We’ve been working hard on the stairway walls to bring them back to a paintable state, but it’s a slow process. I’ve been scrubbing off wallpaper paste, patching the plaster and sanding like crazy. My dad has been taping and mudding drywall. But we’re not quite done yet.
Instead of showing you more dull photos of unfinished walls, I thought I’d let you in on my design plan for the space.
First, a few parameters:
- I want the walls to be light. This area gets next to no natural light. Dark in the daytime!
- Looking at the stairwell from upstairs, it is obvious to me that the upper walls should be white. I want it to feel like an extension of the room, instead of treating it like some weird, detached “other” space. (Excuse me for using an old photo of the playroom. It is not nearly this tidy at the current moment, with loads of tools and toys all over the place.)
- The space below is pretty well isolated from the rest of the house. You don’t see it from upstairs (unless you are at the top of the stairs). And you don’t see it from the main living space downstairs. You get a tiny peek through a door frame from Elise’s room, but that’s it.
- It is small and a transitional space (that is, you pass through it instead of spending time in it).
Those two things mean it’s time to go bold with color and pattern. I want something clean, vibrant, youthful, fun, modern, but sort of classic at the same time. And all of that adds up to…. stripes!
I thought about doing an all-over stencil, or some hand-painted pattern, but in the end I just keep coming back to stripes.
Now, I admit this crude Photoshop mock-up looks a bit intense. In reality, I’m pretty confident it will not be quite so bright and in your face.
I painted a sample board of the stripes, mainly just to decide on a width, but I really think they are going to work in this small area. (And yeah, that photo was taken before I washed the walls.)
As for the stairs themselves, I’m going for a mid-tone green. Not too dark that it sucks all the light out of the space and not light enough to see scuffs or dirt.
I brought home a bunch of green paint chips. They are all really different. And of course, the all look way different in the dark stairwell.I’m going to wait until we install the new lights before I choose the right shade. I’m also thinking of trimming out the “runner” with some stripes in coordinating tones.
So that’s the plan! What do you think?
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