This past weekend we were able to knock out a project that is going to make the house have more of a Victorian look/feel and I’m pretty excited about it. A special thanks to my in-laws for watching the girls for two solid days! However, this was literally the most beastly (pain in the rear) home improvement project that my husband and I have ever worked on together. That’s saying a lot because we’ve been homeowners for seven years and believe me, we have done our fair share of projects. I had no idea how time consuming it was going to be to paint (3 coats plus the clear coat) each individual spindle. Let’s just say that with all the bending and kneeling, even when using an old boppy pillow to sit on for support, this poor prego was in tears because it was so painful making those movements over and over for literally hours.
That being said, painting banisters is so time consuming that it would have been faster to just replace the whole dang thing. (I’m not exaggerating either. It took about 2&½ hours per coat. So three coats plus the clear coat equals to 10 hours of painting, plus the time you have to give each coat in between for it to cure a bit.) However, if you know me at all you know that I’m not going to rip out a perfectly good banister just because it’s not the color I want and replace the whole thing. That would be a huge financial no-no and it’s just wasteful. We went with chalky paint because it adheres so well that you don’t have to do any sanding prior to starting. Americana Decor brand ended up being the choice because of the price, otherwise we would have gone with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, which is about twice the cost. I’ve been really happy with a previous project that used Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint. It was my Country French Cedar Chest Re-do and my girls have been playing with it and climbing on it for months and the paint has not chipped at all…which is pretty AMAZING! We went with a bright white (Everlasting is the paint color name) because I wanted it to match all the moldings. Eventually the moldings will all be the tall classic kind and the walls will be painted in a country french blue/gray of some sort… I still can’t decide on the exact color I want to go with for the walls.
Anyway, here goes our results: Don’t mind the carpeting that all needs replacing and at the very least a shampooing. I just can’t keep up with the house this pregnancy. Also, I apologize for the poor lighting in our house.
Before
