Stairway makeover reveal

My stairway makeover is finally complete. It only took three months, including some procrastination. (I'm really good at working on a project until it reaches about 95% completion, then the fire goes out.)

This project involved stripping ugly and peeling wallpaper, drywalling, painting stripes on the walls, painting the stairs and addressing a couple of egregious design dilemmas. But all is done now, and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out!

This space is very tight and narrow. The door to the stairwell (shown in the first photo above) is a scant 23 inches wide and the stairs themselves are only three feet wide. Not a big deal if it's open on one side, but enclosed like this, it feels so much smaller than that. (Plus it makes it nearly impossible to take good photographs. Sorry, I tried.)

Despite the limitations, I did manage to squeak in a few decorative touches. I hung these two round mirrors in probably the only spot they wouldn't be in danger of getting knocked off the wall. Like I've mentioned before, I find it nearly impossible to go up the stairs without touching the walls. I'm sure everyone else does too.

I found this convex porthole mirror at an antique mall for $16. I'm not sure if it's old (probably not), but I thought that was a pretty great price. It's about 14 inches in diameter. The small mirror above it I pieced together from a round frame I found at the Goodwill Outlet and a mirror from the craft store. A little bit of E-6000 adhesive and all is good. I like how the wood tone corresponds to the banister and the door.

Speaking of the banister, it was the only existing piece that made it back into the space. It was in good condition. I liked the brass hardware. So I didn't see the need to replace it.

I also found a spot for these hanging brass monkeys I picked up a few months ago. I tucked them back in the corner behind the door frame as an extra touch. I kind of like how they are half hidden.

One major change was the lighting. The old sconce was pretty hideous and didn't adequately light the space. We actually installed two sconces replacing just the one, though I'm noticing now I don't have a photo of them both. (One is at the top of the stairs and the other about half way down.)

I scoured the entire internet for affordable (less than $100) sconces that would fit the space. I found this one for $57. There was one I liked slightly better, but at $99, the price difference was just too great, especially when multiplied by two.

Before I ordered, I did a final search on the name of this sconce and found it for $22 plus free shipping at a no-name online shop. The shop had good reviews and let me use Google checkout, so I took a chance. And they were at my house within four days. Two sconces for $44! Bargain accomplished! Lesson: Before you click "buy," always Google for a cheaper price.

The top of the banister used to be mounted to the wall with an unfinished piece of lumber. How chic! I decided that had to go and replaced it with this shield-shaped plaque I bought at Jo-Ann and painted the same color as the wall. (I'm kind of into shields for some reason.) I paid less than $1 after coupon. Cheap and better.

Elise talks about this space like she's annexed it as a part of her bedroom. Hopefully, I won't find her sleeping in there. I'm just glad she loves it as much as I do. It looks like it belongs with the rest of our house now, and it isn't the abrupt transition between her bedroom and the upstairs playroom it used to be.

See the before pictures >> 

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Stairway update: Camouflaged plumbing access panel

Over the weekend, I finished up the plumbing access panel at the bottom of our stairway. It's the design dilemma that's been driving me crazy, the one thing holding up the completion of this project.

My initial thought was to embrace it. Showcase it. Make it look like a feature instead of an oddity. But that didn't really work.

Instead, I took the advice of reader and blogger Michele. She suggested just making it go away, and after that first failure, I totally agreed.

So I made it disappear! Hiding it in plain sight with the same striped paint treatment I did on the walls.

Of course, it's not completely invisible; you can still see the dimension of the trim. But it blends in so well, it doesn't trip up the eye anymore.

I'm calling it a success. And now I'm able to move on and put the finishing touches in the rest of the space. Another update to come posthaste!

See all the stairway related posts >>

p.s. Do you instagram? Follow me @lansdownelife and I'll follow you back!

Stairway progress: Painted stairs

After a week of intensive stair painting, this project is finally showing signs of completion. The steps are now a deep shade of olive green, sort of antique and modern at the same time.

Before someone rakes me over the coals for painting wood, let me show you a few before shots:

Originally, I was thinking maybe I could strip and re-stain the stair treads, but ultimately decided against it. The stairs are soft pine with an ugly grain, loads of stains, and a little bit of water damage. I'm certain all the work it would take to refinish them would be wasted on a junky end product.

Let's get real. This is a modest, depression-era house in a middle class neighborhood. No fancy hardwood here. So if all that doesn't grant me a license to paint wood, I'm not sure what would.

After filling all sorts of holes and gouges with wood filler and some of the cracks with painters caulk, I was ready for primer. I used latex Kilz Premium, my favorite stain-blocking primer, and then it was time to paint!

In my design mock-up, I planned on painting a faux stair runner, but that didn't go exactly as planned.

