Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Quilt Ladder

It all started when I saw this bad boy on Pinterest. In typical me fashion I wanted it  modified. Taller. Not sanded. More rungs.  
At the top of our stairs we have a landing and a corner that needed something. Luke agreed right away when I presented the idea to him. He did not agree the ladder should go all the way to the top so we compromised on 7 feet. 
I dropped him of at the airport in Spokane (Which involved me waking up at 3:00 am on my birthday!). BUT it meant that before going home I got Starbucks, and was one of the first customers in Lowe's that Wednesday morning. They practically did my shopping for me! Excellent customer service. They also, pre-cut the wood for my project!

I borrowed my friend Dani L.'s Kreg Jig for the project. These handy little tools are great for making invisible pockets for screws!





I did find that I had a bit of trouble getting behind the screws when I used the power drill/driver  to put the ladder together. For that I wished Luke had been in town. 

When finishing the ladder I used a pre-stain wood conditioner. In the photo below the top three rungs have been conditioned and just the top of the fourth rung. This is the moment when you start to get excited about staining wood. 



Then I used this Ebony Stain to stain the wood. Below you see it pictured with another project.
Back to the ladder at hand. Isn't it yummy! One coat of stain. That's all I went with. I really like how the grain showed up.

I applied this wipe on poly. I like that there seems to be fewer chances for oopses with the wipe on poly.
I let it dry in the garage being sure to leave it well ventilated for 72 hours. Some of the sites I researched on alluded to the idea that the that it needed movement of air to help it harden. Not just time. When we felt like it was ready, Luke moved it upstairs, because let me tell you, that thing is not light.

And here she is in all her glory! Wow, just looking at all those quilts there, the stories, the history. I like to sit and look at them. Plus, I can lay in bed in the morning and see them all in the mirror at the end of the hall. :)