Freckles 'n' Family: July 2022

Celebrating birthdays in our new home.

I thought I'd kill two birthdays with one post 😆

Seren turned 12! Carys turned 10!

Where does the time go? Off with the fairies or dragons? Who knows ~ I just know they are both one more year older!

As per my usual 😁 I decided to go all out-ish lol it was, after all, their first birthday in our new home.

I'll start with Carys, her birthday was on March 14th and Seren on the 22nd March. Both girls wanted their parties to take place in summer - hence summer themed

Teddy Bear Picnic~ slip and slide

YES - THERE ARE THOSE WONDERFUL ORANGE - PINE-ISH CABINETS THAT WILL GET REPLACED STARTING NEXT MONTH

Carys & Maya

SEREN'S STRAWBERRY-THEMED PARTY

VIOLET & SEREN

CARYS AND SEREN

PICTIONARY

CARYS, PAIGE, VIOLET, SEREN

THE CHOCOLATE GAME

you take turns throwing dice and when you get a 6 you have to put on, gloves, hat, scarf & glasses and try to eat as much chocolate as you can before the next person rolls a 6, then you have to take off those items and the other person gets to put them on.... as the game caries on till all the chocolate has gone

😊

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When we purchased our stunning brick 6558 sq ft Colonial in Laytonsville, Maryland In Nov 2021 Jason and I knew we'd have our work cut out for us.

Not only does our fabulous home set on 1.25 acres right next to state woodland with mature trees galore, grass, and flower beds that always seem to grow exponentially every second! Also, the house is 20 years old, and that all-the-rage lovely pine-ish orange cabinets, hardwood floors, and yes, stairs... Can I say it needs updating!

UPDATING

And that, my friends, is where my tale begins lol

So, how do you eat an Elephant?

One piece at a time.

and that is how I'm tackling our home - one piece, one room, one project at a time with, and might I add, I have to take breaks in between to recover as I now realize my 51 yr old body and bones are crying out with - 'hey, Helen, you've not got an 18 yr frame anymore' LOL and as much as my inner Helen mindset someday thinks I still have, I don't LOL

To date, I've updated the pantry, mudroom/laundry, girls' bathroom - which is still needing the vanity redo, guest bedroom & primary bedroom, the sunroom, added curtains throughout, paint, and now the stairs. We also had all the doors and hardware replaced. We have all-new lighting fixtures in boxes in our formal waiting to be installed as well as all-new still boxed GE Cafe stainless steel appliances in the garage and next month the kitchen will get ripped out and redone! Eek.... Then, once that is done, then it gets even more, messy/dusty - tearing out the hardwood and replace with some gorgeous java color new hardwood flooring.

Back to the stairs! Now our stairs aren't a small regular sized one - HECK NO! And not one that I'm used to but instead we have a gallery landing and split stairs, the main and kitchen stair. All with plenty of white spindles and all that orange pine-ish treads, base, and handrails.

First, I set out to find a blog that had already done this task lol * Make it - love it blog*and I found one that I showed to Jason and I said, this I can do and it will save us thousands of dollars - as we had discussed initially replacing the lot. But instead, it cost us a tad over $200 and a lot of my time and elbow grease. *( 4 weeks worth of some full days from 10am - 7 pm with only the break to make dinner)

Mind you, our stairs are large and not everyone's will cost that much to stain if you only have one to redo :)

Here she is! Isn't she lovely! My heart leaps every time :)

But this shot will look so much more stunning once the hardwood flooring is replaced and I can't wait :)

I knew tackling the stairs would be quite the job, but gosh... 4 weeks worth! From tearing up the carpet, first, pulling all the staples and nails, scraping off old dollops of paint and gunk, and then filling all those tiny holes and making sure all the stair treads were ready to stain.

ALL THE BEFORE FROM HOW THE PREVIOUS OWNER HAD IT - FROM ZILLOW POSTING

The Process

TAPE

& STAIN.

Like in the blog I linked above - I used those sponge brushes you can get in any craft section at Walmart or the dollar store, they worked great and I bought *lint-free rags to wipe off the stain* off Amazon.

I purchased GENERAL FINISHES JAVA & WATERBASED TOP COAT from AMAZON TOO

FIRST COAT

That gold light fixture will be replaced with this beauty! Which I might add is sitting in a box in my formal dining room lol

I had to do my stairs one at a time! That way we could still use one. I will say that if you only have one stair then it might be wise to stay at a hotel or do one half of it at a time making sure you blend the seam well. This is what I had to do with the joining between both stairs and the 3 top steps. You will see that in the picture below.

Apply, let it sit for 5-10 mins depending if you live in dry heat or a humid state, then wipe off using the rags! OH, don't forget to wear disposable gloves lol

I also allowed 24 hours before I applied the second and third coat! I live in a humid state and it needed that time to dry so I could step on it or otherwise it would have been tacky!

Once you wipe it off you will see the original color come through

THAT IS OKAY AND NORMAL - believe me.

Once you do the second coat, then the third it'll look beautiful.

For the second coat, I hardly had to remove any excess, as I didn't do a heavy coat.

For the THIRD COAT - you simply apply and leave it dry.

Once all the staining was done and dried. I took off all the tape, then re-taped the spindles ready for white. Let me say taping off takes time for this job, but it's worth it - DON'T skip this step. I'm an artist and have a steady hand and I still taped.

NOW - THE AFTER PICTURES