Bonus Mirror

Moving on up the staircase, I found another large mirror for upstairs. The walls in the bonus room are bare, with the exception of one, but it hasn’t bothered me.

But I did find that the landing part of the room felt bare.

Looking up the staircase, you see the little chair, but that’s it.

I decided to be on the hunt for a large mirror. One that looked like a window. My hope was that the light from the little window across from the mirror, would bounce off the mirror and shine more light into the room. 

I was at Pier 1 and looked at their mirrors. That’s when I saw it! And it was on sale. It was at the back of the pile, so I tried to hold all the other mirrors, stick my camera back there and take a picture so I could see it. That didn’t work. I still couldn’t tell.

I then proceeded to move all the mirrors individually so that I could see the mirror and make a decision. I loved it!

I brought it home and showed Mr. JCrew. I’m sure he’s not as excited as me, but he showed support!

Now that it’s up there, I love it! It’s just what the space needed. And Little JCrew told me that it looked like a window, so I knew I did good!

That side of the room now feels complete. It feels like there is a window up there and it bounces the light into the room. It's also awesome how the wood color and paint went with what we already have.

Staircase Pictures

The staircase has been pretty bare since we moved in, but I finally hung some artwork.

You may remember me talking about these watercolors here. Mom had come up with the idea to have watercolor paintings made of the two houses we combined to create JW Homestead. I had a picture of our old house and my parent's townhouse converted to watercolor.

I looked up tutorials on how to do this in Photoshop and did a couple of my own, but I really liked the app called Waterlogue that I had originally used. It had more "bleeding" imperfections that I liked.

Well, I never got these prints made or framed. I honestly couldn't figured out where I wanted them. I'm still trigger-shy on putting holes in my walls! I don't want clutter, yet want decor. My mom kept asking when I was going to do it, but I kept putting it off, but for Christmas, her gift was cash that was earmarked for the frames. This was her way of kicking me in the tail to get it done.

Before I could pick out frames, I had to see how big the print would be. I was unsure if the Waterlogue app had given me a print that could be printed large. Plus, I also had to go find the digital copies I had saved...somewhere. It had been too long. The Waterlogue app provided large digital files, so I was good. I printed 8x10's. I then found frames and used large mats.

Next up was placement. I still was unsure. I had a couple ideas. I narrowed it down to the staircase. I was undecided on where to center it on the landing... the step? the railing? the landing itself?

I ended up centering it with the two railings. This part took a little longer because the hooks on the backs of the frame were not identical in their height so I had to measure the actual distance of the two individual hooks and make sure they created a level frame!

I'm really happy with the placement. It finishes that space.

I liked the staircase before, but really like it now.

I do not plan to make another staircase of pictures in the last house, but this gives some interest and has meaning.

Every time I walk by the stairs now, I notice the pictures. I want to keep that feeling of my brain knowing there is something new. It's a great feeling.

Stairs

The stairs are installed and I am blown away!

We used a local company to supply the stair parts. We could have used the same company we were
getting our trim from, but my builder advised to use someone who specialized in stairs. I have been so impressed with their quality and service.

The stair guy was obviously impressed with my planning of the whole house before we broke ground. He spread the word around town and showed them my packet. Ha! But it did make him understand me. He knew that I already knew what I wanted and not to try and steer me another way.

The parts were ready and delivered. Our trim guy did not feel comfortable installing the stairs and had two guys he kept trying to get on site to install. After two weeks of them not showing up, we called the guy that supplied the stair parts and asked what he would charge to install them and when he was available. We had to wait another week, but the guys that did install did an outstanding job!

It took them five days total to install the stairs. A lot of that time was spent curving the handrail.

The handrail was made out of many slivers of wood. They “wet” them with glue and used C-clamps
along the edge to get the exact curve.

They did the same thing to the landing part of the curve that the balusters would go into.

This was the hardest part and took the most time, but it was well worth it.

The staircase looks just like my inspiration picture.

When we are closer to being done with the house, the painters will come back and stain the stairs and
handrail. I am going for a rustic look, so there will not be a sheen to the steps. The older looking, the
better!