Victorian Folk Fixer-upper

I am in need of advice for our stairs!

Here is the plan:

Trim: All white, except for the handrail and newel posts, which will be stained a glossy black

Wall color: Sherwin-Williams Offbeat Green

Decor: Framed posters and photos on the walls and a chandelier covered in crystals that our neighbor gave us. I want to paint it, but I'm not sure what color yet. I might go with black, white, or gray since the wall color is so strong.

Problem: The stairs themselves! We got a quote to have it carpeted, but now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if I want carpeted stairs! Style aside, I love the way they creak loudly when someone walks on them. It makes me feel safe at night, and it's just sort of a weird comforting sound any time I hear Dustin walking on them or walk on them myself. I'm also concerned about my willingness to vacuum stairs. I am notoriously lazy, and although I don't mind vacuuming, I HATE to vacuum stairs. That may not mix well with my love for our 4 furry pals!

Here is what we're working with. (Please disregard the wallpaper, drapes, and weird bathroom with a basket on top; none of these things are there anymore!)


So should I paint them white with a painted runner? I LOVE this look, but I don't know exactly what kind of paint to use. We painted the stairs to the attic using black porch/floor paint, and I don't love it. It's not glossy enough... but then won't gloss make it slippery? What if I use a regular latex paint with a coat of water-based poly on top? Wouldn't that be just like the coat of poly that is (or was haha) on top of the stain that's already there?

Here's the look I want (but not red!)



And OMG I just found this while searching for the above photo:



I LOVE that idea, but with white treads!

And here are some colored treads with white risers:



So should I forego the carpeting (which will subtract $250 from the cost of the carpet installation in the bedroom and upstairs hallway, yay!) If so, what should I do instead?!

Update: I just got the new quote and it actually subtracts $370 DOLLARS from the carpet cost!!!

Well, I finally broke down and started painting some of the trim white. I started with the door to the basement, because the finish wasn't in the best shape and all of the rest of the original trim was missing from the kitchen when we bought it anyway. We replaced it with white, and now that the kitchen is black and white with maple flooring, the dark wood trim of the door stuck out like a sore thumb!

So I sucked it up and went to Sherwin-Williams, which, by the way, is now my favorite place ever. Their employees actually know about their products- unlike at Lowe's, where I've had people try to sell me things that I KNEW were not the right products for my needs. They also had a color wheel that I could buy for $10, so now I have EVERY PAINT COLOR SAMPLE in one place. They used to be all over the house! And as if that wasn't enough, their high adhesion primer and trim paint are both the best paints I've ever used!

I think people of our generation have the wrong impression of Sherwin-Williams. We think it's for our parents' generation- for people who don't know how to research things on the internet. We don't need customer service, because we already know everything! Well, if you've ever looked up stuff about paint on the internet, you'll know that pretty much everyone has a different opinion about how things should be done. Anyhow, I remembered Sherwin-Williams as "that wallpaper place." When I was about 10, my parents redid our bathroom and let ME choose the wallpaper. I remember sitting in a pile of sample books from SW, feeling SO empowered. And I think this is where my love for wallpaper truly began. Of course, over the years, I realized how "old fashioned" it was and grew to hate it, especially when scraping 110 years worth/6 layers off off the walls of every room of a 5 bedroom house. Then I discovered DAMASK. And Amy Butler. And now I LOVE wallpaper again. And I have my own house, so it's even more empowering. Hopefully this time I won't choose anything as hideous as what I chose for the family bathroom, though... it was a shimmery white/silver background with maroon and black brushstrokes every 6 inches or so. It was so futuristic for the early 90s!

(As I side note, sometimes I totally wish I had gone into interior design. I would now, but I CAN'T DRAW at all. This saddens me. I wonder if there's any software out there that could compensate for this. Dusin had me attempt to draw our porch how I imagined it with the glider and rocking chairs and pillows, and he said I ended up doing a pretty decent job... but I don't know if he was just humoring me or not. He's far too nice for me to ever know for sure!)

Anyway, SW still carries wallpaper. I look at the samples in their books, then order what I want from a website for HALF the price. Awesome. And their paint is pretty pricy (I think the trim paint was $50 for a gallon,) but it's definitely worth it to not be cursing during the whole job... like the time I painted the trim in the attic with DUTCH BOY. *shudder*

We started to prime the dining room trim, but I don't want to spoil the surprise by posting crappy photos of the primer. I'm going to wait until the wallpaper (black and silver damask! Be still, my heart!) is up before posting photos of that room. For now, here is the basement door after one coat of high adhesion primer and one coat of self-leveling latex trim paint. I need to find a "before" photo somewhere...



