The Craft House has a back staircase off the kitchen leading up to bedrooms and a bathroom.
and for the last ten years it has looked like this…
for the past three years i have wanted to paint them but i just couldn’t get it done.
this spring i finally had a long enough break in rentals and craft weekends and i got busy.
i cleaned everything really well.
then i primed all the wood surfaces with Kilz2.
two coats.
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and then i painted the walls and the ceiling all same color – Ultra Pure White by Behr in Eggshell finish..jpg)
after the walls and ceiling THEN i painted the doors, baseboard, window trim and the treads in Behr Ultra Pure White Semi Gloss paint.
painting wood white takes like a million years and then three more coats after that.
but it is so happy and bright that it is worth it to me.
wood color honestly makes me feel sad to be around… not at your house but yes at my house.
it sucks all the light out of the room.
i wouldn’t be sad visiting your house all decked out in wood everywhere but if i had to LIVE in say… a log cabin?
i would either go into a deep depression or paint the log cabin white on the inside.
(and maybe the outside too)
i know me.
it felt like it took FOREVER to get to the fun part!
i was dying to start on the color.
i taped the edges around the stair riser to help me have straighter lines.
and then i could FINALLY start..jpg)
i got the smallest size of paint i could… i think it’s a pint?
i used Valspar paint for the colors.
– Bright Red
– Hint of Cherry
– Orange Ochre
– Dandelion Wish
– Chopped Chives
– Lavish Green
– Wishing Well
i am not brand loyal for paint.
it is purely based on which store i am closest to at the time i need the paint.
and i used a foam brush for the colors.
it just seemed like it would be easier to control for such a small area.
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(i am aware that i still need to caulk the baseboards… one step at a time).jpg)
——————————————- BEFORE ——————————————————- AFTER ——————————————–.jpg)
i mean???
is there anything happier?!
no.
there is not..jpg)
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i touched up my mistakes with a little paint brush – OY VEH!
i had lots of time to think and pray and sing and plan while i was working on all of this.
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and this is the polyurethane that i use on white painted wood projects.
i like it.
i used it a lot.
i used many coats since stairs get a lot of traffic.
i may hang things on the wall.
i may not.
it took a ton of time but it was worth every second.
i wish i would’ve done it when we lived here.
i wish i had it my house i live in now just so i could see it everyday. 🙂
rainbows forever!!!
Diane McVey - This is one of the most beautiful, awesome things I have ever seen! I absolutely adore it! You are right it is just plain HAPPY!!! It’s GREAT! You should be very proud of yourself for doing this!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!
Kate @ Songs Kate Sang - Yes! Yes! Yes!
Leslie - Those are some happy stairs – love them!!
Ruth Elder - You are one for being creative so….. go online, maybe Pinterest and look up wall art done with paint chips. You find a picture and make it out of ‘pixels’ of paint chips. I think that would be perfect in that hallway.
Kimberlee Jost - It’s stunning! LOVE it. It makes that area so bright and cheery!
Kristy Mendler - I love this! Looks awesome!
Bethany - Obviously this is the happiest staircase ever. And the fact that it’s a back staircase…just another reason to love the craft house. I’ve dreamt of one day having a house with a back staircase since I was a girl.
The Love List | Gloria York's Blog - […] Meg’s stairs make me happy […]
Andrea - I love this….. don’t you have stairs going to a basement???? boy would that be fun!!!!!!
Carol S. - Sensational. And yes, a ton of work!!
Gevay - I am so with you on the painted wood. It looks so clean and happy and bright. There is a designer on that design channel we all love who goes on and on about how awful it is to paint wood and how people are terrible humans for doing it. She’s been shaming me and now you have set me free to enjoy my painted wood again! Thank you MEG!!! 😉
Beth - Yep, SO COOL! I love it. Job well done!
Judy - Those stairs just make me happy to look at them! Fantastic idea!! I bet you feel happy every time you walk upstairs!! :0)
Talia - LOVE this! Please do this at my house! 🙂
jennyonthespot - Oh Meg. So much the very, VERY BEST!!!
Lisa - I freaking LOVE it! I am with you on the wood being depressing, I would have to paint it all white too…I know lots of people would not approve of that, but oh well!
jennibell - Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Really, there are just NO other words. These are the BEST!!!
Kimberly - That staircase looks so light, bright, and happy now! I love it! Kudos to you for the patience it took to paint all of that!
bekkah - wow! this is impressive; your dedication/patience is inspiring 🙂
i totally know what you mean about being comfortable in your space vs someone else’s. i LOVE all the colors in your home/craft home but at the end of the day i am a neutrals/minimalist girl.
Kathleen W. - That is so awesome, bright & cheery ! Makes me want to paint my stairs ! You rock Meg !
iralee poore - yup- i love it! i know it was hard and a long process but it looks lovely!!
Megan - Meg-
you are sooooo awesome! thanks for posting the whole shebang…..I can hardly wait to do my back staircase! I have to wait until school lets out (I teach) but as soon as the end of June rolls around….I am breaking out the rainbow paints!
Thanks so much for inspiring me and helping me to be creative!
Jen@thecottagenest - It looks amazing! I could move right into the craft house!
robin - Best.inspirational staircase ever!!…
Kristin S - That is a true labor of love and I so love the end result!
I painted my two garage steps lime green a few years ago and it still makes me happy when I pull in my garage. Rainbow would be dreamy.
Corinne - Hi
Wondered what poly you used there’s no pic. All the ones I’ve tried on white turn yellow and I end up sanding and repainting. Looking at my coffee table now and I have to repaint again to get back to white. Love the stairs. Thanks
Janelle - If I had a million dollars, I would offer it to your for your house. It is so well done, with so much love & thoughtfulness!
Kristen - Meg, I love the way that you feed my need for COLOR!!!! There are 7.2 zillion projects that I should be doing at our house, but I just wanna paint my stairs now!!!!! You did an amazing job!!!
Kristin F. - They look amazing!! And I am completely with you on the painted wood bandwagon. We are in the process of buying my parents’ 1987 log home and the VERY first thing on our agenda? Paint every surface white. I cannot wait to live surrounded by painted wood logs.
Julie - Such a light bright cheery stairway to walk up and down in now. How old is the house Meg?
Kelly - I have never seen a prettier set of stairs! I bet it just makes you smile every time that you see them.
Oh.. and I completely agree about wood tones!
Su - I don’t like purple either. Noticed it got left off the stairs 🙂
And I could not live in a log cabin or a house with wood cabinets, wood trim, wood paneling either. . .when we moved into this house I painted everything white. . it was definitely 70s, Brady Bunch style wood. . .now it is happy.
Thanks for sharing the colors. . pinning it. ..I want to do my dining room chairs each a color.
Pam - Good heavens, we just did some painting so I can imagine how much time it took. And glory how hard to have done all that work and not see it every day. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful!
Cathy - I love it! A trick I’ve learned in all the painting I’ve done: paint, let it dry, tape, paint over the tape with the same color. After it dries, paint the bordering color. The first color is what will bleed under your tape a little bit and that’s ok because that’s the color you put down first. The bordering color won’t bleed through. Remove the tape and you’ll have a perfect clean line.
Ame - That is brilliant – what a fun, incredibly happy idea!
kim - lady, you are DEDICATED. this looks like SO much work (and love) went into them. the payoff is GRAND, they look amazing!! can’t wait to see these in person!
Kit - Meg! Way to go, it’s completely awesome!
sharon / theprincipledtype.blogspot.com - you are so brave and i am so chicken! lol. your ‘more color’ life beckons.
KWolff - Way to go! This would definitely make trekking up stairs a lot more fun! 🙂