Present Joys

My spindles are finally done. I coordinated to pick them up on Saturday afternoon, and since then I’ve been in a race against the clock to fully prefinish them before they’re installed on Thursday. These are finished according to the same schedule as everything else in the foyer: dye stain, two coats of oil-base polyurethane, sand to 400 grit, two coats of gel stain, then at least two more coats of poly. Doing all of this to 24 spindles, plus leaving time for things to dry and cure, takes longer than one would think.

These spindles were produced exactly to my designs. There are three lightly different lengths: two which allow for the beaded design to follow the angle of the handrail up the stairs, and one other length for the horizontal platform balustrade. They were originally slated to be hand-turned by an Amish guy up in Holmes county. However, he decided the project was too much for him to tackle so he coordinated for Buckeye Spindles to get them done for me using a CNC lathe. I’m disappointed they don’t have the hand-crafted element, but overall, the quality is excellent, and they are taking the stain nicely.

Now that the foyer bookcases are installed and the side area is fully finished, we can finally get the platform nosing installed on the stairs. Jordan came back today and put it in, along with the newel post that sits on the corner there. The stair platform now finally has a consistent floor surface. Big improvement.

He is scheduled to return one week from today to complete everything else. In the mean time, I’m still waiting to get my spindles, which will need to be prefinished before Jordan installs them next week. And I need to get this platform floor finished to the point where spindles can go on top of it. There is still an awful lot to do!

Schrocks is coming Monday to begin installation of built-in cabinets I designed for three rooms: foyer, front parlor, and dining room. In true Victorian style, we are prioritizing the beauty and majesty of these three “principal rooms” while we continue to ignore our miserable kitchen. I will write more about the cabinets in each of these rooms.

The installers will bring most of the large cabinets and many assorted small trim pieces when they come next week. For now, Karen’s uncle Hosea was passing by Columbus and offered to drop off the two cabinet boxes that will go in the front parlor. For how much these things cost, it’s hilarious to see them hanging out of the back of a pickup truck, but I figure Hosea knows what he’s doing.

I’d requested to get these two in particular early so I could get a head start on finishing them. The paneled ends of each cabinet here will be installed close to the mantelpiece which is already in place. Today I frantically applied dye stain and the first two coats of polyurethane, which is a good start.

I haven’t posted about my stairs for a while here. It’s not because nothing is happening; it’s just that the progress I’m making is not terribly impressive. I’m waiting on the next phase of this project, where the spindles and remaining newel posts will be installed, and I can finally finish the platform floor. That will all happen in October, once the spindles are done and the built-in bookshelves in the foyer are in place.

In the mean time, I’ve spent a lot of time staining all the pieces (most of them in place, plus the stray newel posts and pieces of baseboard that aren’t in yet) to simultaneously match each other, to match the q/s white oak mantelpiece that will be installed nearby, and to match the stained fir trim that is present in the rest of the foyer. Basically, I’m trying to bring out the best qualities of the new quarter-sawn white oak pieces while making them feel old, to harmonize everything going on in the room. It’s been an infuriating process, in part due to the sheer amount of material that needs finished.

Everything needs to match—except the treads, that is: those need a different finishing schedule since they need to match the rest of my floor. Although the century-old white oak floor boards were recently refinished with a clear oil-based polyurethane, the old boards are so oxidized that new boards need a lot of toning to match. In the end, the colors aren’t that different from each other, but the difference is important, I think. It makes this whole thing look like it’s been here forever.

I also recently added panel molding underneath each stair tread. It’s such a small detail but it really goes a long way to making the whole project feel more ornamented.

We’re getting ready to leave for about two weeks of vacation, and we have a lot of progress to look forward to soon after we return!

I’ve been slowly adding color to all the bare wood parts of my new stairs. The treads and floor boards will be finished without any stain except for a tone coat to slightly darken them and match the rest of my floor. All the other components (basically everything that’s vertical) will be finished in a darker brown color to match the foyer mantelpiece and other trim in the room. The combination of different surfaces, different levels of existing finish, and sheer amount of surface area has made this very challenging. But some pieces are turning out looking quite nice. Above is one of my newel posts. The dye stain and two thin coats of oil-based varnish already bring out a lot of the quarter-sawn character.