Sanding, Painting and Polishing... the Buffet and Hutch

After few long months in the garage...

we are finally ready to reveal our finished project.

It did not find it's home on the wall in the dinning area... instead it sits stately in our home in the city.

It looks perfect here:

As you can see, I left the bottom doors as they were.  I think they looked a lot better and not as substantial once they were painted.

Here is the piece in the full view.  I really like the way it turned out.                                                              

As you can see it works well in the space... even thought it does not sit in the dining area.

Rest of the space is still being worked on, it looks a bit sterile, but we will fix that soon.

My Mom's Stairs

So I stayed away for a good reason... My Parent's home needed some extensive renovation before it was listed for sale. 

Here is what we were up to:

Removal of the 15 year old carpet, and refinishing of the staircase.  Under the carpet, we were lucky to find solid pine steps.  BONUS!

Here is more before pictures:

The plan from the start was to pain the risers and the spindles and stain the steps and the posts to match the brand new pre-finished hardwood flooring in the family room.

Here is what we got ofter several looooong days of hard work...

And this is the staircase in all it's beauty.  It truly is beautiful.

Staircase Transformation

SO, here is why I was so busy lately that I could not sit here and post...

My Parent's home needed some major transformation before it was listed for sale.

Here is the Starcase right after we removed the 15 year old carpet.

We were lucky there were solid pine steps under that carpet.

The sides, spindles, posts and rail were hand sanded to remove the original finish.  Than, we started a looooong process of painting, and sanding, and painting... to get this beauty:

And here it is in it's all glory:

Here is one more, a close up of the rail; I love this stain colour!

Bathroom Bubles... no more.

THIS is my new shower... in my old Master Bath:

Our 24 year old home in the city was cosmetically updated right after we purchased it almost 2 years ago.  We didn't however touch any of the bathrooms or the kitchen.  We decided that we will do that at the later time.

Well, that time has come...

We decided to renovate the Master Bathroom. 

It was pretty bad, original burgundy tiles, stained sink and a bottomless pit of a cabinet (it wasn't really bottomless) but it felt like it, as it didn't have any shelves and I was never able to find anything I needed in there.  And let's not forget the beat up, tired, old cast iron bathtub with chipped and stained enamel, that made me cringe every time I had to step in there to take a shower.

The bathroom was so bad in fact, that once I asked my Hubby to re-do it, he got to it so fast, I had no chance to take the before photos!  He was done with the demolition in a flash!

All I have is few "during" photos that will have to do. 

Here is another look: 

 

As you can see, we ripped it all out and were left with bare walls and some bare studs...

 

It was good to see the old stuff gone and it was very promising to imagine what the bathroom would look like when the new tiles were installed. 

We decided that since there are 3 other full baths in this home and all have bathtubs, we really didn't need one in our Master Bath, especially since we usually only take showers and we indulge in long luxurious baths in our Maxx Jacuzzi when we go to our country home on the weekends. 

It was an easy decision, especially after I found the perfect glass accent tiles!

Here is the little preview of the tile craftsmanship of my good friend, Janusz. 

The shower design, and tile composition are my humble efforts. 

Now I just have to source out the glass doors and purchase the vanity...

This is not done yet, I'm still working on it, just wanted you to see where we were going. :)