Finally happened! Staircase in last stages.

It took since June 2012 for us to finish the staircase. It's aaalmost finished too. The first step was the treads.

Phase one:

1. Remove the metal treads. Easy. So easy I snapped a photo and went hardy-har-har, this is a snap.
2. Which comes to step two.. Remove the tar-adhesive backed linoleum on the risers and treads. 
3. Which brings us to months later. Hard ass work. The solution was just water. 2 buckets of water for each tread. And I never did finish the risers. We simply painted them.
4. So we then I sanded with the full dust mask, not just the little white ones. 2 and-a-half  full days of dremel/round power sanding. it was very difficult on the rounded noses.
5. We then stained and poly-ed the steps.

Phase two: Spindles and railings

1. The original spindles were spaced not according to code, and not according to safety. A child could easily fall through them. So considering there was also one entire spindle missing upstairs, making room for even a large adult to fall through (yeah! scary!), we replaced all the upstairs spindles with a pretty generic variety from Home depot. but we had to do some paint removal to glue them, so that started us down the road to stripping and lead remediation.
2. My MIL started stripping the railing upstairs when we first got possession and had not moved in yet. Which made railing look gorgeous, but it wasn't so simple. Removing lead paint isn't something one should do without a large amount of resources and safety considerations. 
3. So fast forward a year-and-a-half. We finally did some official stripping. We started with the caustic variety of stripper, taking advice that one should not use a heat gun or sand off lead paint (though I did try it for a bit on some parts, trying to keep my gun at a low temp so it didn't smoke.) I can say, neither did the job well. The caustic stripper doesn't keep the paint wet enough, nor does it really work as people against eco-products claim it does. Each layer is one-at-a-time application and then the horrid job of removing the chemicals with a rinse. And on the original stain (lacquer?) that the first owners had on the wood, it turned it to glue.
4. So the last step was SmartStripper. I tried Eco-stripper (or somesuch name) but SmartStripper was much better. We applied it, then put a layer of saran wrap over top and left it overnight. This was to increase the dwell time to get as many layers off as we could, while also keeping everything wet. You don't want your stripper to dry out before you take it off, especially with the eco-products.
5. Removing the SmartStripper proved great. It's messy, but it kept everything wet, even penetrating into the grain. Exactly what you need if you need to dig down into the detailing of the woodwork. Which we did, and that was the layer with the lead paint, the layer on top of the original wood finish. And it didn't turn that original finish into gum, another benefit. But it's 5 times the price of a caustic run-of-the-mill stripper.
6. When you do get down to the detailing, you want to actually gouge out a layer of wood with a very sharp tool (the triangle one they sell at Home Depot). That way you can take out as much as the (white) lead paint but you actually enhance the original detailing in doing this. Sometimes you create a sliver, but for the most part, this is a great thing.
7. Justin did the next part. Cleaning the beejeezus out of the wood to get any stripper/original varnish off. Incredibly irritating and time-consuming, when you felt like you were already done I suppose. 
8. Fast forward another 3 months or so, when we could ship the young lad off to grandpa's overnight, and Justin stained and poly-urethaned the railings. We will paint the spindles white just to keep the trim consistent.
9. There are still some parts, where there were gouges long ago, and in detailing, where the white, lead paint wasn't all off. In those places, you need to get a paint with the undertone of your stain, and apply it with a little artist's brush. We got a colour that didn't match (forgot to bring a sample to the paint store). But it was close enough and was in the deepest crevices anyways, so you'll never be able to tell. Just do this before the poly-urethane. We wanted to do it before the stain, but were just not prepared, a.k.a. lazy.

And this is what you have.

Here is a shot upstairs:

Projects

So after a winter of painting every surface in our house, I had no choice but to break free of the walls and dig up the yard for a kickass garden. The result has been jaw-dropping. It was an amazing year for gardens. And mosquitoes. And floods. And train derailments. And hot fall weather.
So we got so many tomatoes, and such big ones, we're rushing to pick and cook 'em faster than we can manage!

