Topping it off two-tone

For the past couple of days I've been a derwish with a paint brush in the entry hall. Everything and everyone including the cat got painted if they weren't fast enough to get away!

One of the few things left to paint, other than the actual staircase, was the newel post Joe built for us to replace the one that had been chopped when the house was converted to a duplex. Looks like it came with the house, doesn't it?

[Before: Hello Newel!]

It's been sitting there primed but un-painted for quite a while. This week, I finally tackled it. You see, the newel post is part of my Nemesis project: the staircase. While we're missing the spindles and handrail along the lower part of the stairs, there are spindles and handrails along the second stretch and the cantilever balcony. Badly painted spindles and handrails. Flaking spindles and handrails. Spindles and handrails with ornate detail and nooks and crannies.

Spindles and handrails that are a bear to strip from old bad nasty paint. It's a project that'll keep me busy for a while.

The downstair's part is easy and was a joy to paint. Just white, though, didn't quite cut it, so I decided to paint the top of the newel post in a dark warm brown, picking up on the beautiful warm walnut brown of our refinished stair treads.

[After: Hellooooo, Newel!]

I love the two-tone look on our newel post. It also comes with the added benefit that it's now much more visible against the other millwork in the hall and Little Man is less likely to run into it. Yes, this has happened before and is quite painful, he can assure you.

It's a (newel) post!

You know sometimes you might think I'm a little biased when it comes to our contractor team but the truth is we know just how lucky we are to have found them and feel truly blessed to have them by our side. They have our backs, they help us maneuver the paper war of a 203k loan and their advice has proven invaluable. Alright, so I'm biased but that doesn't mean I'm not right :o)

Truth be told, I'd tackle another rehab tomorrow if I knew they are on board.

Anyways, one of the cool things Gloria will do ever since she got her iphone is email me little teaser photos she snaps at the shop or over at the Ugly Duckling while I'm at work. That way I got to see in-progress shots of our wrought iron window grilles and then this week I got a sneak peek of thisIt's a newel post! While we're not yet restoring the original stair case, spindles and all, a newel post was definitely on our wish list to cover up the chunk missing from the second step that showed where there had once been a newel post until it was removed, probably around the first time the Ugly Duckling was turned into a Duplex (Sins of the fathers, I'm telling you).

It'll also work as a constant reminder that we want to remove that not so original half wall and reveal the beauty of the open stair case and original trim we know is hiding behind this bit of dry wall.


Here it is from another angle. I love how chunky and massive it is. It fit into the opening like a glove - fantastic!
See the first step at the bottom? The one with the chopped off edge to the left? Yet another scar from the Duplex Times where the graceful curve of the bullnose fell victim to the drywall construction. Bah! Luckily, the same woodworker who managed to build the newel post that fit its spot to the very millimeter is also going to make that one pretty again. Wheeee! (And yes, that'd be Joe. Oh, and Phil is the one who trimmed out everything so beautifully)

And this is now the view from the living room :o) With the door open, obviously.