Let There Be Light

During the week the electrician came by to wire up the fixtures in the bathroom. I didn’t have any moved so it’s just a matter of replacing the old ceiling light, sconces and switches with new ones. The only change I made was to have the light switch control both the ceiling light. Pre-renovation the sconces had their own pull chains but the antique replacements I bought don’t have their own switches so I need to have everything controlled by the light switch.

Now that the fixtures are all done, I finish up by installing the medicine cabinet. Nothing too complicated here since I’ve already have everything cut out so it’s just a matter of screwing the door on to the hinges and then screwing the medicine cabinet to the wall studs.

Getting the medicine cabinet installed.

All lit up.

The last chunk of work is finishing up the staining and varnishing of the door and all of the built-in doors/drawers. The door was glazed last week and with that fully dried, the door looks pretty good without as much flaws I had from the homemade stain. I move on to applying coats of Waterlox. I’ll follow the same process used on the beadboard with 2 coats of the original Waterlox and then a 3rd coat using the matte sheen. Each coat is a 24 hour dry time so I only get 2 coats done this weekend.

Dried glaze coat.

After applying a coat of Waterlox.

The built-in doors and drawers are in various states. The small doors and drawers are ready for staining. I start with a wash coat of shellac and after that dries I put down a coat of the homemade stain I used on the beadboard.

After a coat of shellac.

The homemade stain looks great, but it does take a lot of attention to make sure it doesn’t pool up into weird blotches. I apply the coat, let it sit for 15 minutes and then wipe off the excess. After that I have to keep my eye on it to smooth out any rough spots as it dries over the next few hours.

The 2 large doors are not ready for staining yet. One door had a coat of BLO so that’s out of action for the rest of the weekend while that dries. The other door is still getting the paint stripped. Most of the paint is gone, but now it’s just applying more CitriStrip, letting it sit for hours and then scrubbing and scraping away.

Stripping paint.

While the stain dries on the wood, my last task is to do a final scrub of the tile floor and then after that is cleaned, I apply a different sealer to the floor. Last time I tried 511 Porous Plus which was a disaster because it discolored the tiles. I switched to a sealer from Custom Building Products which I tested beforehand and didn’t have any discoloration.

The light switch works!