on the up and up

It's not the most drastic change by far and yet I always look at the stairwell photos as the best overall before and afters to show just how different the house is. I remember how cramped and creepy the stairs felt before with the thick carpeting, bare bulb in the ceiling and dirty, dingy whitewash walls.

The door into the sunroom, blinds and weather stripping removed, sanded and ready for painting.


with a fresh coat of paint, new white switches and outlets


Looking up the mostly white with blue accents and blue/gray carpeted staircase.


After removing the blinds, a new light fixture, a few layers of paint and new carpeting. The staircase is also Ralph Lauren 'Canvas Natural' with Behr 'Decorator White' trim.


Looking towards the doorway at the top of the stairs


Ok ok, here I have to interject with a design item. The frames in this photo are my favorite DIY design item in the house. I might have to do a post on those.


Looking down the stairs


I wanted to refinish the wood staircase but under the carpeting we found it had been painted and at some point a runner had been glued down. It could be salvaged, but not in our time frame.


We moved into the house over a weekend and the new carpet wasn't scheduled to be installed until the following Tuesday so the stairs actually still looked like this. We had to very carefully climb up and down with exposed tack strips for a few days and one morning I wasn't so successful...ouch.

Painting the railing was by far the worst part of the entire experience. It's nothing special, likely not original to the house but not worth replacing at the moment. We did later add the round finials you see in this photo to the top of the posts to dress it up slightly. Those wouldn't have been my first choice, they're a little geometric, but they work for now.


The sole light source for the staircase was a bare light bulb that was centered on the railings which put it a little too close to your head for comfort. We had a plan to hire an electrician to move it so we could install a pendant light when Bryce's mom timidly asked why we didn't just swag it. By that time the dining room had been completed and the same treatment was used for the chandelier. I couldn't believe we hadn't thought of that solution! The hook needs to be replaced but it works for now.