There isn’t enough on my plate, so I started this bit of fun a couple days ago. The top of this banister will (eventually) be stained to match the hardwood floors we ordered today in a dark coffee color. The spindles will remain white.

I found an inspirational blog where someone posted they completed this project on a similar banister in roughly 6-7 hours. Kudos to you bloggy blogger, but you are either a magician or a big fat liar. Maybe you confused the completion time with the time it took you to hire a contractor. I’ve been sanding for at least that long and have simply made a mess and got a headache from inhaling too much polyurethane through my mask. Weee!

If there are any ideas of how to make this go faster, short of chemical strippers and sledge hammers, let me know.