Expert advice from Bob Vila, the most trusted name in home improvement, home remodeling, home repair, and DIY.

"Anything that can be done, can be done again!"

But in this case, or shall I say "staircase" we are doing it again, but not redoing it his time.

"what the hell is he talking about???" 

Staircase number two or Déjà Vu! The center hall awaits its plaster walls, but this can't be done until the second staircase (the stairs from the second floor to the third floor) is disassembled, stripped of all it's paint and finishes, sanded, sanded, sanded, primed, filled, painted, new treads and trim installed, and the banister reassembled. Whew! what a load of work! We have already done this once before with the main staircase, and now we are doing it all again. Yeah! what fun! (there seems to be a lot of exclamation points in my writing today, I guess I am being very expressive!) 

Take it apart, strip it and sand it...

Nail holes are next and it will be at least three weeks before we can move onto plaster work. But it is exciting to be up this high in the house and working away.

Last weekend found us in the first of the guest bathrooms installing, or attempting to and failing numerous times, an antique sink. The sink was purchased from the same lady we bought the marble fireplace from, and although the purchase price was a song, there are certainly reasons I would not recommend this. First would be the lack of any clear and present hardware for mounting the unit to the wall. The sink is over one hundred years old, and what ever means of mounting it once had are long gone and we were left with a trial and error situation. Scheme and plan and prepare we did, but every turn seemed to be a brick wall. After having missing pieces reproduced, tackling the issue of really short people back then, and giving up on the perfect solution to faucets and a drain, we got her in and functional. We will find the perfect nickle finished faucets, and an aged brass drain to match the legs, but for now she gives you water and sends it away.

Rocks from the Russian river became the answer to the height problem.

In this shot you really see the need for a brass drain.

Crazy chicken legs, they are kind of funny!

If you need your old lighting revived and redone, refinished and rewired, reworked or recast, or simply re-anything, Be sure to call Paul Ivazes of Qualitylighting.net.

Paul has returned to us the light fixture I wrote about in my October 5th post (read it by clicking here). This Renascence Revival gas light fixture definitely has a colored past, but is truly beautiful to behold. It now hangs proudly in the Library/Drawing room, hmmmm.... we have no books in there nor have I put pencil to paper, hmmmmmm, but when we do, or if I do, I will have amazing light from which to read, or draw, or draw about reading, or read about drawing, or simply sit and drink vodka.

The spur shaped stars give it a touch of the old west.

This weekend we will be back on the second floor working our butts off. So if you happen to ring the bell of give us a call, wait a moment or two so we will have a chance to get down to the first floor, because as of this date, there is still not a butler in this house, exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point!

A quick parting shot for today.... as I came down the stairs from taking pictures of the second staircase I was struck by this view...

Many are asking so.... the tile came from Lundi at Villa Lagoon tile, click here to visit.

#bobvila