Time to kick back and relax

You haven’t heard from me before . . . this is my debut blog entry. I am Salena, Jeff’s wife. Although, my words are not as witty as Jeff’s, I thought I would join this conversation now that we have completed the interior finishing work, and can relax until the weather permits the landscaping to begin.

To save a couple of bucks, Jeff and I decided to take on some of the interior finishing work ourselves – primarily painting and staining. Thanks to Hirschfield’s and Benjamin Moore, we found Aura paint which is easy on the nose and the lungs. We painted our partition interior walls (those not made of concrete) with this low-VOC paint. Last weekend I touched up some walls in the kitchen, dining room and stairway that got dirty during the move, and the guests that came over that evening were none the wiser. The typical toxic smell that traditional high-VOC paint exudes did not exist and our guests could breathe easier and fresher.

Two weeks ago Jeff and I finished the stairs to the second floor. Our builder, Elements of Earth, handled the construction of the stairs and railing, but we decided to add some color. We stained the stair treads black with a low-VOC stain from Sherwin Williams. Again, we were able to add some flare to the décor without breathing in toxic fumes.

We liked the cool, contemporary design of the stairs, but because we used recycled wood for the stair treads, we thought they needed some polishing to coordinate with the modern motif of the house. After just $30 and a weekend do-it-ourselves project, the stair treads looked like brand new wood, and no more trees had to suffer.

- Salena