Staining Craftsman Woodwork

The focus on the house continues to be on the interior woodwork. I'm trying to make the interior look as much like an old Craftsman Bungalow as I can. I have built the casings for most of the doors and windows upstairs. But for the past few weeks, I've been working on the main stairway, including the archway at the bottom of the stairs and the window above the stairs.

I don't know, you might call the stairs Mission style, or Stickley, or whatever. I have been just trying to make something that goes with the overall Craftsman theme of the house. I have changed the little bits of trim in order to get something that looks decent. It has taken quite a while. I had originally thought I could have this done before the wedding this July (2006). Ha, right.

Finally, this weekend, I was ready to start staining the stairway. I'm still using Minwax's Red Oak, which turns white oak a nice warm reddish brown that reminds me of old Stickley furniture. I managed to get the archway stained, as well as the stair railing, risers, sides, etc., but I still need to stain on the window casing above the stairs. I hope to do that soon, perhaps this weekend.

Here are the pictures:

The Archway.


The Lower Stairs with newel posts, railing, and shelves.


Sheba sits on the heat vent before the stairs.


The upper stairs.


Sept. 2005

More pictures here