stripping for dummies

This is how to strip the woodwork in your home, in 9 easy steps:

step 1
Remove all the baseboards and trim.

May 6, 2011

step 2
Arrange baseboards and trim in your garage. Apply stripper.

August 27, 2011

step 3
Scrape stripper off. Then repeat (up to three times if necessary). Sand off the stubborn bits (hooray for power tools!).

September 18, 2011

step 4
Arrange baseboards and trim in your garage. Apply stain (three coats is required).

October 10, 2011

step 5
Bring the baseboards into the house. Try to remember where they go.

November 8, 2011

Just kidding.  I should have mentioned this in step 1 - as you remove all the baseboard and trim, write on the back of each piece what number it is, and create a corresponding map.

step 6
Attach baseboards and trim (more power tools!).

November 19, 2011

The photo above was taken the day before we hosted my extended family (dad's side) for dinner. Aaron was installing the last few pieces in the front hall about half an hour before our guests arrived. A note to all home renovators/procrastinators - inviting people over is the perfect incentive to get jobs done.

step 7
Stain the few random pieces that somehow got missed.

November 20, 2011

step 8

Attach baseboards and trim on the upper level. (In case you haven't figured it out from the timeline provided, we're not exactly the speediest renovators.)

December 10, 2011

The photo above was taken a week before we hosted my extended family (mom's side). See? It's all about inviting people over.


step 9
If necessary, cut baseboards to fit (even more power tools). This particular piece had to be cut because we took out a built-in bookshelf and therefore needed a different size. It also happened to be in the spot where our Christmas tree was going to be, which was the incentive we needed to install it.

December 18, 2011

This was definitely the biggest job we've tackled so far. And it isn't even one we realized we would have to do until after we moved in. It turns out that on closer inspection, every single piece of baseboard and trim in our house had a smidge of robin egg blue paint.

The end result is so worth it. We now have gleaming baseboards and trim to match our floors.

Of course, now we have to do it all again for the quarter round . . .

bye bye blues

The May 2010 issue of Style at Home featured a living room with a wall colour very similar to ours. It's true what they say . . . eventually everything comes back into style.

But we are not that stylish. The robin egg blue had to go, to be replaced with a soft white.

Choosing the right white was agonizing. There are hundreds of different shades of white. Some are bright white. Some are creamy white. Some are more gray.

After much soul searching (by me) we settled on Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.

Covering the blue took a lot more paint that we originally anticipated. The staff at the paint store promised we would only need two coats, and 4 gallons. It took three quotes, and over 8 gallons. We kept having to run back to the store to buy more. By the end, the staff recognized us when we walked in the door and started  giving us the discount normally reserved for interior decorators and professional painters.

In the end it was worth it. Painting the walls was the most dramatic change we made to the house.

before . . .

. . .and after

I love the second photo because it shows how far we've come. Look how smooth the ceiling is; how shiny the floor is; and how bright the room looks. You might notice that it's not completely finished - there's a baseboard is missing. But that is a whole other story.

project 760 - phase 1

Pulling up the carpet was the first in a list of things to do that we've affectionately dubbed "Phase 1". (You can see the complete list here.)  During this time we were nomads, moving from place to place, avoiding drywall dust and varathane fumes.

We didn't know where to start, so we chose the messiest job first - drywalling over the popcorn ceiling in the living room and front entrance. This coincided with a dog-sitting gig, so we could move out and leave the job to the experts - Handy Andy (our contractor) and Gary Taper. Sadly no photos exist of the drywall project, but here is Eddie with Aaron.

Our next project was re-finishing the hardwood floors. The floor guy wasn't able to start right away, so in the meantime we got ready to start painting. This plan came to a quick halt after chatting with the paint store lady about all the projects we were tackling, including the floors. It turns out that paint needs to "cure" before it is completely dry. If we painted right before doing the hardwoods, all the dust from sanding the floors would stick to the walls and make a big goopy mess. Disaster averted; Phase 1 delayed.

Eventually it was time for the floor guy to come. All of our worldly possessions had to be jammed into the basement, the kitchen or the bathroom (the only places without hardwood floors). All of our doors, including closet doors, had to be removed. And we had to be out of our house for at least a week while the floors were sanded down, sealed with an oil-based finish, and left to dry. We spent one night in Aaron's parents' basement, a weekend at my cousin's condo, and finally treated ourselves to a few nights at a hotel. It was totally worth it. Our floors look amazing. (Here they are after the sanding, but before the finish was added.)

Total time elapsed since Day 1 - 84 days

project 760 - day 1

The day we got the keys to our house was a very exciting day. And we didn't waste any time starting the renovations! On the first night, we pulled up the carpet.

When we bought the house we knew there were hardwood floors underneath the carpet. I'm an optimist, so I assumed they would be in good condition. In hindsight this was probably naive. But we were lucky.

The good news . . . the floors didn't have any water damage or stains. The bad news . . .the carpet had been in place for over 40 years, and in some spots the underlay was completely stuck on.

There were also a lot of staples to be removed. (My lovely sister helped us with the  job.)

But by the end of Day 1 we had already checked one thing off the list. This was going to be easier than we thought.