Refurbishing our stairwell banister

So, I've mentioned before that my husband and I purchased a rowhouse in Capitol Hill (Washington, DC) about 2 1/2 years ago...which has been my motivation and inspiration for this blog. Since then, we have spent countless hours refurbishing it to it's original grandeur. But we do it because we LOVE this stuff and we love old houses!

One of my first projects was the banister. It had been covered in 90 years worth of paint and grime, and instead of just slapping on a coat of white paint and calling it day (which, I can not lie, was my first inclination!)... I decided to tackle it with a heat gun, a 5-in-1 tool, and my trusty mouse sander. Not only is this a hot job, but a little dangerous too -- I suggest if anyone is interested in doing the same, wear gloves, long pants and long shirt (in case any of the peeled paint falls back onto you in the process, it won't burn you), and watch the area in which you are working carefully to avoid burning the wood. In the end, I stained it with MinWax Jacobean color. I thought that it might look really beautiful on the old pine. Then I put 2-3 coats of polyurethane to seal and protect it. I left the slats painted white because several had been replaced over the years, and would not have matched the stained color of the original banister.

Before

During...

After

Also, in the same stairwell, we thought it would be fun to hang 20 different vintage family photos that we scanned from originals, and then printed them at home on our little Epson. Some of the originals were not black & white, so we converted them from color..and bumped up the saturation and brightness a little. I think gives the stairwell added interest - an otherwise unusable space, you know? And the light fixture - a total find at Lowe's - a steal at $60! You see similar ones at Pottery Barn for $300-$400. There are great finds out there if you hunt for them...