So we have tossed around the idea of painting our staircase for about a year now. I cannot tell you how much I hate painting trim, though. Love the look. Hate the work.
Hubbin and I have come to sort of a crossroads with regards to the house. It’s zoned Residential/Commercial and located in between two cities. Do we move? If so, what work does the house need? If we sell it residential, it needs a lot of work. If we sell it commercial, they’ll likely tear it down. And where do we move? Do we move to the better school district that is closer to our friends and our church, but farther away from my job, adding to my already long commute? Do we move closer to my job, but farther from everything else?
So Hubbin and I have been in that dance for a while now, which has paralyzed us. It’s now time, though, to get to it. The house needs work, and we might as well do it in the meantime of deciding what we’re going to do or where we will go.
First on the list is painting. Hubbin started the staircase as an Act of Service for me one night during one of my introvert meltdowns. He’s very sweet, though it means that I have zero before pictures, aside from these two taken after he started.
So, for the details:
- Zinsser 1-2-3 Primer
- Home Depot White Paint, Untinted – Semi-gloss
- Purdy paint brushes
You’d think I have specific paint colors for the trim, but I am a simple man who just wanted a bright white. As such, I saw no need to find a color that adds tint. We did a coat of primer and then remembered how much we despise painting trim, so we took like a week off. Look, save your judgment, the blog is named The Lackadaisical Mom for a reason. During this time, the stairs looked like this.
Ugh it’s so bad. So on Halloween, we tackled the rest of it. It took two coats of semi-gloss paint over it, and some touch-up places, and after a couple of hours, this was the result:
I am really pleased with the results, and we haven’t even started on the walls yet (or the rest of the trim that needs to be painted that shows on the left). The walls will be Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray (the color currently in the dining room), as opposed to the current color which I’ve named Dirty Fingerprints and ‘Did Someone Used to Smoke in Here?’. Since it took me months to find the right shade of gray without purple/pink/green undertones, we are sticking with it and doing the entire house. I am really excited to see how the stairway comes out after it’s done.
So that’s what we’ve been doing. We are meeting with a contractor tonight to price other modifications to the house, so cross your fingers!
