With the coats of boiled linseed oil all finished on both big doors for the built-in, next up is staining the wood. I start with a washcoat of shellac diluted with alcohol. I think with the wood already treated with BLO, the shellac may not be necessary. I apply 2 coats of my homemade stain and keep wiping it down during the day to make sure nothing pools up like my stain tends to.

The 2 coats get me to the shade I’m looking for and I’ll let the doors sit for a week before I start putting on the Waterlox coats. The BLO-based stain does take a while to dry so I don’t want to rush any of the steps even if it means probably 2 more weeks before the doors are installed.

I take care of a few outside, and then back to the bedroom to continue stripping paint from plaster. To break up the monotony I take the doors off the hinges and remove all the hardware for some crockpot soaking.

The bedroom has a main door and closet door. I stripped a lot of the doors already, but this was before I completed the cottage and bathroom. Now I know it makes better sense to remove the door rather than trying to strip in place. Also now I know you have to remove the hardware to really be able to strip the metal. Of course most of the hardware is secured with the classic slotted screws. Most screws come off after scraping away the years of paint to give the screwdriver something to grab onto, but a few are tricky. I start stripping the slots, but luckily I get the screws raised enough to twist them out with a wrench.

As to the plaster, that’s more grunt work of scraping, heating, scraping, washing down, scraping, sponging off, scouring, and rinsing. I make decent progress on the last painted wall.