Thursday, April 19, 2012

Stairwell Makeover

About a year ago I had seen some decorating ideas for stairwells in a magazine I love
(Country Living).  It gave me the itch to tackle ours.
 There was nothing really wrong with our stairwell, it was just kind of "blah" and simply an area to "pass through."  And as a SAHM, I think I've gotten poison ivy kinds of itches lately, as I've wanted to change a lot of things around in our home!
So, the last week of January it began...I repainted the ceiling white.  It made it look so much cleaner and brighter.  Good start.  Then about a month passed while I hung swatches of paint colors on the walls and would study them in the afternoons while Kale napped; watching the sun move over them and turn the grey hues blues and purples and khakis.  I didn't want blues and purples and khakis.  I wanted grey-straight up grey!  I eventually settled (again, after about a month) on Mindful Grey from Sherwin Williams.  I must say, I love it.  It's not too dark-it's subtle and lovely.
 The painting took some time as I decided not to tape.  I was in  no rush and just decided to work on it as I could, while Kale napped, and eventually it would get done.  I had 10 doorframes to go around so we're talking lots of trimming here, folks.
 Like the ceiling, the painting has been done for quite some time now but last weekend, we completed the project by hanging the picture frames.  Then much to my husband's dismay, I saw yet another idea in Country Living magazine (Your Christmas gift subscription is costing us money, Mom!)...a new light fixture.  It was black to match the black, grey and white theme I was going with, it was affordable, and I didn't care for the one that was up.  So, a few (more like 6) hours later, the new light was bright and shining (old home, former light not installed correctly, power out for 4 hours due to wind...etc...).
And now when we pass through the stairwell, I smile.  And when Kale passes through he points to the pictures and says "Mama!", "Papa!" and "Cedar!".  I think the 4 months' work was worth it.

4 comments:

Jill said...

I love it!!! Looks fabulous!!!

shane and jackee said...

I like it! Love the gray color and the frames look fantastic! Good work!!! :)

Farmgirl Chaos said...

Great job Deedra! I like it!
FYI...Junk Jubilee is this weekend at the 4-H Building on the fair grounds in Des Moines! Will you be there? :)

Life of the Lorenzens said...

Wow! It looks like a magazine picture now! I feel your pain on the paint colors. I've had a lot of bad luck lately. I am amazed at the patience it must have taken to arrange and hang all those picture frames. I'm guessing it was more of an eyeball job and "that looks good" than a carefully measured out arrangement. I think I spent at least 30 minutes and about six different tools hanging three picture frames in our new office because I was trying to get them all centered with everything and each other. I also managed to get a big cut on my finger from the measuring tape snapping back too quickly. :o( Good for you and your randomness!