The days of our stairs

First up, my friend Cassie over at Hi Sugarplum did a FUN series while she gallivants around Italy (I’m not jealous or anything). You can check out my answers to her 20 questions here. Go ahead. I’ll wait. :)

Fun right??

I’m feeling so nostalgic about our house lately – I don’t know if it’s because I’m coming up on five years of blogging in less than a month (whoa) or because as of five days from now we will have lived in this house for nine years.

It may be a combination of both -- it’s just this time of year I guess. :)

I love looking back at the transformation of certain spaces in our house and one of the projects I’m big fat puffy proud of is our staircase. I can’t believe in five years of blogging I only have one before picture of the stairs with the carpet, but here it is, in all of it’s dark, horrible picture-ness:

I got a wild hair a few years ago – I knew we had beautiful wood stairs under that carpet because I was here every. single. day. when they built our house.

One day I got the nerve up to tear off the carpet and the mess started – there was blood. Lots of sweat. And tears. (Just a little.):

Tearing up the carpet was easy. Getting every tack strip off and all of the staples (the millions of staples!!!!) was some of the hardest work ever.

But it was worth it when I saw the potential:

I started sanding but then my late father-in-law stepped in with his heavy duty equipment – they got all the overspray off the steps for me so I could start staining and painting.

I still say this transformation is one of the biggest in our house, and I only spent $50 total:

I still LOVE having the memory of my father-in-law working on this too. It’s like we’ll have a part of him in our house forever – he worked SO hard to help out.

You can see that I painted the wall below the handrail while I was painting the risers. Later on I finished that part off by adding trim:

And then I made a simple change that made a big difference – painting the handrail:

Isn’t that crazy? I couldn’t believe how much that little change kind of tied it all together!

And I still don’t know if those mice are coming back this fall. Maybe with time I will forget. Or not. :)

We said goodbye to the pink(ish) walls last year and I haven't’ missed them one bit. Then I added my DIY sunburst mirrors to the big wall in the staircase:

Getting rid of that dark ceiling in the dining room made a HUGE difference too. (Filing that one away into “what was I thinking?”)

But I felt like it was looking kind of blah – I loved it, but I’m craving some color here lately.

I recently added just a bit with the little changes I made to the foyer and I think it already makes a difference:

But I still want more. (We want more! We want more! Name that commercial.) I had to take down the “best things in life” saying on the gallery wall when we painted, so there’s an empty spot needing filled still (almost a year later…this is how I roll) I think I’ll just add another frame, but I’m wondering if I should paint the frames? Just a little color? I don’t know. It will come to me if I sit on it (forever).

And soon I’m having the treads sanded down and I’m going to stain them all the color of our hardwoods (Jacobean stain) so they match. Right now they are a reddish tone and the fact that they don’t match is starting to bug me.

It’s been a long process, one that was harder than I thought it would be, but it has made SUCH a huge difference in our house! The before, a few years ago:

And today!

And I still stand by my thought that hardwood stairs are less slippery than carpeted ones. I’m really good at falling down stairs and so far so good…knock on wood. ;)

Have you torn the carpet off your stairs or out of a room? I thought about it for months (years) and one day just started ripping – scary but so worth it in the end!

DIY wood planked wall

Well hello! How was your weekend? Ours was great – we celebrated my sis’s upcoming nuptials with a shower and then a bachelorette party. All in one day. This big sis needed a nap by 7 p.m. ;)

I’ve been working on a project over the past couple of weeks that involved a bunch of little projects and I finally got them all done this weekend. I LOVE IT.

Our basement stairway was kind of the pits after the basement finishing – the tools and drywall scuffed and dinged up the walls, the old carpet was just…well, GROSS. And I had been using the walls in on the stairs to “store” all of my extra frames that I’m saving for upcoming projects.

Here it was in all it’s glory a few weeks ago:

The guys had to tear out some of the old carpet to install the baseboard trim by the stairs, so this actually looks better than it had looked. Before there was no trim at all along the bottom.

The first project was painting that trim before the new carpet was installed. It got a coat of primer and two coats of gloss white paint, which wasn’t too bad because I didn’t have to cut in or be careful because I knew the walls were getting repainted and the carpet was out of there.