When I started taping out my runner, I tried re-positioning the tape and the paint and primer peeled up along with an ultra thin layer of the stairs themselves. I won't belabor the details because I'd rather not relive it through the photographic evidence, but I ended up having to sand the stairs even after I had already primed them. There was anger and cursing and crying. But I powered through the awfulness of that, and then slightly changed my game plan.

I knew if I still wanted white borders along the edges of the stairs, that was going to set me back about three more days while I waited for each coat of the white paint to dry. (Latex enamel suggests waiting 24 hours between coats, and after my primer not sticking, I wasn't going to bend the rules.) If I just painted the entire width green, I could avoid that whole three day diversion without giving up much of anything.

It's also worth mentioning again that this staircase is only accessed through my daughter's room, which restricts me to painting during her waking hours.

So after that whole debacle, I primed two coats and then painted four coats of a bright olive green (allen + roth's Dog Park mixed into Valspar Porch and Floor paint). It was really thin; thinner than most latex paints, hence the four coats. In hindsight, I probably should have used a tinted primer. I don't know when I'm going to stop making that mistake.

I still have some touching up to do, especially on the trim. And I haven't given up on the idea of doing some detail painting. I have some ideas, but haven't started on anything yet. Part 2 coming soon. (I hope.)

p.s. I decided against any further detail painting for now.

See all the stairway updates >>

Mixing latex paint leftovers + "oops" paint

Yesterday, I talked a little bit about liquidating my paint stash. (Lots of paint, need to use it up before it gets gross.) So when it came time to paint the stairwell, I knew I just had to make it work without buying more paint. And I'm proud to report the white paint I used in the stairwell was all stash, baby.

But there was one catch; I didn't have enough of any one shade of white to do the entire area. I had 3/5 gallon of off-the-shelf white, about half a quart of some exterior white, a small remnant of the white used upstairs on the trim and a full quart of a near-white "oops" paint I picked up on clearance for $2.50. All semi-gloss.

You can see where I'm going with this. I just dumped everything into the gallon can, stirred and stirred some more. And voila! A full gallon of paint! Don't be afraid to mix it up! It's paint. It's not going to explode or anything.

I understand if you wouldn't want to try this for one of the main rooms in your house; I probably wouldn't do that either. But think less traveled areas: basements, closets, laundry rooms, etc. Places where cheap trumps finding the perfect shade.

Pay attenion to sheen if that matters to you. And it should go without saying that you should not mix latex and oil paint together. That would result in quite a mucky mess. Big no no.

Stairway update: Design plan

We've been working hard on the stairway walls to bring them back to a paintable state, but it's a slow process. I've been scrubbing off wallpaper paste, patching the plaster and sanding like crazy. My dad has been taping and mudding drywall. But we're not quite done yet.

Instead of showing you more dull photos of unfinished walls, I thought I'd let you in on my design plan for the space.

First, a few parameters:

• I want the walls to be light. This area gets next to no natural light. Dark in the daytime!

• Looking at the stairwell from upstairs, it is obvious to me that the upper walls should be white. I want it to feel like an extension of the room, instead of treating it like some weird, detached "other" space. (Excuse me for using an old photo of the playroom. It is not nearly this tidy at the current moment, with loads of tools and toys all over the place.)

• The space below is pretty well isolated from the rest of the house. You don't see it from upstairs (unless you are at the top of the stairs). And you don't see it from the main living space downstairs. You get a tiny peek through a door frame from Elise's room, but that's it.


• It is small and a transitional space (that is, you pass through it instead of spending time in it).

Those two things mean it's time to go bold with color and pattern. I want something clean, vibrant, youthful, fun, modern, but sort of classic at the same time. And all of that adds up to.... stripes!

I thought about doing an all-over stencil, or some hand-painted pattern, but in the end I just keep coming back to stripes.

Now, I admit this crude Photoshop mock-up looks a bit intense. In reality, I'm pretty confident it will not be quite so bright and in your face.

I painted a sample board of the stripes, mainly just to decide on a width, but I really think they are going to work in this small area. (And yeah, that photo was taken before I washed the walls.)

As for the stairs themselves, I'm going for a mid-tone green. Not too dark that it sucks all the light out of the space and not light enough to see scuffs or dirt.

I brought home a bunch of green paint chips. They are all really different. And of course, the all look way different in the dark stairwell.I'm going to wait until we install the new lights before I choose the right shade. I'm also thinking of trimming out the "runner" with some stripes in coordinating tones.

So that's the plan! What do you think?

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Stairway update: Drywall and ugly plaster

The stairway project has been a bit slow going, but we are making progress! Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of pretty things to show you yet. We are almost back to square one with the upper walls. The drywall is up, but still needs to be taped and mudded.

And on the lower portion, I started scrubbing the walls, cleaning off all of the leftover wallpaper paste. It's a tedious job, but I've been surprised at how clean the walls are after using only diluted vinegar.

Check it out... I went from these cruddy, sticky walls post-wallpaper removal...

