a DIY home project...

You might be wondering what I do in between crafting projects. I love to decorate and since we moved into our new home in May, we've been constantly working on getting settled in and getting things just the way we like. About a month before Thanksgiving, I decided I really wanted to do something with our staircase railing. We have dark kitchen cabinets, and the light wood railing just didn't seem to fit in with the house. Before we bought the house, they did remodel quite a bit...the kitchen, master bathroom, all new paint on the walls. But the railing was forgotten. A new railing would have been around $3,000. Believe me, I could find a lot of other things to spend $3,000 on!

So I investigated having a painter come and do it for us. He wanted $600. Which I was ready to spend. But...after giving it some thought, I decided to paint it myself. It was a LONG, drawn out process, but I am happy with how it turned out!

Many coats of paint later, it went from drab...

to fab...

Much better, right?

I went to Home Depot and told the worker behind the paint counter what I was intending to do. THIS was my inspiration photo, which I shared with him. At first, he looked at me like, "You are going to do that yourself?" And then he was super helpful and walked around with me gathering all of the supplies I would need. 

He told me about THIS product. It was actually cheaper in the store, $35 for the whole shebang! It comes with a bond coat, which they tint for you with the color of your choice. I chose Espresso. Also in that box, it comes with a glaze, which is thin and runny like stain and gives the paint color more richness, you just rub this over the Espresso when it is dry. In the box is also a clear coat finish that seals the Espresso color when you are all done. (Top railing)

To prep the staircase before I started, all I did was lightly sand it with fine sandpaper. Wiped it clean and then primed it with a really good primer from Home Depot called Zinsser. Awesome product. I didn't even use half of a gallon. On the spindles, I just used white paint that was used on our trim to match over the top of the primer. Two coats of the trim paint on the spindles. All in all, the project took me about a week and lots of effort, but I really love how it turned out!

We put our tree up, but haven't gotten it decorated yet. Hopefully tonight. I just love this time of year, don't you! Snuggling and watching the snow fall.

Looks like it might be a white Christmas!