We started talking about redecorating the hallway, stairs and landing back in January. We came up with a plan for it in February. The loft was done in March. We had a dinner party for Easter in April, so we didn’t want the house in a mess with guests coming over. I started doing some work stripping of wallpaper at the end of April, and I had some time off in May. That was when we did the bulk of the work removing all the old wallpaper and dado rails and other things we wanted to get rid of.
This is a long and continuing project; but every time something gets finished or improved, we're a little closer to the finishing line. Ha! No, no I'm just kidding. Home-ownership is a never ending list of jobs. By the time all the rooms are done, the first one we did will need a new coat of paint, or something will have started creaking, or leaking, or stopped working.
Anyway, to the task in hand, here's our progress as we stripped back the layers of "why would you do that to a house?".
Textured wallpaper. In all it's glory.
Apparently it used to be painted peach. I hear peach it making a comeback...
The wallpaper was very thick because it was so heavily textured. I had to cut through it with a Stanley knife, wash it with water, wait 15 minutes for it to soak in, strip off the top layer, wash it again, wait another 10 minutes, then get the final layer off.
I started with wallpaper stripper solution, but found that water worked just as well. I was just using a bucket of water and a sponge; then my husband came along with this - his pressure spray he uses in the greenhouse for his plants. God bless that man.
The bare walls.
Dado rail. Just no. Not in a 1970s end-of-terrace. In a beautifully restored Victorian gem, go right ahead with the dado rail. Not here.
The dado rail was held up with not only nails, but also glue. This has been a pig to paint over. D**k move, previous owners.
Coving – in the hallway this was plaster, and much harder to remove than the polystyrene coving.
No more coving, no more wallpaper.
We had the plasterer in to skim the ceilings. Smooth plaster is a beautiful thing, and watching plaster dry is bit like porn for me. Sorry about the quality of the photos, the natural light in the hallway is nonexistent, and they were taken quickly while I was cleaning up the plaster dust.
We painted it all white; we may well chose a more exciting colour at a later date, but for now this gives us a good base, and it's clean and bright and fresh.
With the walls painted, we put back the coat rack, shoe racks and bench.
I also started thinking about what to hang over the stairs. We'd had some Japanese wrapping paper in the frame hanging there before; but now that the walls looked so much better and the place was brighter, I really wanted to find a large mirror to hang there. It would open up the space even more, and reflect what little natural light the landing gets.
About three days after that thought, and a few hours internet searching; I found this mirror for the bargain price of £10 at a local car boot sale. It was being sold as an "American Mirror". Having not heard of any such thing before I asked the chap selling it "Is that the style of the woodwork? It the glass different?" Nope, it just says "Made in America" on the back. Well, it's a lovely mirror in a very nice oak frame, and it was cheap, and it hasn't had a wasted journey as it looks great on our stairway. My husband sanded it back, and give it a coat of wax to seal it.
We've put up a few photos, prints etc. on the wall going up the stairs. Just a little bit of colour; but it does need more to be a proper gallery wall. I really like the V&A museum for prints.
So this is how far we've got. We'll be taking a break on this space for a while whilst we work on the spare bedroom. One that's done, we'll take up the carpet on the stairs, and probably paint them. The carpet on the hallway floor will stay a little while longer as it's concrete underneath, and I'm not sure yet what to cover it with.
I want to do something fun with the stairs, but I am as yet undecided. There are some nice ideas here.
Eventually I'd like to replace the skirting board, the banisters and stair rail, as well as the under the stairs cupboard. I'll probably hold off painting the woodwork until this is done, then we can get it done all in one go. I'd like to use something like a Prussian or Cobalt blue to match the umbrella stand.
Thanks for reading! If anyone has any ideas for a fancy flight of stairs, please feel free to leave a comment.