Thanks to those of you who take the time to read this! Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions!

THIS!

I LOVE this backsplash. It's water resistant wallpaper called Pallade from Graham and Brown. I seriously wanted to sleep in the kitchen last night.








I can hardly wait to finish the trim, buy the rest of the cabinets (we still need two wall cabinets and two HUGE pantry cabinets) and get a new fridge, but that's on hold while we work on the dining room and foyer. Plus, our current fridge works... it just makes really loud clunking noises sometimes. I'll feel better about buying a new one when/if this one craps out completely. :)

I've made a HUGE decision. I've decided to paint the trim in the dining room... and possibly also the foyer. Here is my reasoning:

1. The dining room trim is stained at least 4 different colors. The crown moulding, window trim, built in china cabinet, and closet door/trim are ALL DIFFERENT SHADES of stain.
2. The previous owner TAPED plastic to the trim, and the tape took off the finish when we removed it. She also had big dogs who apparently liked to use the window sills as crutches to stand up and look out the window, because the sills are pretty housed.
3. Sanding, restaining and polyurethaning is HARD. And it would no longer be "original" anyway. And I honestly don't love the wood trim look enough to do it myself. I'd rather just paint it with white self-leveling trim paint.
4. The white trim will allow me to use the black and white damask wallpaper that I love more than anything.

As far as the foyer goes, I have similar reasoning, except I really want to paint it gray, and there is a lot of trim that was damaged or removed when the crazy hallway-blocking bathroom was built. Now that it's gone, we will need to replace all of that trim, and I don't think we will be able to match the color of the existing. So we're in pretty much the same boat there.

I'm getting started on the dining room this weekend... I will update when I have more progress photos to show!

We finally got some more kitchen cabinets! I didn't take a photo of the run we did on the other side of the room because it's pretty much buried in pots and pans that we haven't put away yet, but here is the new wall cabinet. It's going to have one of those weird glass doors that opens upward and a light in it. Planning the kitchen was tough, but I was so happy to be able to fit that in right over the oddly sized window!

Now we just need to order the water resistant wallpaper backsplash (black and white or black and silver damask- I am still undecided!) and get some blinds or curtains.

Oh, and that bird statue pretty much makes my life. It also provided inspiration to officially add green to the black/white/blue/silver color scheme.



Also, here is a before picture in case you don't remember what we started with:

One night when Dustin and I first started dating back in December 2005, we stayed awake all night at the house in Beechview, laughing at things like naming a dog Snarfles and talking about how we both shared the same dream of owning a 6 player X-Men arcade game. Well, 5 years later, we not only own just that, but we are also working on a full fledged arcade- glowing carpet and all! Here are some photos of the progress (not shown: the GAUNTLET cabinet!) We still need to get stools and Dustin is still building the MAME cabinet and rewiring Gauntlet, so I'm sure I'll have more to share soon!

I fell in love with our house because of its beautiful dark stained trim. When we were searching for homes, it made me sad to see ones that had the trim painted white at some point. I glossed over them when searching the real estate sites, because only the ones with dark trim made my heart skip a beat.

Two years in our new home and some BAD paint color choices later, I finally kind of understand why so many people have painted their trim white. It's what you see in all of the paint sample photos and magazines. It's so easy to match wall colors to white trim, but the mahogany colored wood has been much more difficult. Red just can't work. Dark colors make it fade away. Certain bright colors make it pop, but not like white does.

I've actually caught myself thinking "would it be so bad if I did paint it?" My immediate response is "YES! IT WOULD BE BAD! TERRIBLE, ACTUALLY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" So I guess I won't, because the thought of taking a paint brush dripping with white latex anywhere near such beauty honestly kind of makes my heart hurt. So I guess I will continue making mistakes with color until everything falls into place. After all, the walls can be easily repainted, and there's obviously something about the woodwork that drew me to the house in the first place.

Well, it's been two years now and the house is finally coming together. I will be posting photos with my phone because it's easy and I am lazy, so sorry if they are poor quality! Stay tuned to see the nearly completed kitchen and living room, and the demolished dining room (I am finally tearing down the awful paneling!)


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