When we moved into our house everything was very builder grade. I knew I wanted to change it from day one. The major thing I wasn’t crazy about was the staircase banister. It was that orange wood color that I am not a huge fan off. I knew I could give it a custom look pretty easily.

I started with the railing. I didn’t even sand it. I used my favorite stain color MinWax Dark Walnut with a glossy finish and lightly layered the stain on. The staining was easy, its the waiting that I am not such a fan of. I only had to add three or four layers of stain, and since the polyurethane was in the stain already I didn’t have to worry about that. I didn’t have to worry about getting stain on the spindles because I knew I was going to paint them.

I used white glossy trim paint for the spindles. They took a lot of time and patience, but totally worth it. I love the character it gives to the staircase. No more orange builder grade! And it only took a weekend to finish.

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