I'm falling behind...
Too much stuff going on, right now. I feel like I've been running for 3 weeks.
Steph and I went up to the lake last weekend and it turned out to be a pretty relaxing weekend. I've compiled a great deal of Vegas pictures so a post is coming to recap that weekend, but it'll have to be this weekend because my evenings are full. I got an opportunity to go bow hunting on Saturday, which I've not had much time to do this fall and I got my first deer in a couple years so the freezer is restocked with meat. I even had a couple roasts cut out, so I'll have to cook one of those up for a football Sunday.
I've spent the week researching my next home improvement project that has gotten completely out of hand. I've got a mess of free carpet so it seems logical to recarpet the upstairs. Before I do that, it seemed like a good opportunity to take out the wrought iron railing and replace it with wood. In so doing, I've identified another issue that complicating matters. The opposite side of the stairs has a half-wall under the railing such that the railing height is not standard so I cannot get ballusters and a newel post to match the other side of the steps without milling them myself. In addition, all of the trim around the house(and the doors) are finished in a darker stain. The re-done kitchen is a lighter red-hued oak color. I think it works in the kitchen. It modernizes the kitchen and doesn't really contrast the darker moulding and trim because they don't come up against eachother. In the stairwell, I wanted to match the kitchen's color, sort of tie it all together. Well, the carpeted stairs are trimmed with this dark wood and there will be an instantaneous impact when you open the door that there is a stark contrast between new and old. It's inescapable. My way around it solves another problem. The carpeted stairs are impossible to keep clean. Being split-entry house, I run up those stairs all the time because if I need to talk to someone upstairs, I want to make eye contact. Also, if I forget something on my way out the door, it's often in the kitchen. So, the stairs get a lot of foot traffic. The new carpet will cover this up a bit, but I thought a good way to solve my problem would be to rip up the carpeting and put in oak stairs. That's no small task given I'll have to knock out that half wall for the railing, but I think it'll really class up the entryway at a fairly reasonable price as long as I do the labor. So now that I wrapped my head around that project, my question is this:
What color do I do the stairs and railing?
Dark brown doors and trim all around the house and I have no intention of removing that or refinishing it. I really like the lighter color wood(think: this), and I think if the stairs are done this color, in their entirety, the dark brown baseboard won't be distracting or grab your eye(I don't notice it in the kitchen). Instead of the white stair skirt in the photo, I'd change it to match the stairs. Pete suggested doing the stairs in light color and the skirt in dark brown to embrace the contrast, so to speak. He also suggested just doing everything to match the doors and trim in the darker color. I think that if I do it all in light color, that your eyes will be drawn away from the baseboard where the two colors would jut up against eachother. I need some opinions. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but all three of my readers have been in my house anyway.
I watched a bit of the debate last night and read the transcript this morning. It seemed pretty even to me. I think both did pretty well, but Obama just seems a hell of a lot calmer and even-keeled through these things. I think a majority of this election is going to have to boil down to economics given our situation and I like both of their economic plans equally, which is to say I don't really like either of them at all. They both seem really out of touch with what's going on and neither of them seem to identify where the other is wrong to call them on it. My take on it is a little beyond what I intended to write today after I rambled on about stairs, but I really would like a smart person to sit down and challenge the candidates to answer in ways that make sense. I want Obama to explain how all of his tax cuts, rebates, credits and increased funding of programs will be paid for. Ending the war? If that's it, great, but it's got to come from somewhere and I haven't heard it yet. All of this spending on top of a bailout is not helping anyone. What's a $500 tax credit good for if the price of bread skyrockets to $5 under global inflation? McCain says we got to bailout the homeowners who can't pay their mortgages. What? That makes no sense at all. They're a big part of why we're in this mess. It's the most important issue right now, and neither of them make any sense.
Here's an interesting article that explains Obama's "tax cuts". I've wondered about this for a while and I want to know why McCain hasn't challenged him on this. Is this too complicated to explain to people in the scope of the political process or does he not get it himself?