Over the summer, we did a few other things.
1. Porch.
What started out innocently removing a few steps on the porch to see what was underneath turned into an entire rebuild of our stairs and landing to the house. Complete with Justin working underneath a 1/2 ton porch roof with me standing guard to pull him out if it collapsed. Stress.

2. Destruct-or
We tore apart the back ...deck? porch? Don't know what the thing was, but it's gone now. This was to prep for the addition. Underneath was a nice concrete pad that we've been enjoying actually. But soon to be a bathroom/mudroom.

3. Apply for an addition.
Initially we didn't need a fullout Development Permit (meaning huge lists of requirements, 4-10 weeks of waiting, more money for the application, community consulting, etc) for our addition. However, because our property is 3/4 in the floodplain, ultimately even a simple fence or deck would require a fullout DP. Ridonculous, yes. Luckily I knew all the contacts from the alderman's office to the Community Business Revitalization Zone officer (okay, I actually ran into her at the bakery!) and we expedited the permit. It's "in advertising" (literally, it's in the paper!) and in a week we should be able to close that, get the Building Permit and start building this sucka. I can't believe it's actually happening!

4. Hire Heritage Assessment peeps.
 I don't know what they call themselves, but they're kickass cool ladies who come by, look at your old house, then determine what was original, help you replace things that are missing, etc. They aren't cheap, but I love them and I think they are worth every penny. I'm still waiting on the report (and final bill) but I've already learned a few things about my house. Namely, it's NOT 100-years old! Built likely in 1921. There was an old shack basically prior to that that predates 1900, but can't be considered the same house, probably for the best. I'm happy because I like 20s decor way more. The art deco and the glass. Mucho nicer and fancier/classier. Though the house is still Victorian, but I won't feel guilty for not sticking entirely to the ornateness of Victorian decor if I want to get some lighting fixtures and such.

Excavator Digs his Last Hole...

Charlie has a wonderful book that has replaced (thank GOD!) Good Night Moon called Good Nite, Good Nite Construction Site. It's full of construction vehicles that are going to bed after a long day of working at the site.

Apparently all the talk of diggers and walking past Calgary's continuing construction sites (we have one across the street and 3 on the walk to daycare) has had an effect. That or my ovulation hormones that cause nesting, whether you're pregnant or not, caused me to dig up the entire back yard on April long weekend.

It started with the last post, taking down the eyesore greenhouse. Which was really a shed. A shed full of mouse shit. And rotten wood. Then I started digging what I thought were rain gardens a la drylands rain harvesting expert Lancaster. Then I tried digging swales, again, not actually knowing what I was doing. So we have a  yard that looks like it threw up all over the place. But Charlie has been having a blast with his little trucks and his strider bike, which is now an offroad bike. Though he doesn't ride it. He just walks around while holding it, then falls over and says "Elp pwease!!" though he's never hurt.

Taking down the Greenhouse

In what seems like another anti-eco move by us (the first was downing our poor trees in the front yard, for a good reason, they were wrecking the earth, wrecking the roof, and were just unsuitable for growing food around them) we went and scrapped the existing greenhouse.
Again, we want trees. We want a greenhouse. But hail had destroyed the polycarbonate over many years, and the use of the space as a hoarding space by the previous owner/tenants made mice shit a serious hazard. Then there was the issue of rotten wood due to the exposure. Yes, we could have used it. But we want a greenhouse.

It was also oriented the wrong way. You want the broad side of the greenhouse facing South. It was the other way. I've learned recently that we also use greenhouses in North America that were meant for English climates. The idea in your head of a greenhouse is not meant for here. we have the solar potential of FLORIDA, so we need to orient South and insulate North.

The pig trough-y thing in the foreground was from the greenhouse and we'll try to salvage it as a planter box once lined. The old yellow bench is stuck in the snow. At least we have a nice view of our pallet/plywood fence!

After Because Seriously, all the rooms are the same size and they all sucked when we bought the place! - "Master"

Tiny but our cozy retreat:)

Before and After - Charlie's Room

 

Before and After - Guest Room

After repainting the guest room (yup, I made more work than we already had on the docket), here is the result with a few random duvets, frames and stuff thrown in for good measure;)