I use those 4' orange electic fence stakes from home depot (about $1 a piece)for lots of things in the yard & gardens. Pound it in the ground and then slide the PVC pipe over it and into the soil a bit. Set out several of these with holes drilled in the PVC pipe and string wire through them to make a fairly sturdy, portable & cheap trellis. I use these stakes to build easy fencing. I use plastic cable ties to secure wire or plastic mesh fencing to them. Because I dislike the orange and it stands out like a sore thumb, I paint my stakes black. Pound 2 rows of these stakes in the ground about 4' apart and slide each end of a flexible PVC pipe over them, making an arch. Cover this with garden cloth or plastic to protect plants. I "sew" the fabric to the pvc with fishing line. If you are using plastic, cut some flaps in it, to keep it from blowing away in a big wind. I use them to brace non secured retaining walls. At my old house I built a raised bed using them to hold the lumber together. I drilled holes in the timbers and slid them over the stakes, then I lined the interior side with heavy plastic.

Depends on how well it was glued down. Our rear porch had it, and after struggling with it for about an hour we tied a rope around the area we were able to loosen and tied the other end to my truck bumper and ripped it out! Removing the old adhesive wasn't any fun, but it's definitely doable. I think it took us a full day of putting on remover/thinner(?) & scraping many times over. The next day we were able to tile. BTW, I'm a construction manager and we use the rough multi-colored slate on exterior porches & balconys a lot. The type we use is available at the big box store as well. I would recommend with any outdoor slate or tile to use an epoxy grout as regular grout in wet outdoor areas can effervece (? forgot how to spell today), meaning it will produce a milky/powdery residue that takes months to go away. Doesn't always happen, but it can.

While there are water based products that can be thinned with water, I've always preferred oil based paint/primer for whitewashing/pickling, thinned with turpentine or mineral spirits. The ratio really depends on the look you want, and especially the hardness/porosity of the wood. Typically, I brush or wipe on with a rag, and then wipe back off with a rag to the desired amount of pigment left on the wood and in crevices and details. With wood as hard and dense as Maple, you'll need to experiment how long to leave it on for the results you want. You can always go back and add more over it until you're pleased. Personally, I would choose a wood other than Maple with a more open grain, and or softer if specifically wanting to whitewash, but that does not mean it can't be done! White Oak is beautiful whitewashed/pickled, Red oak is nice too, but has a tendency to go pink, so adding some blue or gray in the thinned mix can help mitigate the effect. Laquer is typically sprayed on, as it dries in minutes, and can be re-coated several times in one process. There are also brushing laquers that have a slower dry time, I've used Deft brand and it works well. Most top coats are available in a matte finish, satin is just a notch above matte on the gloss scale, and is a bit more wipeable for a kitchen. Pine in the kitchen... (also on the T&G sloped ceiling that you can't see) Pine paneling in the family room... Pine wall unit and ceiling in my home office. I wanted the ceiling to contrast the cabinet and crown a bit, so used very little pigment, and wiped off quickly...

First time homeowner, congratulations and very exciting. Having owned a house built in the 1880's as my first house, I recommend you go slowly and do a lot of research on what is being done to update houses in what looks like a very lovely neighborhood. In retrospect, we made some big and not so big mistakes in updating our old house because we dove in too quickly and didn't explore all options. I'm sure whoever replaced the spindles on your lovely staircase thought they were improving things and here we are, saying "ewww." How long do you plan to stay in your house? Your geography is very important to the decisions you make. What works in NY City probably doesn't fly in Memphis. I've lived on the east coast, the South, the midwest and California and at each place I renovated a house, making decisions that worked for the area because we were changing jobs often at the time and moving a lot. If this is your forever home, sit back, relax and in all probability, your entire budget will be spent updating the "underwear" (electrical, plumbing, HVAC etc) so you'll have plenty of time to ponder how to update the decor. But, if you have $1200 for the foyer, paint the walls, keep the staircase for now. You can always paint it later but it's really hard to unpaint it if you change your mind. Have fun, it's a beautiful house.