Adventures in Shelving: Part 6 of Several

I know you were waiting with baited breath but yes, Dark Bourbon won.  However, there was also the issue of the uprights. The 89" (226 cm) uprights that arrived in the first order back in late June/first week of July.  We'd gone through a variety of discussions of options about finishing these.

The plan had pretty much always been that we would have a contrast. I think this was somewhat based on an example we saw somewhere on the internet where they'd done darker uprights and a lighter stain on the shelves and the contrast looked nice. Honestly, we've gone through so many options of "but what about....." --  anyway, Plan A was paint, Plan B was different paint, Plan C was one of the other stain colors we'd already purchased, Plan D was the Hedgehog goes back to HomeDepot for Ebony stain. (Yes, the bottom of Test Shelf 4 is Ebony -- we needed a significant swatch.) 

But the Ebony stain wasn't working.... and so it was back to Plan B -- a satin finish Behr paint in the color "Dark Secret."  If there isn't at least one dark secret book on our bookcase, clearly we're doing it wrong. I have so many mystery books, there's got to be something. 

The Philosopher has been on staining duty which meant painting the uprights was my project. This was our major push over Labor Day weekend. Thankfully the weather held and there wasn't rain. Our downstairs neighbors were definitely curious -- but since we're very good about drop cloths and we're not being loud, they weren't too concerned.  I did a coat of primer, because pine is going to soak up paint and then two coats of the Dark Secret. 

As I'm finishing this episode -- the last 8 shelves are finishing Side 1 drying (it takes 3 hours) and the uprights are all done and just airing out. Philosopher will finish Side 2 in a little bit and then tomorrow morning we'll bring everything inside just in time for them to start tuck pointing our courtyard. That should be a whole extra level of fun. 

Once things are stained, we need to apply the finishing oil. That'll be both sides at a time and I assume my hallway will be lined with shelves.  But the end is in sight.