After the new carpet was installed I went ahead with the walls. I decided to wait and paint after the carpet was installed because I figured there would be a bunch of scuffs from it being taken downstairs and installed on the stairs. And I was right. :)

I am pretty good at cutting in now, after years and years of painting, but I even so I like to tape off the trim before I paint so it protects it from those little bitty annoying flecks of paint:

I used my FrogTape and it didn’t have to be perfect because it was just there to protect the newly painted white trim. You can see that I don’t stick the tape down onto the trim, I let it stick out from the wall so it’s like a little “umbrella” for the trim. Precious. 

After the painting was done (I used the Marina Gray color from the basement that I told you about in this post), I was onto my the big idea I’ve had for the large wall in the stairway.

I had been dreaming this up for months and I was so excited to get it started. The basement bathroom still sits empty and unfinished, but I just had to focus on this instead because I was so psyched about it!

I bought five packages of these pine wood planks from Lowe’s:

They are about $9 each so this project was less than $50 total. I installed them on the wall, much like I do any beadboard project – I started at the top and went down from there, making sure each one fit into the next snugly.

This tongue and groove planking is SO easy to install! I just nailed it in with my nail gun as I went down the wall. When I was done I gave it a very light sanding (this stuff is already smooth to the touch) and then taped off my walls and ceiling:

I used the delicate FrogTape for the ceiling because every. single. time. I’ve ever taped off the ceiling to paint, some of the paint comes off with the paint. This time it didn’t, so that was a nice bonus. ;)

My drop cloth was cut up trash bags:

I usually just use an old sheet for my drop cloth, but this time I was using stain, not paint. And stain is impossible to clean up – I wasn’t taking any chances with new carpet:

I used this dark walnut color and looove it. It’s close to the color of our wood floors and it’s nice and rich and lovely.

I gotta tell you, I was sweating while staining this wall – I’ve never stained anything this large or vertical and I had to work fast to keep a “wet edge.” I was also trying to watch drips and trying not to flick it everywhere as I was working.

Sweating.

After I was done wiping it down (I showed you how to stain here), I stood back and swooned:

I LOOOOVE it. Luuuuurve. Luuuuv. Whatever.

Obsessed with it.

Before we had a one bulb light fixture in this space that I installed years ago, but it didn’t give off enough light for my liking. Since this space was getting a redo anyway, I replaced it with a new track light:

I loved that I could aim a couple of the lights on the awesomesauce wall and the others off to the side.

Normally I wouldn’t be thrilled about track lighting, but they’ve come a long way. I’ve mentioned before that I’m going for a slightly industrial, but warm, look in the basement, and I think this light fits in SO well with the wood wall:

I had to use my jigsaw to cut the planks so they fit around that small ledge we have down there. It’s sooo not perfect but no one will ever notice it…as far as I know. ;) Oh, and the boards themselves aren’t exactly the same length. I was going to caulk the edges but after I stained I realized you can’t even tell.

I still have to paint that ledge white and then this space is DONE. Who knew a simple basement stairway would be so much work?

Here’s another quick look at the before:

And after trim, paint, new carpet, a wood planked wall, a new light and minus a cat:

OH, I also spray painted the brass hardware brushed nickel (after I took this picture last night) and cleaned up the railings really well. They were NAS. TY.

Here’s the bottom set of steps before:

(They had to take some of the stairs apart to install the trim, hence no carpet here).

And here’s the view from downstairs up to the wood wall:

LOVE IT!! It’s warm and unique and I would hug it if I could.

OK, I’ve tried.

One of the many things I love about the basement is all of the wall space – it has so much potential! We don’t have a lot of wall space upstairs because our home has an open floor plan, so I’m stoked about doing some fun things with all of it.

Even the stairs have a ton of wall space. I don’t know if I’ll hang anything on the wood wall or let it be the art. If I don’t, there's a large wall above the ledge that I want to do something fun with.

What do you think, add art to the wood wall or let it be? What would you do?

Knockoff sunburst mirror

Well hello! I’m so excited to share this little DIY project with you all (y’all? Can I be southern for a moment?) because it turned out JUST how I envisioned.

