Goodbye 90s Staircase: Part Three

I’m backtracking through the One Room Challenge…looking at what was done, and finding gaps in what I’ve posted. I realized I hadn’t yet shared my staircase progress. We went through Part One and Part Two. Part Three is going to be one of the most transformative parts of saying “Goodbye 90s Staircase.” Plus, the results of the staircase makeover are on the way!

The Bleached Wood

I kind of left everyone dangling off of a cliff with the bleaching process. Bleaching wood is such a subtle, yet transforming process. But, on camera, it can be hard to capture the changes. Not only is it tricky to capture the effect, but when you do the one room challenge, there’s so much documentation that sometimes you forget to take pictures of every step–or at least, I do. That’s right. I don’t have a great photo of the bleached “after” effect, except this one:

Knowing where we came from, this is amazing.

But, I was hoping to reduce the orange even more.

Prep & Whitewash

I wanted to get it closer to the natural state, while attempting to remove any red tones. I had read that you could do this with a whitewash technique, and I’m pretty happy with the results. Before whitewashing, I prepped the wood with Behr’s Clear Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. After conditioning, I lightly sanded with a 220-grit sandpaper, just to remove any raised fibers that were brought out with the conditioning process. For this whitewash, I mixed 3 parts water to 1 part paint. I like using Chalk Paint in Linen White for whitewash. Chalk paint is a great paint to mix with water because it’s such a flexible product.

I painted on the diluted solution with a regular paint brush, and then after painting the entire surface of the tread, I wiped it off thoroughly with an old towel.

After an hour, this is the top step whitewashed next to the rest of the stairs that had only been scraped, sanded and bleached:

I won’t even mention the orange stain from the original wood that was still existing at the top of the staircase. Isn’t it crazy to see the transformation???

The day after the entire staircase had been whitewashed, this is the result:

It’s incredible. Just look at the orange wood that hasn’t been done yet! Holy smokes…what a difference.

Time for Stain

Now that the wood was prepped and ready, I wanted to warm it up just a little with brown tones. One of my favorite stains is Rustic Beige from Minwax. It’s got a combination of browns and grays, without overwhelming the look. I was hoping to bring out the wood grain, and that’s exactly what happened–being very reserved with the use of stain. I wanted coverage, but as little as possible. Using a brush and a rag, I brushed on the stain, and then I wiped the entire surface to ensure coverage with minimal amounts.

Check out the after of this first tread getting stained…

It’s just a little warm, and the wood grain is on display. I couldn’t have asked for anything more!

The Last Three Parts of the Project

The finish line is in view–at least for us to say: Goodbye 90s Staircase! Just a few boring details…

I used polyurethane to seal the stain after the entire staircase had been done–they recommend at least three coats, letting each dry and a light sanding in between each coat.

The stringers and risers are being painted white–this was accomplished along the way a little bit at a time. Am I ever going to finish?!?

The handrail that’s attached to the wall has been removed–cautiously, I’m hoping the children don’t fall down the steps. Yikes. The plan is to finish scraping, and then go through the process of sanding, conditioning, whitewashing, staining and sealing. I was planning to use new brackets in black, but it turns out, they won’t fit on the existing wall mounted blocks. I’ll be spray painting the existing ones with a black satin.

All of the other railing will need to also be refinished with the same process, but since the second story railings are keeping everyone from falling off the landing on both sides, I need a strategy. And, the bottom portion railings will have to be fitted and cut for the new box newels and balusters. That’s a blog post for another day!

Stay tuned for the final Staircase Makeover.

In the mean time, check out the One Room Challenge Reveal of this space!