Guess I wasn't paying attention back in January!! Wish I hadn't miss this, but I'm glad it got bumped. Beautiful! I just posted my refresh too....nice to see another kitchen with a good starting point!! The soapstone gives it such a warm feel. I know you're loving it!

You guys are so sweet! Onedogedie, I love that visual. It will be interesting to see whether I grow to love the little path or whether I come to despise it. Knowing me, I will grow to ignore it. If it ain't broke... The old kitchen was fine functionally, but up-close it was showing its age in a way that the most upbeat person couldn't classify as patina. The painted edges of the counters were chipped and yellowing (all the paint was yellowing), the counters were burned and stained, and the floors had some enormous weird stains that turned out to be adhesive that had wicked up from below. But the real reason for the renovation was that I hated that island and the drop-in sink. Hated. Really very virulent with the hating. The tile was a compromise. DH wanted the green tile and I wanted the blue, he wanted the 4x4 and I wanted the 2x8. He felt strongly about format and I felt strongly about color. He was right - I think this format is really great, it has a strong reference to the 50's and the color matches our pool outside those windows (which is covered right now.) I posted the tile on a separate thread, but here's a closeup. The engobe is really subtle. I thought I'd see more color variation, but am happy enough with the final result! Ignore the old coffee grinder, it was replaced with a fancy one at Christmas! Louisiana, can't wait to see what you do with your space, I love these old ranchers. So fun to see them come back to life. The roaster is up there because WHERE ELSE WOULD IT FIT? ;-) It's a great pot, though...people ooh and aah over it. Best pot ever for super bowl chili. Munchlady, our fridge is a 3-year-old glass-front JennAire. I'm pretty sure they still make it. We love it, although the icemaker is on the fritz right now and the rubber gaskets in front have required some duct tape. Hard to know in our house how much of that kind of thing is rough use by shorties and how much is manufacturer planned obsolescence. I can't tell how often I walk in there to find a 60-pound kid hanging from a fridge door or practically doing pushups on the freezer drawer. (And yes, I tell them not to several times a day. That and everything else I repeat several times a day. This is why I am A Drinker.) Can't take credit for the rolling peninsula, it was here when we bought the house. It's super practical, takes up a lot less space than a table and chairs and allows us to have traffic flow around the island while we're cooking. Which we need, since it is a classic Barrier Island. Thank you all so much again for the lovely compliments. We are really happy with the results and I am happy to take a break from reno for a little while!!

I use a process similar to what rwiegand describes. After staining the wood with a stain or dye but before finishing with shellac use some artist paints to color the wood filler and paint specs to match the wood colors. I picked up some oil paints at the local art supply shop and a little pallet and mix the colors to match as I go. I have zero artistic skills but was able to color match and cover the spots that were visible. Once the touch up dries, finish up with shellac and viola!

Waterlox is not a penetrating oil, It is a wiping varnish. The reason they say it must be applied to bare wood is to sell more product. I've used linseed oil or dewaxed shellac as a seal coat before Waterlox, and I've used Waterlox as the seal coat (as per the mfg. directions) If you put Waterlox on bare wood, it soaks up about 4 times more product than the next coats (and takes forever to dry.) At that rate I could not afford to use it on my whole house, either! But if you use it only as topcoats, the product really goes pretty far. Waterlox will not adhere properly to lacquer, wax, or water-based undercoats. For your refinishing project, I think you are on the right track. Sand the existing finish to promote adhesion, brush on one good coating of the Zinsser seal coat shellac straight out of the can. let it dry a day before sanding it and giving it a coat of Waterlox. One final coat of Waterlox the following day is all you need. Perform a test on one area before you do the whole stairs. Let the stairs dry 2-3 days with fans running to speed cure time. Do not walk on the stairs until they are cured properly.