Weathering and Stain

So this week I had to give in and color my own hair because my salon appointment last month was postponed and I doubt the appointment I have this Thursday will be kept.  And an inch of silver roots is my limit.

The company I work for is a family owned restaurant with several locations in DFW and we're open for curbside takeaway this Easter.  No one at the company has been laid off, and we're hoping that continues.  The accounting staff was given Friday off in honor of the holiday.  So I got an extra day to work on my roombox.

I spent a lot of it working on the back wall of the 'chamber'.  I built up the bookshelves with scrap wood and added a wood panel to the front of each of them.  And I made up the wood enclosure for the area over the mantle.  I actually made it too tall because my fireplace ended up being slightly larger than I'd planned.

I had some thin wood trim and some wider trim and used it on the inch wide strip wood I put between the fireplace and bookcases to make it look more like elaborate columns.  Then I added my crown molding to go around the columns and baseboards for the front of the bookcases.

I also made progress on my herringbone floor.

I want the room to look dark and gothic so I started with American Walnut on the floor.

It still looked a little too light for me.  So I added some Dark Walnut.  And I stained the bookcases with the Dark Walnut as well.

I added some American Walnut on top of it and sealed it with a semi-gloss poly.

The floor looks a bit lighter in this picture simply because of the sun coming in the windows.

You recall I didn't care for how new the windows and door trim looked after I painted them?  I added a black paint wash over the top of all of it to give it a more aged look and I think it suits the mood of the room a bit more.

The next step will be getting the wallpaper and wainscoting on the walls, and adding the window trim, curtains and cornices.

I have some sconces on order and a lamp for the desk.  I want to wire the sconces before I do the portraits and any trim to go on the center of the chimney surround.  Once I get the room trim established I'll work on the furniture and all the oddities.

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.