THE STORY
Last week it was NKOTB this week I’m thowin’ it back to Bobby Brown. Can you tell when I grew up yet???
Keeping with the theme of steps, I thought I would share our stairwell transformation. This is a great one.
Here’s where we began:
Our first not-so-little step was to strip the stairs. This was grueling work and Jeff did the lion’s share.
A railing was even missing, so we stole one from the hallway.
When we purchased the house, we were engaged to be married. We thought it would be fun to have our engagement photos taken in the Money Pit. I love juxtaposition – beauty and ugliness, darkness and light. The current state of our house provided the perfect backdrop for us to get dressed to the nines and pretend to be models for a day. Here are a few photos taken on the stairs.
Shout out to Brad Barnwell, Frederick’s favorite photographer. He’s been with us through all of our most important events. Please reach out to him if you are looking for a photographer! Check out his work here. You’ll see more of these engagement photos on future posts too. They get a little crazy!
Although my thigh is now larger than my waist was when this photo was taken, I still have this dress. It’s one of my favorite pieces. I found it at my friend Jen’s shop, Venus on the Halfshell in downtown Frederick. She names many of her pieces and this one is called “Daddy’s Little Spoiled Brat.” So perfect!
Back to the stairs…
We were making very slow progress painting these stairs and the walls were just too high for us to deal with. I think it took me 8 hours to finish these spindles.
We decided to call in a professional. Dave De Leon of De Leon Painting came to our rescue. In just a few days, our stairwell was transformed. Here’s a great side-by-side before and after.
The niche looks really great. I wanted a chandelier in there and I guess I got one : )
We’ve had a lot of wear and tear on these poor steps and the walls. They were in rough shape. During the quarantine, Jeff repainted not only the stairs but also the walls and niche! We also updated the sconces. The old ones just weren’t fussy enough. These are worthy of the art.
Jeff really dislikes the baroque frames on the wall – likely because they have fallen off the wall and hit him in the head on more than one occasion! I love them and I’m thinking of getting silhouettes of Brant and Rogue done to place in them.
Here is a sneak peek at the stairs that lead to our basement and my favorite light fixture in the house. We’ll save the full basement reveal for a later post.
THE MATERIALS
Like what you see? Here are the paints and fixtures and artwork we used. Click on the links to shop our space.
The light fixture in our lower level stairwell is the Powell LED 3-Light Semi-Flush with White Globes, Aged Brass from Lights.com.
Wall color is Icy Avalanche by Sherman Willimas available at Lowes.
Spindles, risers and wall trim are in Summer Gray by Valspar available at Lowes.
The niche color is Pencil Point by Behr available at Home Depot.
Stair treds, handrails and posts are in New Black by Valpsar available at Lowes.
Our sconces were purchased from Pottery Barn, but they no longer sell them. I’ve found a similar sconce at a great price from BeautifulHalo.com.
The black baroque frames came from IKEA of all places. They are the Ung Drill Mirrors that are now discontinued. But you can still snag them at Refinery 29. Who’d have guessed something so fussy could be found in the land of simplistic Scandinavian furnishings!
The large canvas that hangs in the niche was a Home Goods find, but you can find many like it at Wayfair.
Our Little Nest on South 
2 thoughts on “Every Little Step”