Hello Folks! I am so happy to announce that I finished my back stairway re-do over the weekend!
This hallway was always a sore point for me, most people come in our house through the back door, which either leads up into the kitchen or down into the basement family room. We had already re-done the basement and freshened up the kitchen, but the back stairway/entry way left MUCH to be desired. It was fugly, no bones about it.
The walls were faux-painted in a creepy skin color/almost pink and the walls were so beat up and full of dings and cracks and holes that it looked like bulls had been on parade. There was also a charming silvery wallpaper border that went around only halfway before stopping in a messy end where someone had ripped it off. Oh, did I also mention the light was just a bare bulb hanging there? Nice right?! The handrails were painted a "once was white" and were almost goopey they were so dirty and gross, and the carpet on the stairs was a very cheap, very old and very smelly berber blue that was stapled down with no edging, no moulding, no nothing.In fact there was no moulding or trim anywhere in this hallway. I was fed up with being embarrassed about this space, especially since it was the first stop on your way in the back of the house. Not having a bunch of money or time, here is the list of what we did on the cheap to get from our before to our after~
DEMO: gross part: ripping up the carpet and pad from the stairs, this was pretty easy and it was good to get that stuff out of the house. I used pliers and a screwdriver to remove all the left over staples that did not come up with the carpet. We were left with light colored wood stair steps and the risers (the up and down part of the steps) were just plywood, so kinda ugly. We also filled and sanded all of the dings, cracks and dents in all the walls at this point and removed the wallpaper border. Tip: use a hairdryer if it does not come off easy, usually heating up the glue helps it peel right off.
Handrails: This was pretty easy, I took the handrails off the wall, and put them over sawhorses outside. I then sanded the crap out of them until all of the old nasty paint was gone, hit them one more time with a fine sandpaper, wipe down and sprayed with a clear coat. I also took the original brass hardware holding up the rails and hit them with my favorite hammered bronze spray paint: TA~DA! Instantly better! p.s. I love rustic, & wanted to make it look like it has been there forever, so I left some dings and a bit of white paint on my handrails, feels more charming :)
Paint: White, white, white. I painted everything white semi-gloss which instantly turned this from the dark hallway of doom to a brighter, more cheerful space!
Steps: K, this was a biggie, trying to figure out what to do with the steps without spending a ton of money or taking years off our lives with stress. My solution? I stained the wood steps themselves a dark brown, 2 coats made them a color I love (I use a Minwax stain and finish in 1 product). I chose to let the stairs weather naturally, they have already gained some light spots and the edges on a few steps are show a bit of wear. This might drive you nuts, but it is the kind of thing I LOVE! I wanted it to look like an old farmhouse stairway, since the original part of the house is over 100 years old, I wanted the steps to look like they have been there with dogs and kids running up and down them forever.
Beadboard: For the stair risers, we bought a couple sheets of white breadboard from our local home improvement store and cut pieces to fit each stair riser, which we then air nailed into place. We followed that with a piece of quarter round where the riser meets the step to give a nice finish (and to hide any wobbly cuts we made on the table saw) We also added a piece of breadboard to the "bump out" ledge wall you see in the photos, that wall was crumbing and it ending up being a nice touch and matched the steps and the ceiling.
TIP: when you are cutting your pieces for the step risers, take a pen and number your steps, then write down the measurements for each step on a piece of paper next to their number. For example: Step #1 is 4 feet 2 inches wide and 9 inches tall, etc. When you are cutting, write the number on the back of each piece as you cut it. Believe me, you are going to have a bunch of pieces that are similar in size, you don't want to drive yourself crazy trying to figure out which piece goes in which spot. If you are lucky like us, our steps were all the same width so we just measured the hight, cut, wrote the number on the back, moved on to the next one, and so on……
Moulding and More Moulding: An important part of this project was the trim. We measured and went up to the store and cut and painted the moulding ourselves. We bought basic, cheap wood trim since I was painting it all white. Trimming in all the areas such as the doors, the baseboards, the outside corners, and the ceiling was a bit of a pain but boy does it make a difference! And the secret to great looking trim is calk. Not joking, it's your new best friend. My husband would air nail the trim up and I would follow right behind him with white calk in my calking gun. Run a smooth line of calk anywhere trim meets the wall or another piece of trim. Smooth with a finger, have a damp rag ready to wipe up behind your finger smoothing and a paper towel on hand to wipe up excess calk. Trust me, it's easy and cheap to do and it is the difference from a professional looking finished project and crappy looking moulding. It hides many sins, so pick some up when you are at the store!
Extras: We threw up a light that I found for less than $15 at Menard's and some funky coat hooks, some stick up chalkboard shapes and a basket I found on sale in the little side nook. I made the curtains myself from fabric and ribbon I found at Walmart and used fabric bonding tape instead of sewing them because I was feeling lazy. I am looking forward to adding a few nick-nacks from my collection into the space now that we are all done.
2 weekends of work= a whole difference space that I can be proud of!
