Give Us A Hand(rail)

We've been busy these past few snowy days. We took advantage of the time stuck indoors and addressed the hand rail that was on the before Christmas list, but never quite happened amidst the holiday baking. We took the time to do it right, which meant taping, filling holes with wood filler, sanding, staining, and a coat of poly. (When I say "we", I really mean that I helped tape, and then took on the role of inspector while Benny worked. I took the time to plan out the vegetable garden for spring... who knew there were so many options for salad greens?! ... working in the stairwell is really only a one person job anyway... though Lavender tried her best to "help".)

Here's the before, with some of the lovely blue painter's tape. You can see that it's your builder's grade oak handrail with traditional spindles. (One of which popped out of place during staining... we'll address that with some finish nails before we touch up things.) We opted for a stain that would match the mantle, thinking that it would tie the room together a bit more. Benny custom matched the stain to the mantle, so it's not a stock color, otherwise, I'd let you know the actual color name/number. The stain and poly were both fairly inexpensive, thanks to Benny's store discount at Benjamin Moore, and we only needed a quart of each (really we could have done with even less, but they only sell it in quarts, and I'm sure we'll find other uses for it as we tackle other projects).

And here's the after, in all it's smooth, satiny glory!
I love how the stain brings out the wood grain, and I'm already having visions of how beautiful it will look during the next holiday season all gussied up with garland, lights, and glitzy ornaments. What do you think? Overall, a great use of two snowy days.

But we didn't stop there... we broke out the new ($15!) duvet cover we bought this summer at Ikea, which I finally got around to washing on Thursday,
and wrangled the duvet inside. I love how it lightens up the room, although it definitely needs a few accent pillows to tie the wall color and brown accents throughout the room together. Lavender seems to approve!

I love that these projects didn't cost that much, and they were a great way for us to spend some quality time together. They did a ton to revamp the look of things without breaking the bank.

What projects have you crossed off your list this weekend? What would you do for accent pillows on the bed... or just leave it as is? How have you redone things at home without much stretch to your budget? I'd love to hear from you!