally digging.

We decided to do two cabinets and have barnwood shelving between them. We also decided to leave on all of the original hardware. I love all of the locks (I am pretty sure the original owners were paranoid about robbers and break-ins... so many locks!) I am so happy with the way it all turned out. I also have to say that I constantly amazed at the Hubs' talents. He can pretty much build almost anything I ask him to... even seven foot tall cabinets built out of old doors. Gotta love that!

These pics really don't do them justice - but see below for the almost final product! We still have to add some trim to the top of each cabinet.

I will try and take some better pics this weekend with some natural light. These pics were taken while around 11:00 last night in some pretty bad angles, not to mention I was getting pretty tired.

Now I know this storage unit isn't for everyone... it's very, very rustic - but it is very special to us because it uses items that come from my family farm! Let me know what you think!

ALSO - I am SO excited that Beth over at The Patchwork Chronicles featured me today for her Inspired Spotlight! I posted on the office cabinets and even did a FULL tutorial of how to build some yourself! Please go and check it out. Her blog ROCKS! Thanks again, Beth!


The weekend is almost upon us friends! Hope everyone is staying warm and safe. I will be working a little more on the office this weekend so stay tuned! Talk soon, Friends!

xoxo,
Brandi Nell

I'm BACK... well tomorrow I will be.

HI! I am finally back in Blogland after a brief hiatus.


We have been working on the MAJA project of the office cabinets for the past two weeks - and we just finished TONIGHT. HUZZAH! Check back tomorrow for the post.



For now, I leave you something to giggle at... me with a nail gun. Scary right? Not sure what's more scary: me with a nail gun, the makeup underneath my eyes, or that WEIRD face I am making, or the fact that I am freely sharing it with the world.

So tired... heading to bed. Talk soon (as in tomorrow), friends! Thanks for staying with me, my loyal followers!

xoxo,

Brandi Nell