Sorry for the crummy photos - it's my first shot uploading pics to a bulletin board.
Anyhow, here's what I've been doing this spring. Our house has 7 stained glass windows in front, and sometime during the 60's - to make the house look more modern and sleek - the PO painted them white and removed the trim from around them. Because of the magnitude of a refinishing task, I resigned myself into accepting them, until .....
..... my two toddlers were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood. Nothing big, but an alert condition, nonetheless. The culprit: my windows. The solution: replace, or strip and refinish. Hence, the project, and here's how it turned out, prior to the final cleaning and dusting.
Before:
(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-6/1030741/Before.JPG)
After:
(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-6/1030741/After.jpg)
I've got some issues with the sills (the ends were cut short when the trim was removed), but I was pretty happy with the overall results of the job. I trimmed it in birch, which matched the stripped wood perfectly. Hours involved in the project - maybe 80. Next project is the crown moulding and door trim, but that's after the attic, back stairs, main bathroom .........
Priceless!
Love it!!
Did you find a good source for millwork? I need about 18 ft of a piece that tops the baseboard, and really don't want to spend several hundred dollars to get a knife made etc.
Cheers,
Brian
I went to Owl Lumber - on Southwest Highway (near 95th), just a little east of Cicero. They specialize in interior lumber, and have quite a selection of birch, maple, oak, etc. I'd definately say it's a trip worth taking.
Absolutely stunning Melliman!!! WOW! :o
Compared to what I am doing the 80 hours that you spent don't sound to bad! What process did you use to stain and Schellac them?
Staining and varnishing them was the easy part - stripping them - especially the outer layers of leaded paint - was what was tough. But to answer your question, I used a Minwax stain/sealer (one coat got me to the color I was looking for), and then I varnished with a semi-gloss Minwax polyurethane. The color is a little bit redder than original, yet I have original doors in the house that are real red.
it looks real good, congrats!