I don't know about you but I am not a big fan of newel posts. I mean they have their place, like maybe on the porch of a charming old southern home or maybe a Cape Cod cottage, painted white and holding up a railing, but I can't think of many other places I'd like to see them.
So why did I have these newel posts in my house all these years? That's a a great question. You notice I said "did I have." That's because I busted those suckers out a few hours ago. I am currently resting my arm and letting the dust settle from my first round of sanding. Not to mention the hand sawing earlier. Time for another round.
Woo hoo! I just finished the most important part of the sanding. There is a 70 inch wide by 48 inch high window type cut-out between the kitchen dining area and the living room. That's where the five newel posts were. For the last several years I had made the best of them by winding little Christmas lights all through them which made pretty lights at night but looked pretty tacky during the day.
My Sweetie is out of town and I guess I just got bored or something and decided to do this today. I had originally hoped I would have the job done before he got back, but the wood filler (for the little staple/nail holes that held the newels in place) takes 24 to 48 hours to dry. So I guess I will do the painting on Saturday. Anyway this break is over.
Oh so that most important part that I mentioned above was the bottom of the cut out. That had all sorts of divots and scratches plus the 5 squares where the bottom of the newels were. I just finished the two sides which were relatively easy as they just needed basic pre-paint sanding. After this break I'm going to do the top of the opening which will be kind of a bitch to hold the sander up like that. Plus it's high enough that I have to stand on a step stool. I don't think I've ever used a power sander upside down before. Oh and another reason besides resting my arms that I keep taking these breaks is I am wearing a heavy dust mask and safety goggles while I work and it makes my head hot.
It's now 3:00 a.m. I've been holed up in my smoking room doing a sudoku puzzle and drinking a crazy cherry drink I invented. It's Hansen's diet black cherry soda and cherry pucker. It's delicious. Anyway that upside down sanding was a bitch. My arm was about to fall off so I switched from the regular step stool to a two-step step stool so I'd be using different muscles. The dust fog has settled now so I'm going to vaccum and use spray air to clean out the staple holes and apply the putty.
I think I'm through with this post, but I'll leave you with the forecast for our weather tonight. I am not kidding, but the local evening news guy said it would be "dry, warm and muggy." There was even a graphic saying "dry, warm and muggy." I was all "Whuuuu.....?" Okay back to work for me.
7 comments:
Well, nobody can say you don't fill your days with interesting projects! Until now I don't think I even had an opinion on newel posts. I do however have an opinion on dry, warm and muggy. That opinion is "Whuuuu...?"
Like XUP, I've never really had an opinion one way or the other on newel posts. But the idea of having them in a cut out between kitchen and dining room... that sort of has me scratching my head in puzzlement. And five? I can understand an even number - one or two on each side - but five? Where was the fifth? And why, and how the hell can it be dry and muggy at the same time? and black cherry soda and cherry pucker? what is cherry pucker? and 3:00 am? and oh! so many questions, so few answers, my head hurts....
Or something.
Ya, I forgot to ask what a cherry pucker is, too. Sounds sour.
Xup,
~~Surely you have googled Cherry Pucker by now?
Jazz,
~~I'm sorry I made your head hurt. I'm just surprised you were confused by all this. Don't you know me by now?
Unlike you three, I have an opinion about newel posts. They are such an elegant feature.
And, Jazz, of course you can have an odd number since often one side of the staircase is attached to the wall.
You could also use these newel posts for your tables in your new shop. You might want to start collecting them.
Okay, just googled cherry pucker and kept getting a pop up ad for Advil. no wonder - 30 proof?!!!
VioletSky,
~~I did save the posts to make a table! So you like newel posts? I bet you wouldn't have liked the ones I had.
I didn't realize Cherry Pucker was 30 proof. Wow.
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