Well, we'd finally had it with our side gate looking drab, tan and sounding squeaky! We'd had this burgundy wood stain in our garage for months (along with painting supplies) and couldn't take it anymore! So, we finally stained our side gate by: first, removing all wood slats and trying to sand them...but when that was taking forever we decided that they looked just fine; second, hand staining each slat front, back, top, bottom and side after moving them all into the backyard and figuring out how to put plastic up onto the house; third, removing all screws and staining them black; and fourth, trying desperately to put all the wood slats back in and (sometimes) forcing them into place :) We found out the hard way that wood warps and changes and really likes where it's originally put and if you don't keep track of where it was originally put it will throw a tantrum and refuse to fit back into place---whew! But we (read "Jase") did it and were so happy afterwards :) Another fun weekend put to rest.
