A little paint

So what did I do last weekend (and add a second coat to yesterday)?  A painted banister.  So when we bought our house it was full of 80's oak everywhere - trim, cabinets, & the banister on the stairs.  The first two we took care of immediately, but Cameron wasn't exactly on board for the banister at first.  Honestly, it wouldn't have been that bad except there were paint drips from the previous owner's paint job on the hallway, and the fact that the front door is a very dark stain.  Two very different stains in one small area really bothered me.  Of course, we could have gone the route of re-staining, but my first attempt at staining was not very successful.  So I looked to Pinterest for some inspiration and to add to my argument with the hubs.

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Cameron finally caved - several months ago.  I re-painted the spindles last November and if you've been to our house any time in the last couple months, you would have seen blue painter's tape all over the stairs.  Well, this weekend I finally decided to tackle to project.  My first color attempt was the very dark espresso we painted the bathroom vanity.  However, shortly into the job, I decided it wasn't dark enough and headed to Lowe's, where I purchased a very dark brownish-grey-black.  Unfortunately, in the morning sun on Sunday morning, it looked very grey.  Rather than head to Lowe's again, I opted to give the original color a second chance.  While I wish it was a little more on the blackish-brown side, I'm concerned solid black will be too stark.  So we are calling it done - except for all the touch-ups I now have to do thanks to the painter's tape. :(  What do you think?

Before:

 After:

Unfortunately for Cameron, I'm already itching to tear up the carpet and do this...

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~Heather