Stain & Pain

I've been looking at stain choices for the flooring. I'd really like to go a little darker than what we currently have. Here I have sampled Dark Walnut (on the left) and Provincial (on the right) by MinWax.

Shot with flash

Shot without flash

It's weird how it looks so different with and without flash. I'm leaning toward the Dark Walnut. In person the Provincial looks similar to what we have currently and I'd really like a change! I am planning to water-pop the treads to enrich the color.


In other project news, I have finally completed finish coating the balusters. I had to paint THREE finish coats on them for complete coverage. Despite having primed them with Kilz stain-sealer, I still had some bleed through of the original color/stain.


I haven't worked on the house much in the last ten days—I don't like to work on my projects when my kid and husband are home, and my carpal tunnel has really been giving me fits! Hoping to get in the mood to make progress tomorrow...