I told you back in this post how I tend to buck trends (decor and otherwise) – either I just don’t add them to our home or I do it reeeeeally late, well after they are cool. That is just how. I. roll.

Same goes for this project. I actually came up with an idea to create this gorgeous Ballard Designs sunburst mirror months and months ago:

I even bought the pieces to make it, figured out how I was going to make it, and almost started…but then it seemed like I was seeing them everywhere in blogland. Sunburst mirrors are fantastic, so I am not surprised they were all over the place.

But I’m annoying, so I waited. :)

When we had our big tall walls and stair case repainted a few weeks ago, I knew I wanted to change up the decor on the huge wall at the back of our stairs.

Soooo…I figured these would be perfect. I gathered all my materials (again) and started figuring out how I wanted to put it together (again). I began with cedar shims from my local True Value:

I was psyched cause they carry the longest shims I’ve ever seen (about 14 inches I think?) so my plan was going to work out even better than I thought! Buwahahahaha.

I wanted to make the same shape the Ballard mirror had, so I laid two shims together, touching at the bottom, wider apart on top. Then I laid one more on top and glued it on to hide the open area:

I used hot glue for the entire thing and it held great – wood glue works too, but you’d have to wait for it to dry and I have zero patience. :) I used a TON of hot glue, just to make sure everything was secure. (And that’s the reason the lovely kitchen towel is under every pic.)

The bottom of each trio of shims is hidden eventually, so you can use up those that are beat up a bit:

Oh, and I made that one that goes on top stick up a little bit over the tops of the two, just like in the Ballard version.

Then I took a scrap board (you can find something similar in the wooden area at the craft store – for my second mirror I used a round wooden piece) and started gluing the sets of shims on. I started with four, then added four more on top, then an additional four on top of that.

It was all about filling in the open space:

Then it was time to flip it! If  you use long shims like I did you need to finesse the flip a little. ;) When it’s turned over, just add single shims to fill in some of the empty space and glue them to the back of the entire thing:

I could have kept going, but I liked having a bit of space between some of the wood.

I flipped it back over again, then glued another piece of scrap wood on top of everything:

Then it was time to paint! This actually took more time than all the gluing, just because I tried to get in the little crevices. If you were smart you’d do this first, but I’m a stickler for the hard way obviously. :)

I mixed some of my sample of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Paris Grey with water and brushed it on. I didn’t want it to cover perfectly, since I wanted more of a rustic look. The mixing with water helped to give it a bit of a wash instead of opaque coverage. I picked the grey for a more neutral look, but any color would look amazing!

After the paint, I used a mirror glue (make sure to use the mirror version -- regular adhesives may eat away the back of your mirror) and gooped it up:

I found 12 inch mirrors in the candle area at Hob Lob (half off!), centered them right on top and then let it dry for hours. A little hanger added to the back and they were ready to go!

I LOVE love LOVE how they turned out!!:

They hang in the two large squares I installed in our staircase eons ago:

I was actually considering taking those down because they are NOT my best work. ;) They were one of my very first DIY projects in this house and up close they aren’t as good I as would like.

But for now they are staying! ;) I LOVE how well the mirrors work inside of them:

I personally love the rustic look, and that you can see the varying textures in the wood:

The make a HUGE statement for very little money. It is so hard to find huge art to fill a big space (that isn’t crazy expensive)!

You’ll notice my little quote on the gallery wall is gone – it had to go when we had everything painted:

I left it open for now because I’m debating if I’ll put up something different or just rearrange the photos.

I seriously ogle them every time I go up or down the stairs:

So here’s the comparison side by side – the Ballard version that is 48 wide and $350, and mine that’s 34 inches and cost $10 each:

  

Hellooooo, that is AWESOME! The cost was $4 for two packages of shims from True Value, the $5 mirror from Hobby Lobby and the scrap wood for the base. I had everything else.

Sooo, I’m about a year late on the sunburst mirror trend, right? And I’m sure I’m not the first one to figure out how to make it this way – but I LOVE how they turned out! And I love figuring out how to save $340 on something I love. :) Best part, yes?

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Pink walls, begone!

