Shoe Molding... makes a WORLD of difference

We've lived in this house for almost 4 years now. So you'd think that all the little imperfections that need to be fixed would be done by now, right? So not true, especially when you have a child, are a working student and a continuing to do list. But, I finally crossed another project off the list which really has its one reward. Killed a few birds with one stone on this one. Score!

On occasion, I do make small lists and may add a few items I've already done so I can feel a little more accomplished. :) This is my trick at least, feel free to use it.

I've been on a grout cleaning spree the past few weekends and the lack of shoe molding around the stairs became even more evident... and irritating. It became the big elephant in the room so I HAD to get this done.

Here's how awful it looked before... plus the paint marks from painting when we moved in... horrific

A trip to Home Depot for some quarter round and matching floor stain we were ready to go. Getting the stain to match up perfectly was the hard part since we didn't do the hardwood ourselves. A little trial and error with colors and we finally found the right one, Provincial 211 by Minwax.

I took the measurements and cut out the molding with my Dremel Multi-Max.

Here would be the first attempt with walnut... I just have to laugh at this :) Why did I even think this would be close?

After this step took a plunge for the worst, I decided I would actually paint it white to match the door molding anyway. I think it turned out looking better than the correct stained color would be.

Then, the floor section is where I stained to match the stairwell. While I was down there, there was no way I couldn't do something about those paint marks so I took a magic eraser and a razor blade to those puppies and they were off!

Here's how it finally looks...

Finally! That awful gap between my tile and stairs is hidden! Seamless and no longer catching every piece of dust my 2 year old flutters up while playing.

Now, just to tackle touching up the paint on the side of the stairs