ORC Week Two: Mistakes Were Made

Welcome back to week two of the One Room Challenge. As I write this, the stair treads are getting a makeover, so it seems like a good time to explain what went wrong the first time.

This month, four years ago, I had the paint sanded off the stair treads for the first time. The paint was a dark red/brown oil paint, and it was a mess after 40-50 years of rug runners disintegrating on top of it.

The treads looked so much better after they were sanded, but I ignored the gut feeling that something was not quite right.

The landings were gorgeous.

However, sanding uncovered that the treads were dark dye/paint grade.

Most of the wood in BHH is painted, and it was always meant to be that way. That style choice was made in the late 1800s, especially in Colonial Revivals, which BHH most closely resembles.

Even knowing that, I moved forward with a clear coat of Loba Impact Oil. I had heard it was slightly more durable than the Rubio Monocoat we used on the floors in 2019. I was thrilled with the Rubio, so Loba seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, the pine treads turned bright yellow because they are pine. (Pine’s gotta pine.) The natural orange of the Doug Fur floors next to the yellow treads looked just so-so, not great.

I was pretty crushed, but I had already invested a lot of money into this project, so I decided to live with it. As the years passed, the Loba did not wear well at all. Unlike the Rubio Monocoat, Millie’s nails wore away at the Loba finish, leaving the surface looking dirty and pitted.

That brings us to today. After four years, the stairs looked so shabby that I could finally justify spending the money to right my wrong.

Mild Panic

After a lot of back and forth and back and forth and forth and back, I decided to stain the stairs and the landings all one color–a dark, warm brown that matches the railing.

Then, because I am me, I panicked just a little. If you put your thumb and first finger really close together, that’s how much I panicked. My choices had gone so poorly the first time around it was hard to trust myself. Feeling stuck, I brought my teenage daughter into it. She made the final decision when I was spinning a little too much, and she nailed it.

They are staining and sealing everything today, and I will share it on Instagram right away and here on the blog next week.

Until then, check out the rest of the One Room Challenge projects. I will be working on the mood board and doing paint prep this week, and I look forward to sharing a progress update.