THE STAIRS

 After 22 years of living in this house, the stairway has taken a beating. I have puttied, sanded and repainted the walls of the stairs and railing numerous times- especially at the base of the stairs which has been the catching place for things tossed down and years of kids sliding down on a slick changing pad (good times!) I have given up steam cleaning and scrubbing the carpet- especially after Sookie's troubles were just too hard to keep up with and scrub out. The nicks on the walls, the stains- it has become that space in the house I cringe if anyone needs to go upstairs. This is now my top priority to spruce up make it fab!

This wreath has hung here for at least 15 years!

I began by filling dings and dents in the walls and started taping off a rough outline to see what some trim could do.

It is amazing when you look at space with new eyes that you walk by multiple times a day and really see how rough it has become over time!

There is not a lot of lighting here (which has been a good thing!) so it feels extra dingy and drab. After Jon and I got all the trim up and Paisley helped caulk and putty (so much to caulk and putty and sand!) I painted the upper half one of my favorite creamy warm whites- Swiss Coffee by sherwin williams. It felt so clean and cheery already!

While Jon worked on the stairwell I painted the upstairs hallway in the fresh swiss coffee and the doors and trim. I then panted the bookshelf the same and lightened up the shelves. I found some cute lighting to finally replace the original lights and I'm loving how fresh and clean it feels. 

I then started the beast of a project- ripping up the carpet! My goodness, this took a lot of muscle and tools and usually left my fingers bloody and sore. There were sooo many staples, so much to pry up! I couldn't believe what a big project this part was and I started to wonder if paying the thousands would have been worth it???

I kept working on it, one stair at a time, ripping up carpet, scraping off the underlying pad, then prying up staples out of the sub flooring. Brutal work! And the more work I did, the worse it looked!

Once all the carpet was gone and I was sure I got all the staples out, I started with the wood filler to fill all the holes and gaps. Shafer recommended a brand that worked great!

I was glad to only need to worry about smoothing and filling the edges of the stairs. But still there was a lot of filling and sanding, then filling some more and more and more sanding. I was hoping to have this tedious work done before we left for Spring Break, as I new coming back to more of this work would feel extra daunting! I was able to finish up with this part of the project and get the railing painted before we left.

It was hard to leave this project, I really wanted it done. But it was also nice to not have to work on it every day while we were on vacation.

When we got back, I had decided on the color for the lower walls. I decided I may as well not fight the low lighting darkness and go even darker!

The color I chose is gorgeous. It is rich and deep and fresh. I love it!

Jon picked up a really good carpet pad. It is very plush and was easy peasy to cut and staple into place.

Because the front room is green, I wanted the stairwell to be closer to blue and have the same saturation.

Painting the edges of the stairs black was enjoyable! It was so satisfying to cover the wood filler and really be able to see how smooth and clean all of that filling and sanding made it. I chose a black chalk paint to keep from knicks and scratches and covered it with a wax to give it a dull sheen, which is the same as the railing. I like the way the smooth wax feels on the railing.

This area looked especially rough after we removed the carpet so Jon had to cut the subfloor a bit and add some edge trim. It looks so clean now!

It was so exciting to see how things were coming together with the paint! 

And it felt like Christmas morning when the 30 foot runner arrived! I was thrilled with it! I had high hopes it would be enough, but you never know, really! 

I started on the landing first because I knew it would be the most tricky. It was! It took some trial and error to figure it out, and I wasted several feet right off the bat which was frustrating and sweaty, but I pressed on and hoped I didn't waste too much to finish!

Once the sweaty landing was done, the rest was just a matter of keeping it centered and pulling and stapling. I wouldn't want to do it for a living, but for this one  project, it was satisfying to figure it out as I went.

Once I made it to the top of the stairs and looked down, I was filled with glee! It looked so pretty, it had been so much work, and I couldn't believe we did it!

It is a gorgeous stairway now! I even added little motion lights all the way down that are fun to light your way up or down. Jon hung a beautiful pendant light wich officially replaced the last of the "boob" lighting in house. I hung some of my artwork, including the zebra head I bought on our fall break trip to Twin Falls- with this exact place in mind. It fits perfectly!

I could not hang another wreath in the cut-out. I don't even like cut-outs. I was trying to find some large artwork that could hide that there even is a cut-out and decided to create my own- it's from a photo of Eli doing an ollie. A shout-out to my skater boys.

Final verdict: I love it. I love how soft the stairs feel and the cozy look of the stairway. I love the colors and lighting and artwork. I love that it is lower maintenance than I imagined. I don't cringe at all when friends run up and down the stairs. BUT I would not do it again. I would pay the million dollars and have it all done for me :)