...to this! Oh vinegar, is there anything you can't do?

But really, this step isn't just about making the walls look better. The walls need to be clean and smooth-ish or the primer and paint won't stick.

But in cleaning the walls, I've discovered there are a few plaster repair patches that are pretty uneven and ugly. Upon closer inspection, it seems like someone laid plaster on top of bits of wallpaper they didn't care to remove. I'm talking about remnants of old wallpaper underneath the layer that I removed.

I'm going to try and scrape them off and see what's under there. If I have to repair the plaster, I think I can make it look better than what's there now. I'll have the patching plaster out anyway because there are multiple other damaged spots that need attention.

So that's that the boring, cruddy update. The good news is I finally seem to be getting my design plan for the space together. I was drawing a complete blank for a while, but now the color palette is starting to come together in my head. More on that soon!

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Stairway makeover: Removing the wallpaper

First step in my stairway makeover is removing the ugly, stained and torn wallpaper. But this space has high ceilings, and I'm not prepared to tackle it alone. I'm bringing in my dad to help on this project.

There are two areas here: above and below the trim dividing the two floors. My dad's assignment: remove the wallpaper above the trim. My assignment: scrape off the bottom portion.

Above the trim, the walls are drywall. Below the trim, they are plaster & lathe. I'm only telling you this because we decided to take two separate strategies with the two types of wall.

First, we did some wallpaper removal experimentation. Just trying to peel some of it off to see if it would be easy or not. Turns out, it's wasn't going to be quick or easy.

On the upper half, there was another layer of wallpaper behind the wallpaper. When my dad started peeling all of this off, it took the drywall paper along with it.

It was here that we had to make a decision. Spend a bunch of time peeling wallpaper while perched above the stairwell on makeshift scaffolding only to discover that the surface wouldn't be in good enough condition to be paintable...

OR try something else.

I told my dad I would be fine if he covered up the wallpaper with another layer of thin drywall or even panelling (that I would paint) since the upstairs is painted panelling. But he doesn't take shortcuts.

I told him that since he was doing the work, he could make the decision. And the walls came down.

Well, just the upper portion, of course.

But there was one more factor that figured into the decision to demo the walls. I forgot to show this in the "before" photos, but the plaster ceiling above the stairway was also sagging from old water damage (before we owned the house). That was coming down regardless, why not round it out and take the walls too? A stretch? Maybe, but like I said, the decision was out of my hands.

The wallpaper removal on my section (the lower part) was a bit less dramatic.

I peeled off the top layer of the wallpaper then scraped off the under layer after soaking it with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water. It worked pretty well, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Still, you can't beat the price!

All in all, it took me around 7 to 8 hours of mom time over two days to scrape off the entire bottom portion. (Mom time: interrupted no less than every 15 minutes.)

When I was done, it looked like this:

And the playroom where Elise had been looked like this:

Both on the scary side, for sure.

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Stairway "before" tour: Say goodbye to the ugliness

There is one area in our house that I have avoided tackling since the day we moved in: our stairway. My secret shame.

It's densely packed with ugliness and design challenges. This place has it all: sloppy paint, peeling wallpaper, banged up wood work, a weird plumbing access panel. There isn't an inch that doesn't need help.

This is an enclosed skinny staircase accessed from behind a door in Elise's room. (Not ideal, but it is what it is.) It's difficult to step back and capture the whole thing in a single photo, so here's a "before" tour presented in bits and pieces. 

First, some sloppily painted and worn trim. Not my handiwork, of course.

The stairs have seen better days. This is exactly how we inherited them, but it's clear that they once had some sort of treads on them...

and were also carpeted at some point, hence the errant staples and staple holes. This close up also gives you a good idea of how banged up the wood is.

Elise is demonstrating the narrowness of the area, 36 inches from wall to wall. It's a tight space!

At the base of the stairs, there's a plumbing access panel for the bathroom on the other side of the wall. It's the first thing you see when you enter the space, and it's a complete void. Kind of off-putting.

Looking up, you'll notice the whole stairwell is wallpapered. The only two-story space in our entire house and it's wallpapered. Oh, 1980s, why are you still torturing some of us?

But even if I liked the wallpaper, it's past its expiration date.

Ripped and stained. (Confession: I may have tugged on that flap above a time or two.) Yes, even part of the ceiling is wallpapered.

And now for a change of perspective: here's a shot looking toward the stairwell from the second floor. More wallpaper and what's that? A pretty sconce?

Eh, not really. Just say no to overly shiny brass! Also, the ceiling is angled, but the sconce is mounted straight and it looks wrong. They probably should have avoided this style of sconce altogether that close to the ceiling.

Looking downward, you can see how bad the finish on the stairs is. It's almost like there's a runner down the middle!

Stairway, your time has come. The time is now. Let's turn you into a jewel box.

See the finished stairway! >>

See all the stairway updates >>