I know I know. To most people a stairway is not a big deal.
But in our little cottage, it is in the center of the house. It divides the living room from the kitchen.
It is a centerpiece of sorts.
As I look around at the beautiful pine wood that Rich has added to the walls, I realized that the ugly old carpeting and dark wood rough cut posts needed to go.
In fact I rarely took any photos directed towards the stairs in our house because. Well.
They were just downright ugly.
[See Morris photo in previous post.]
Here is a shot of the stairway before we added the pine wood in the eating area.
First I painted the stairs white and the brown sides of the stairs white.
It took only a couple of coats and came out pretty nice looking.
However as tempting it is to have white stairs, I decided to add color to the 'risers'.
We debated long and hard on the color. Rich wanted tan. I said absolutely NO tan! No brown!
We also debated the stair railing. We could take it down and replace it, or I could strip it and clear coat it. One way or another, it will have to be refurbished. Too many years of hands up and down it have caused it to be gunky looking.
Yes 'Gunky' is my technical word for icky.
Funny how you pretty one thing up and it leads to another item that needs fixing.
So I put plastic up over the pine and taped the edges of the stairs. I was going to work on painting the ceiling and when my arms tired of that, I was going to start a bit on the stairs.
So I tuned in Pandora to my oldies station and began to paint.
Here is a little preview of the color we are using on the stairs. Since it is just a quick coat, please don't judge it until you see the final shots!
We will be adding carpet treads at a later date. I have them picked out already.
Today's job is to try and finish off the ceiling. I think I will need to run to town and get more paint. The ceiling was in need of repair and now it needs to be brightened up to match the new section of the house.
See? One thing after another!
Well things are still moving along. The clear coating of the wood has been finished.
We did two coats and are ready now for Kurt to come back and get the window framing done in the living room and kitchen areas.
With that done, we can have the bank come back out and do the inspection.
Our new direct vent heater was delivered last week and Rich is working on getting that installed.
Just in time too. I think we normally have the first frost around the first week of October.
I've finally gotten the carpeting all pulled on the stairs and that is ready to paint.
[View from the top]
Morris was rather put out by having his 'perch' changed.
He refused to come down the stairs until I had all of the little pieces of wood removed. I don't blame him.
That night after he came down the stairs he refused to come up and go to bed in his normal spot. He curled up on the couch and didn't move until I came down the next morning.
Here is a shot of him when he was quite young. Laying on his 'perch' on the stairs.
What a change it is! I am going to paint the stairs with a primer and then a greenish very light color for a finish.
The stairs have always been a huge issue for me to keep clean and tidy. The dog hair was always embedded into the stairs and now I'll be able to wipe the stairs clean.
We will be adding stair treads for extra cushion and for safety.
I'm thinking something along these lines:
The big project will be pulling the carpet on the living room floor.
I need to do some research on using textured paint. I plan on a 'do it yourself' job for our ceiling.
Then I have some repaint and touch up work to do in the bathroom and kitchen.
Slowly but surely we are getting there. I'll have photos of the new heater once it is installed.
One day at a time!
It is really looking quite nice.