Steph and I went up to the lake last weekend and it turned out to be a pretty relaxing weekend. I've compiled a great deal of Vegas pictures so a post is coming to recap that weekend, but it'll have to be this weekend because my evenings are full. I got an opportunity to go bow hunting on Saturday, which I've not had much time to do this fall and I got my first deer in a couple years so the freezer is restocked with meat. I even had a couple roasts cut out, so I'll have to cook one of those up for a football Sunday.
I've spent the week researching my next home improvement project that has gotten completely out of hand. I've got a mess of free carpet so it seems logical to recarpet the upstairs. Before I do that, it seemed like a good opportunity to take out the wrought iron railing and replace it with wood. In so doing, I've identified another issue that complicating matters. The opposite side of the stairs has a half-wall under the railing such that the railing height is not standard so I cannot get ballusters and a newel post to match the other side of the steps without milling them myself. In addition, all of the trim around the house(and the doors) are finished in a darker stain. The re-done kitchen is a lighter red-hued oak color. I think it works in the kitchen. It modernizes the kitchen and doesn't really contrast the darker moulding and trim because they don't come up against eachother. In the stairwell, I wanted to match the kitchen's color, sort of tie it all together. Well, the carpeted stairs are trimmed with this dark wood and there will be an instantaneous impact when you open the door that there is a stark contrast between new and old. It's inescapable. My way around it solves another problem. The carpeted stairs are impossible to keep clean. Being split-entry house, I run up those stairs all the time because if I need to talk to someone upstairs, I want to make eye contact. Also, if I forget something on my way out the door, it's often in the kitchen. So, the stairs get a lot of foot traffic. The new carpet will cover this up a bit, but I thought a good way to solve my problem would be to rip up the carpeting and put in oak stairs. That's no small task given I'll have to knock out that half wall for the railing, but I think it'll really class up the entryway at a fairly reasonable price as long as I do the labor. So now that I wrapped my head around that project, my question is this:
What color do I do the stairs and railing?
Dark brown doors and trim all around the house and I have no intention of removing that or refinishing it. I really like the lighter color wood(think: this), and I think if the stairs are done this color, in their entirety, the dark brown baseboard won't be distracting or grab your eye(I don't notice it in the kitchen). Instead of the white stair skirt in the photo, I'd change it to match the stairs. Pete suggested doing the stairs in light color and the skirt in dark brown to embrace the contrast, so to speak. He also suggested just doing everything to match the doors and trim in the darker color. I think that if I do it all in light color, that your eyes will be drawn away from the baseboard where the two colors would jut up against eachother. I need some opinions. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but all three of my readers have been in my house anyway.
I watched a bit of the debate last night and read the transcript this morning. It seemed pretty even to me. I think both did pretty well, but Obama just seems a hell of a lot calmer and even-keeled through these things. I think a majority of this election is going to have to boil down to economics given our situation and I like both of their economic plans equally, which is to say I don't really like either of them at all. They both seem really out of touch with what's going on and neither of them seem to identify where the other is wrong to call them on it. My take on it is a little beyond what I intended to write today after I rambled on about stairs, but I really would like a smart person to sit down and challenge the candidates to answer in ways that make sense. I want Obama to explain how all of his tax cuts, rebates, credits and increased funding of programs will be paid for. Ending the war? If that's it, great, but it's got to come from somewhere and I haven't heard it yet. All of this spending on top of a bailout is not helping anyone. What's a $500 tax credit good for if the price of bread skyrockets to $5 under global inflation? McCain says we got to bailout the homeowners who can't pay their mortgages. What? That makes no sense at all. They're a big part of why we're in this mess. It's the most important issue right now, and neither of them make any sense.
Here's an interesting article that explains Obama's "tax cuts". I've wondered about this for a while and I want to know why McCain hasn't challenged him on this. Is this too complicated to explain to people in the scope of the political process or does he not get it himself?