The Stairwell
I then moved on to the biggie - the stairwell.
Not your average stairwell with walls that tower over 15 feet. To tackle this issue we had to bring in the big guns - aka my Dad's folding ladder.
Seemed easy - get up on the ladder, spackle, paint. Not so easy when you have a slight height phobia and a slight fear of being up on a ladder (well not so much being on the ladder as so much falling off the ladder). I managed to shimmy my way up the ladder a couple of times to spackle, but it was a little nerve racking for me.
So, as my parents were coming to visit that weekend and said to, and I quote, "put them to work", I left the ladder climbing to my Dad.
But I did want to get a jump on the stairwell despite the soon arrive of the Parental Patrol so I had to find a way to get a few jobs done, sans ladder.
I wanted to cut some primer up along the top of the wall to clean up the ceiling burps left by the previous owners, just to get started. But how to do it without the ladder...
Hmmmmmm...
Yes, yes, you see duct tape and a paint brush. I have an extension pole - actually truth be known it belongs to a former coworker of mine...any time you want it back Cee, let me know - so I taped the brush to the pole, extended it and cleaned up the ceiling burps. Slightly comical, but it worked!
Mom and Dad arrived that weekend and immediately got to work. Dad did an amazing amount of work over the long weekend. I helped out by doing the lower areas. My Mom, as the hallway was really a job for two, cleaned up my kitchen, did my dishes and my laundry. I have to say, don't discount that type of help when you are doing reno. It is easy to get so busy with all the renovations that normal stuff likes dishes and laundry and cooking a meal tend to fall by the wayside. So if someone offers to come over and clean up for you - take it! You'll be glad you did.
My Dad had me remove the stair rails to make painting easier. I was just going to leave them as they were and paint around them but taking them off gave me to opportunity to spruce things up a bit. The rails were held on by some very old metal brackets. They were quite heavy and very sturdy so I thought a little paint rescue was in order. So I broke out my trusty spray paint and spray paint box and worked my magic.
The Parental Patrol stayed a few days and then it was back to just me and the reno again. I decided to change the floor colour to a chocolaty brown to anchor the space in the stairwell and upper hallway.
I will admit that I cut corners a slight bit when it came to the stairs itself. Instead of completely removing the runner from the steps I just removed the outside staples and used small mugs to hold up the carpet up while I painted underneath (yes, quite an interesting use of mugs). But I fully painted the landing and the upper hallway floor as the runner was not secure to the floor. It definitely made a dynamic difference and as the paint was semi gloss (for durability) it gave the floor a little shine.
It is a cheap way to do a floor but I figure that gives the next homeowner lots of options as to how they want to do the floors. And well, let's face it, I just don't have the time or the money to be investing into such things right now. Sometimes you just have to keep it simple to keep your sanity. Besides, I think it looks pretty good - despite the necessity of the plastic runner - and you can't beat the ease of cleaning everything.
The final part of the stairs was the re-installation of the trim and securing the runner back in place.
The result:
Ahhh, so pretty.
And off to the upper hallway...
So before:
During:
And after:
Not your average stairwell with walls that tower over 15 feet. To tackle this issue we had to bring in the big guns - aka my Dad's folding ladder.
Seemed easy - get up on the ladder, spackle, paint. Not so easy when you have a slight height phobia and a slight fear of being up on a ladder (well not so much being on the ladder as so much falling off the ladder). I managed to shimmy my way up the ladder a couple of times to spackle, but it was a little nerve racking for me.
So, as my parents were coming to visit that weekend and said to, and I quote, "put them to work", I left the ladder climbing to my Dad.
 | |
| And that he did! Yes, those are mitts on the top of the ladder...keeps the wall from getting scratched Excellent do-it-yourself tip from my Dad |
But I did want to get a jump on the stairwell despite the soon arrive of the Parental Patrol so I had to find a way to get a few jobs done, sans ladder.
I wanted to cut some primer up along the top of the wall to clean up the ceiling burps left by the previous owners, just to get started. But how to do it without the ladder...
Hmmmmmm...
 |
| You can see the ceiling burp I was attempting to reach |
Mom and Dad arrived that weekend and immediately got to work. Dad did an amazing amount of work over the long weekend. I helped out by doing the lower areas. My Mom, as the hallway was really a job for two, cleaned up my kitchen, did my dishes and my laundry. I have to say, don't discount that type of help when you are doing reno. It is easy to get so busy with all the renovations that normal stuff likes dishes and laundry and cooking a meal tend to fall by the wayside. So if someone offers to come over and clean up for you - take it! You'll be glad you did.
My Dad had me remove the stair rails to make painting easier. I was just going to leave them as they were and paint around them but taking them off gave me to opportunity to spruce things up a bit. The rails were held on by some very old metal brackets. They were quite heavy and very sturdy so I thought a little paint rescue was in order. So I broke out my trusty spray paint and spray paint box and worked my magic.
(sorry.. my cat Chum's contribution)
not sure what gfffff means
I was thinking dodgy looking brackets...but maybe I'm wrong
 |
| a little silver paint... |
 |
| and voila! |
The Parental Patrol stayed a few days and then it was back to just me and the reno again. I decided to change the floor colour to a chocolaty brown to anchor the space in the stairwell and upper hallway.
 | |||||||||||||
| Almost looks edible, doesn't it? CIL's "Authentic Brown" in semi-gloss |
I will admit that I cut corners a slight bit when it came to the stairs itself. Instead of completely removing the runner from the steps I just removed the outside staples and used small mugs to hold up the carpet up while I painted underneath (yes, quite an interesting use of mugs). But I fully painted the landing and the upper hallway floor as the runner was not secure to the floor. It definitely made a dynamic difference and as the paint was semi gloss (for durability) it gave the floor a little shine.
 |
| It wasn't the easiest thing to have to do... |
 |
| ...keeping the cats away was a challenge |
The final part of the stairs was the re-installation of the trim and securing the runner back in place.
The result:
Ahhh, so pretty.
And off to the upper hallway...
So before:
During:
And after:
Those stairs are awesome!
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