Intricacies.

Before i reveal to you the new kitchen, which is still getting touched up here and there, i thought i'd update you on my banister project. Now, it still needs to be poly'd, but it's stained and painted, and that's good enough for a post.

When i left you, i had just stained the banister and hand rails, leaving the spindles naked and wanting:

My experience with oil-based primer, which was recommended to me by a nice bearded gentleman at Home Depot, was nothing short of a pain in the ass. It was thinner than water and i have no pictures of the process because i didn't want to get the camera anywhere near it. Anyway, i used a sponge brush again because i wanted a really smooth finish, and didn't want a rogue bristle to fling what is basically spray paint onto things it didn't belong. I felt i had more control over a sponge brush. And i like control.

Here it is after being primed. Also, see the old wall color? I don't miss it.

After it dried overnight, i taped and painted it with semi-gloss paint to match the trim. Here it is after one coat of paint:

And after two coats:

I ended up doing two coats that night and a third coat the following night. Do you know how much taping that is? I'm never taping again. From now on, I'm just going to fling paint and hope for the best. Which is kind of what it looks like i did here, where the paint leaked a little onto the stain:

Lucky for me, i used a gel stain. So i grabbed a paintbrush to thoroughly ruin and went at it little by little.

See? Gel stain.

I did this to the top and bottom of all four spindles so i got a flawless, clean-lined look. Slap a five o'clock shadow on this beast and call it sexy.

Here's where i left you last time:

 And here's where i'll leave you now:

All it needs now is two coats of poly to protect it and give it some shine, and that starts tonight. But there you have it. Proof that i can do something other than look good in a pencil skirt.