about the stairs... the pink wallpaper that you see below was the last remaining wallpaper in the house. we had great plans to remove the wallpaper and paint the stairs years ago, but the height and lack of a tall enough ladder kept pushing the project back. we even bought a new light fixture several years ago, and it had been sitting in our basement.
the (lovely) old fixture had 3 bulbs in it. one by one these bulbs have burnt out, and we have been living with just one bulb the last couple of months. we refused to replace the light bulbs in the old fixture, knowing that we had a brand new one in the basement, just waiting to be installed.
the fall rugby season has ended, so we decided to use our first free weekend to finally do something about the wallpaper and the light. we ended up renting a 24' extension ladder, and were able to do the entire stairwell from the ladder.
good news for me (but bad news for mike), his extra height and the fact that only one person could fit into the stairwell at a time, meant that mike did most of the work. it took him almost an entire day to remove the wallpaper...
we had to patch the wall in a few places, and then primed the wall above the window.
i found this painting tool at sherwin williams that allowed us to cut in along the ceiling without having to actually reach it. it worked well, and was much easier than trying to figure out a way to build some kind of platform to gain access.
we used the same antique white paint that we have in most of the rooms downstairs, and the upsatirs hallway. mike had to repair the ceiling around the old fixture because the hole was larger than our new light canopy. we've used the same ikea fado light in the downstairs hall, and the smaller version in the upstairs hall. with all of our other unique light fixtures, i liked keeping these spaces simple.
so much better! and it's nice to not have any more wallpaper in the house!
