If we’re friends on the book of faces, you’ve already seen these photos. I recently redid our basement stairwell and although it isn’t done yet, it’s on the way to being tons better.
As you can see, the stair area was a little scary. The trim was curdled cream colored, the walls were a mix of leftover paints, the plaster was damaged. Our plaster is also old and every time I tried to patch and sand it, I made it even worse. I finally covered it with posters and told myself I was happy.
With weird damage like that though, I totally was not happy. I needed to do something useful this week and decided to finally tackle the project. Drywalling again was NOT in my future though so I turned to my old friend paintable wallpaper
I find wallpaper pretty easy to put now and the difference in the room was pretty immediate. My only issues were when I accidentally hung a piece upside down (and quickly fixed it) and when I smacked my head super hard on the door frame while hanging up some paper. It hurt really really bad. The rest of the project was a breeze though.
Once the paper was actually up, I knew it was time to paint. I painted the walls, ceiling, and trim Ultra Bright white in a paint + primer from Lowes. It was kind of tedious and the area didn’t vent well which meant it was muggy and fumey in there. Ultimately though, it looks amazing. The texture is interesting without being overpowering, it matches the age of our house, and it makes me smile when I see the door open.
I’ve hung some art now as well, I just need to take photos of that. This shot shows our downstairs bathroom with its new poster collection (previously found on the basement stairwell walls). I’m really happy with how it’s all turning out.
I’m really working to get my house in better order so that I’m less stressed next semester. I have a busy con season this summer (we’ve just confirmed two more!) and I’m taking way more classes next semester then I normally do. Anything I can do to help make me less stressed is going to be appreciated by future me.
So here’s to a summer of projects and renovations. I hope it doesn’t suck!
