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A Foyer & Staircase Restoration Update

Well, the short story is that the foyer and the staircase are still a mess. However, as usual, there is always plenty going on behind the scenes. It has been some time since I offered an update, and there is progress to share.

In total, I removed 20 balusters, and Dale and I have been slowly stripping and sanding each one. After deciding not to use a dip and strip in Pittsburgh, I planned to take at least ten of them to Missouri and leave them with my friend, John Rodgers. However, once I added my podcasting equipment and the balusters, my suitcase pushed past the 100-lb limit. Something had to give, and I left the balusters at home. So, now I am resigned to the fact that stripping fancy balusters is my responsibility, and I’m lucky to have Dale’s help. Currently, twelve are nearly done, and eight have not been touched yet.

Those curvy parts give Dale and me a run for our money, but we’re both getting used to what it takes to get them back to paint-ready quality. Now that we understand how long each one takes, it’s easier to ballpark a completion date. I am shooting for Thanksgiving.

Hiring a Designer

Something that I decided to do very recently is to hire a designer. Specifically, I am hiring Teri Moore from T. Moore Home to help me choose rugs. She offers various services, and I am paying for her consultation services vs. a room design. She will help me determine rug sizes and colors, and I plan to do the shopping. We’ve already had our first consultation, and I feel so much better.

Right now, I consider most of our rugs to be placeholders. They are beautiful separately, but together, they are a hot mess.

Since everything flows together downstairs, we need some actual flow, ya know? The red rug is pretty in the foyer but from this view…

…it’s Clash City. But then, we also need a stair runner, which finally blew up my brain. It pushed me from “Don’t know” to “Don’t know and don’t care.” Guess who cannot do everything? Me. It’s me.

So, Teri’s got her work cut out for her, and I have nothing but faith in her process. When she asked me for my preferences, I said natural fibers, no green, and preferably NO FRINGE. Gosh, fringe is awful unless your home is a museum, and every room is cordoned off with velvet ropes. Fringe pretty much only serves as a dog hair catcher or maybe a mud flap.

It will be fun to update you on the process of working with Teri and choosing rugs. In the meantime, I’ll be stripping and sanding balusters, and restoring windows, and repointing the foundation, and and and…

Have you ever used design services before? It’s definitely a luxury, but when the foyer is finished, I bet I will wonder why I waited so long to bring Teri on board.

15 Comments

  • Sherrill
    Posted July 29, 2021 at 12:24 pm

    When we were in escrow on our historic Craftsman style house, the late designer, Paul Duchscherer was a guest designer for the Craftsman homes on the show “Curb Appeal.” We made the offhand comment that if we hired a designer it would be Paul. We met him at an A&C conference and got brave enough to ask him. He said yes! We did the whole job virtually, with a few meetings in his city of San Francisco. He was delightful, talented and best of all a great arbitrator between what I wanted and what my husband wanted. Fifteen years later and we have hardly changed a thing.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted July 29, 2021 at 3:09 pm

      That’s such a great story, Sherrill! It must have been so interesting to work with him.

  • Shana
    Posted July 29, 2021 at 6:45 pm

    Oh, Stacy, PREACH. Between dog hair magnetism and getting chewed up by vacuuming, no matter how careful, fringe is just the pits. I’m so excited to see what you end up with! Rug selection is a weakness of mine, so I’m always interested in what people choose!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted August 1, 2021 at 3:34 pm

      Fringe is the worst! I’m excited about choosing new rugs. I can’t even imagine what Teri will recommend.

  • Vanessa
    Posted July 31, 2021 at 6:07 pm

    I have always struggled with the fringe getting caught up in the vacuum as well. Good idea to go fringeless!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted August 1, 2021 at 3:33 pm

      It’s terrible!

  • gigi
    Posted July 31, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    I really like your new blog/website. It is so easy to maneuver and see your newest post. Thank you

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted August 1, 2021 at 3:33 pm

      Thank you! It’s always a balance between user experience and including everything that needs to be on a website/blog. I appreciate the feedback.

  • Downraspberrylane
    Posted August 1, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    Just looking at those balusters, I can feel how much your hands and arms must hurt. I have stripped many many such pieces, but never ever that quantity for one project. You are my hero! Also, rug fringe…nope.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted August 1, 2021 at 3:32 pm

      I’m lucky to have Dale’s help for sure.

  • Stephanie
    Posted August 10, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    Having someone discuss ideas with and who will actively contribute is worth its weight in gold. It costs up front, but saves so much stress and time (and sometimes money on poor choices).

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted August 11, 2021 at 10:18 am

      I think it’s going to be really helpful.

  • Bob
    Posted October 4, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    We have a 1936 wood hand rail that looks almost exactly like yours, but we need to refinish it. I’ve taken 85 years of grime and grease off it with wet melamine sponges, but what next? Sanding? Chemical stripper? Would love a tutorial or to have you point me in the right direction. Love your podcast!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted October 13, 2021 at 12:32 pm

      Hi Bob, I am so sorry that I did not answer your comment sooner. I missed the notification. To offer the best answer, I guess I would need to understand your end goal. Are you changing the color? What is its current condition? Also, what finish do you want to put on it at the end?

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted October 13, 2021 at 12:37 pm

      I forgot to include a link that might be helpful to you. How to Remove Shellac and Lacquer I’m not sure if it is relevant, but it might be!

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