Crisp and Clean

Aaaaaahhhh! It feels so good on the toes, and easy on the eyes. Here are some pictures of before and after to show how it was (eewww and not pretty) to how it is now (aaahhh and beautiful)!

What we started

with.

 

 A side view of the honey oak step out ledges.

The carpet has been yucky and not bare foot friendly, so we didn't bother being careful as we painted the wall and trim. It looks so crisp and clean with the blue and white.  The stairs have bothered me because they were just...off balance.  The stair lip matches the banister and ballast posts, but the carpet was uneven on every step.  We decided to carpet the stairs because it costs 3X$$$ to place hardwood and difficult to match the floor with stain anyway.So, in preparation for the carpet this week, and with 1 kid home sick 3 1/2 days, another one home sick 1 day (and now I've come down with the head cold) I had the task of painting the step out on the stairs.  It wasn't too bad.  In retrospect, I should have scrubbed and scraped the step with a trowel before the deglosser. That would have removed a lot of the carpet hair/fuzz that was stuck to it.  I cut off about 3 inches of carpet all the way up the stairway along the spindles. 

 Then it took 3 coats of paint. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out better than I could have hoped for!

The carpet removed, with just the padding. You can see the line where I painted the rise of the step and the lip.  I looked for a long time on Pinterest to see if there was anything posted of what we wanted to do with no luck.  Well, this will probably go there, because it turned out as a beautiful and less expensive alternative to finished hardwood stairs.

And the finished carpeted stairway. We had them butt the carpet up to the spindles to give it a fuller finished look. We love it and it is so cozy on the toesies!!

We love our new carpet!! It smells so fresh in our house (or at least I believe it does, I can't smell much right now with a stuffy nose :) The trim turned out so great too. A crisp classic look that is a stark contrast from the way it looked when we moved in. We've done a lot of work, but it has been so fun and so worth it.  I love that this foyer is the welcome point inside our home.  The next project is the kitchen. We have all new appliances (except the fridge) and we just need to get some bids for granite.  Too bad we can't have it done in AZ and shipped out here. It's a bummer paying so much for stuff we got so cheap in Arizona. 

A few more pictures of the carpet process...

The bonus room

 Emma's room

 And the gate at the door to the master BR downstairs to keep piddling puppies off the new carpet.  She's doing pretty well, but sometimes when I delegate the watching to the kiddos, well they forget to take her out and this will prevent any mishaps. Tim and I are getting good at hurdling all the time into our room!