The Stairway

Our virtual tour of the first floor is almost finished, so I thought I'd give you a little peek at the in-between area of the house.

This is probably the one "room" that will give us a small headache in the road to redesign. Let me show you why.

Here's the entryway. As you can see, there's some lovely tile that greets you as you begin your climb to the second floor. I'd love to pull this up and cover it with something else, but I don't know what. Maybe carpet? Given the number of times I've fallen down these stairs (once for each week we've lived here) something with a little more grip might be in order.


As you look up, you're sufficiently creeped out. Ideally I'd like to fix the light fixture at the top of the stairs, and add one at the base of the stairs to get a little more light in there.


There are three mirrors along the top of the stairs. I like the added effect, but I'm not sure what to do with them. I want to get rid of the metal boarder the previous owners put up, and maybe even make them a little deeper so we can put things inside the ledge...small candles or something. As they are now they're not very big.


Hardwood floors at the top! Victory is mine!


Looking down. As you can see, there's no light at the base of the stairs. I'd like to install another light fixture to give the stairway some light. I'd also like to lower the banister a bit. It's too high and each time I fall and reach for the banister, it's just out of my reach. Not cool.


There's a delightful little glass-block window at the base of the stairs. This helps, but doesn't quite let in enough light. However, I like that I'm able to tuck away this candle. We installed a tap light for the time being, and that helps a lot, but we're both aware that it's a temporary fixture.



So...hopes/dreams/plans for this area:

• Paint! It's a weird pinkish color that neither of us are too fond of.
• Get rid of the stair tiles and replace them with something else.
• Lower the banister
• Do something with the mirrors on the side.
• Remove chrome boarders from the mirrors!
• Hang picture frames along the stairs so there's something lovely to look at as you go up.
• Replace the light fixture at the top of the stairs.
• Install a light fixture at the base of the stairs.

Ultimately it's not a long list, and they're small fixes. I think painting is going to be the biggest pain, and the light fixtures and flooring will probably be the most expensive. All that needs to be done is cosmetic, and I'm really thankful for that!