The narrow kitchen staircase was ready for
a make-over. This project was a priority because the railing
was required to pass a building inspection. First,
the stair treads were stripped of paint and varnish then
covered with four coats of polyurethane. Next, a railing was
constructed from oak. Neither Mary, Kenny nor I ever
constructed a stair railing before but I saw it done on a Bob
Vila show once! Partial instructions were available from the
local home center. Since the stairway is like a "fun house"
staircase, not all the instructions applied, so we had to
improvise alot. Because of these difficulities, the project
took longer than expected. Mary painted the risers and
spindles and other parts that I don't know the names of. She
also covered the risers with the same pattern "tin" from the
ceiling and painted them gray with silver highlights. The
railing dramatically changed the look of the entire kitchen.
Another job well done by the team.
Garage Clean-Up
Since the garage was torn down in December
2003, it was an eye-sore. But foul weather prevented us from
cleaning up the mess. Finally, the weather warmed up and we
were able to cut up the wood debris with a chain saw, load it
on a hay wagon and dump it in the burn pile. Four wagons-full
later, 90% of the wood debris was gone. The remaining 10% was
still frozen to the ground. Looks like this job will continue
when the weather permits.
Mary's Room
For the past few months, Mary has
been busy making curtains for various rooms in the house, as
well as her own room. She also made valances for her windows
and covered them with matching fabric. Here is a photo of her
bedroom with the curtains and valances in place. The dresser
is a temporary "yard sale find" that I've been using while
staying there to work at night. Daisy says the room is
very relaxing and makes her sleepy.
Master Bathroom Shower
Tile
Mary started to tile the master bathroom's
shower during the first week of February. I chose large (8"
x10"), tan tiles to match the exposed stone wall in the
shower. I helped cut tiles for a couple of days since there
were plenty of tile to cut for a custom fit. The
hardest cuts were the round openings for the "mood
lighting". (There are three halogen lights on dimmers
that downlight the stone wall.) We sure made it hard on
ourselves for that "custom look".
On February 27, 2004 we
were issued our "Certificate of Use and Occupancy" by the Clarke
County Office of Permits and Inspections. The path is clear to start
moving in...
