Tuesday, April 27, 2010

To paint or not to paint?

Ok I'm going to keep it real here (and I mean REAL) - these are the steps up to my family room/dining room and kitchen area (we live in a tri-level). I hate the white paint. Notice the marks from shoes? Ugh .. it drives me nuts.Now here are the steps leading up to the girls bedrooms and my office. Yes they usually have mail and paperwork on them. I told you I was keeping it real. The hubby caught me taking pics and said "don't even think about it"! Whatever does that means?:) When we 1st moved in we added the wood veneer to the front of the steps to hide the hideously ugly green paint that the previous owners had painted. The original plan was to repaint them white and am I ever glad that we did not do that! I constantly feel the need to clean the painted white backs of the steps.

The new plan for the 1st step of steps is to add a runner. I am going with something fun and fresh. Something like this maybe? Pic found here That project will probably have to wait since we need to replace the old carpet downstairs.

Moving on to the larger set of steps (the one with the wooden veneer). This project has me a little more nervous because it involves painting the steps (not green). I have seen a few ideas out there that I thought would be fun. But do I want fun? Maybe I want traditional? Something timeless? I mean it is just paint after all. Of course my staircases look NOTHING as spectacular as these, but that won't stop me from trying to achieve the same look.
pic from here, here , here

2 comments:

Sarah @ Hennessey House said...

oooo, i love the idea of a runner. especially something fun and stand-out-ish like that last pic :) well, whatever you decide, be sure to post about it!!

Robin said...

1st time visitor - lovely blog! There are so many fun options for stairs these days. Just a heads up - I had a runner with the metal rods across like your 3rd photo, but it was a pain to keep clean b/c the dirt and dust would collect around the sides. I LOVE the painted runner look though. My fave is 2nd from the bottom. Good luck!