Before and After: Our Stairs

Our last house, which we moved from four plus years ago, has within its walls too many DIY projects to count -- new stairs, all new floors, moldings, window seats, and the list goes on.  We had gotten it pretty much the way we wanted, and then of course, we decided to move in favor of a little more space and privacy.

Taking on our current house meant doing some projects all over again.  The worst of which, in my man's mind, was the stairs...

(The day of our inspection, me in the kitchen).  It was almost an insult, being assaulted by the super cheap, blue-gray, worn rug in this picture -- it was the exact same rug we had lived with and hated in the old house for ten years!  And, alas, we were haunted by it anew.  (Oh, and I know you are checking out the $.99 tile, two different styles, no less, in the hall and the kitchen.  Put your green eyes away, lol...that's another story.)

Anyway, this past summer, my man reached his breaking point and ripped up the carpet and the pine builder's board stairs and replaced them with oak.  Admittedly not my favorite species, but we had to coordinate with things existing, so there you have it.   He did a gorgeous job. He can do anything.  I'm seriously lucky.

After we'd finished painting the outside of the house all summer, the runner went on in the fall, followed by my drawing molding boxes on the wall and wallpapering them two weeks ago (a great girl-power day, teaching my teenage girls how to measure, cut and wallpaper)...

My man then cut and installed all the molding pieces I'd painted (BM Standish White) and finally, the finished product...

In reality, the wall is darker than it appears here, and the Versailles pattern wallpaper by Jaima Brown has the exact BM Crown Point Sand color in it as the walls are painted.  The stained woodwork is reflected in the warm brown tones in the paper, too.

What a difference it has made in the plain and tall front hall and stairway.  Just enough English meets French country.  I just wish the pictures showed just how nicely the colors of the rooms layer with the hallway :(, but you get the idea.  (Oh, and the floor in there will eventually be a limestone look, in varying size tiles, to give a stony feel -- another thing left behind in the old house!)

So, that's part of what I've been up to lately.  I took some time off from blogging to attend to some other commitments, but I couldn't stay away too long.  Blogging is such an addiction. :)

What's got you busy around the house?

Talk to you soon,
Carol