Remember the Grasscloth?

Do you remember my little grasscloth dilemma?  Just thought I'd give you an update, as it's probably been weighing on your mind.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but I got the grasscloth through Sherwin Williams.

Well, I asked them to contact the manufacturer to see if there was anything that could be done about the extreme color variation in the two strips of wallpaper. They called me back and said the manufacturer wanted me to send all the wallpaper back to them and they would refund my money. Huh?? The paper is on the walls. Doesn't that seem a bit odd? I'm supposed to rip down the sticky paper, ball it up and how exactly would I mail a bag of crumbled paper? Were they smoking the grasscloth?

I told them I thought that was a bit extreme, that I really liked the paper, and that it was really just two strips that needed to be replaced. Was it necessary to tear everything down?  

So this is where things stand today: I had to mail the manufacturer a sample of the grasscloth color I was trying to match. They are supposed to send a roll or two that matches better, and hopefully, I'll be able to just replace the two strips. If that plan doesn't work, I've decided I like the grasscloth enough to live with its imperfections. 

There you have it. Now you can sleep tonight. ;)

One Thing Leads To Another

You know how it is when you make one change to your house and it starts a domino effect?

That's the case with our staircases. They started out like this...

Foyer Staircase

Kitchen Staircase

The carpet was removed and the treads were stained to match the new dark floors.

Pretty simple, huh? But then there was the issue of this ...

The current red oak nosing was going to be right up against the new dark maple floors. I wasn't crazy about the two tones of wood next to each other.  So, we decided the nosing would be painted white.  And then it seemed logical to also paint the newel posts white. 

And as long as we were changing things up, I thought a sleek black handrail would look great against all that white.

Still a couple coats of paint to go, but this is how it's coming along...

I was loving the transformation of the stairs, but there was something I wasn't loving. The paint color on my kitchen walls. 

Thanks to a 40% off sale at Sherwin Williams, I decided to make another change. Guess what I've been doing the past two days?? Uh huh... I've been a painting fool, and I've got pretty new walls and a hand cramp to prove it! Pictures coming soon... of the walls, not my hand.