And She's Renovating the Stairway to... Upstairs.

Zoe rides on Papa's handlebars.
Baby rides on Zoe's handlebars. 

Wee Zoe Mae has had a busy summer...  After lots of visits everyplace and a new/used motorcycle of her own, she decided it was high time to hunker down and class the old homestead up a bit by tidying up the grand stairway of the Costownhousello.  She's a quick worker, so here's the before/after shots:

Can you guess which one came first?

Originally the risers were painted white, and - wait - strike that. Originally the risers were stained a dark walnut, with a clear lacquer. They were then painted an orangey-peach, and then painted yellow, and then painted minty-shamrock-shake-green, and then painted white, and then painted off-white, and then painted white again.  Yeah.

When we bought the house, the stairs looked as you see at left.  With a little bit (okay, a lot) of elbow grease, we removed all the paint and lacquer and got down to the wonderful original wood. Then a few coats of Minwax satin poly brightened things up and let that grain sing.

I know which one I'd prefer to tumble down.

The Zoster wisely decided that the stairs should be carpeted to expedite her climbing adventures. Rocco enthusiastically agreed, as his fluffpaws couldn't get proper purchase on the well-worn hardwood treads, so he had to either slow down or wipe out when hauling down the 15 steps to protect Zoe from the mailman. The carpet helps to brighten up the stairs and quiet things down a bit, while the refreshed risers add contrast, depth, and help to extend the woodgrain spirit that the original heart-of-pine floors provide for the rest of the house.

How snazzy!

All in all, a job well done for the little lass.  And yes nitpickers, we've yet to finish the quarter-round around the bottom stair because we need to order some special bendy moulding that will be able to follow the curve around that bottom baluster step.  Phew, that was tiring!

Zoe invented this bed, and makes it everyday for her babies to sleep on.