so after an internal debate about whether to paint or leave the treads natural, the conclusion was drawn that a painted stair would go better with aforementioned goal to paint all floors white {author's note: obviously floor painting has not yet happened, for a million different reasons, but it's still on the list...among other things}. also the wood just wasn't that nice {though that's hard to see in the photos} and paint camouflages all flaws. so we got to work sanding... and preparing for a stair runner. also note a stair runner saves time in sanding/painting phase seeing that it covers up 3/4 of said stairs. {and yes, i am fully aware that were later owners to pull up said stair runner, they would get an unpleasant surprise. to that all i can say is ...sorry.}
close up of sanding. we just used a small hand sander which you can see in the above photo. also, dust from sanding gets e v e r y w h e r e & is really the main reason why we didn't sand the entire stair tread. anyway, just don't say you weren't warned: sanding = a mess.
then time for painting... glossy white paint. in case you were wondering, we used benjamin moore porch & floor enamel in oxford white. i will say a few things about this product as having never had an experience with floor paint. 1 - it's much more watery than regular paint. but don't glop it on, thin coats get the best results. 2 - i knew it was going to be glossy, but this paint is reallllly glossy. which at first i wasn't sure about, but after living with it for a little while now, the sheen is a nice contrast to the more matte eggshell paint on the walls. 3 - this paint in particular is oil based. meaning you have to use turpentine to clean brushes and really anything you painted that you rather not have {read-hands & legs especially}. my advice? buy you a pair of those yellow rubber cleaning gloves.
and debuting our runner {can't thank you enough, cb!} which -i'll confess- we had professionally bound & installed. also in this photo you can get a glimpse of the chandelier i found on ebay. and soon that big blank wall will have some attention.
close-up of runner. we wanted natural fiber -which of course isn't cheap since i seem to have expensive taste even when not meaning to- and sisal was one of the most economic options {some natural fibers like seagrass are a lot thicker and thus more $$}. this color in particular is really nice with the green/blue hues on the ceiling and in the upstairs landing. depending on the time of day it has flecks of greens, blues, and yellows. i.e. it's much lovelier in person.
and of course, more to come.
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