Heyyyyyya! I’m back to show you a HUGE change we made to the house a few weeks ago, and it was a very long time coming.

When we built more than eight years ago, we found out during the process that the builder would paint the interior walls for us if we wanted. Since our dining room, living room, loft and staircase are all connected, and all but the dining room have soaring ceilings (about 25 feet up at the tallest point), we jumped on that option big time. (For those spaces.) And the fact that they were going to paint it all for $600 (that we rolled into the mortgage) made it so we couldn’t pass it up.

We chose a color called Beechwood Grey by Porter and they were able to spray it on before floors or trim were installed (hence the cheap price).

Thing is, it wasn’t too long before I regretted our color choice. Sometimes it had more of a gray tone and I didn’t mind it. But other times it had a pinky hue that kind of drove me crazy. Eventually I no longer saw any grey, just PINK.

Pink as pink could be, pink.

And the kicker, beyond the color, was that they painted in flat paint. Flat paint has it’s place (ceilings!) and on big walls it can be a good idea, because it definitely hides imperfections in the wall.

But for all that is good, it is NOT a good idea on high traffic areas, like say…a staircase? A staircase wall that a little boy touched ever. single. time. he walked up the stairs as he was learning to climb them?

A staircase that showed every little smudge from every piece of furniture we’ve ever carried up the stairs:

 

Grody to the MAX.

Thing is, at least with the old flat paints (the newer ones are coming out with wipeable versions), you just can’t clean them. You could scrub all you want and it it won’t come clean. And then if it does come clean, you wipe off so much of the finish that it leaves a mark where you cleaned.

There’s no winning with it.

But we couldn’t just repaint those stair walls because a.) there’s no way the color would match perfectly b.) the walls are about 25 feet tall.

Uh, this girl? Not going up there. :)

So they sat there, all grody, and honestly I didn’t know that we’d ever be able to do anything about them. I just thought it would be too much to have them painted. But man, that staircase was looking AWFUL.

One day the guys that have been working on the basement took me to a house to show me how they had done something. While we were there they pointed out all the stuff they had done in the house, including painting a two story family room.

DING DING DING!!!

I had no idea they could do it, and it planted the seed.

So months later, we saved up the money (which turns out wasn’t even much more than we paid the builder!) and had it done and I AM SO HAPPY!!!!

The color is Analytical Gray by Sherwin Williams and I am head over heels in love with this color. Here it is in the dining room soon-to-be library:

(The top isn’t cut in because I will reinstall the crown up there eventually. The dining room transformation is coming along, more on that soon!)

Here’s that room with everything crammed in there as they painted – I had painted the dining room myself, but you can see where it stopped on the wall going to the front room:

I used to have a piece of trim up there so I could paint each room a different color. You can see that’s gone and I’ve since installed the wainscoting around into the dining room (above). Doesn’t it look so much better?? (And my money plant is growing like a weed!)

This is a LOVELY neutral color, beige mixed with just the right amount of gray. I think they call it “greige?” I call it perfect. :)

I took some before and after shots of the spaces to show you the difference this color has made. Here’s the living room window wall, before on the left, after on the right:

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe how pink those walls look now that I look at them in pictures!

Here’s the desk area in our living room, before on the left, after on the right:

The foyer/staircase area looks soooo different:

Wow. Pink.

Not sad to see ya go.

Here’s my favorite before and after:

Ah yessssss…the joys of an eggshell finish. I use eggshell pretty much everywhere in our house – it’s not too shiny, and it wipes up well. (Sometimes eggshell is called satin.)

And I like that it bounces the light around a little bit – I swear it makes the spaces brighter because it has a teensy bit of reflection to it. The flat just absorbed all the light and sucked it up into it’s dark, pink, flat chasm.

OK, drama. But for REAL my Squeezies. This is huge. I think this is one of the BEST changes we’ve made to our house – LOVE IT!!

I’ve already made a few other changes because of this one, so I’ll show you those over the next few weeks. WHOOO!

So do you have a go-to neutral paint color? It can be SO hard to find one that works for so many different spaces, like this one had to. If you’ve got one you love, please share!

P.S. Did I mention…WHOO?

P.P.S. You can see more on the rug in the dining room here!