Before and Afters- Salem House, a step up.

So, in our travels through time for little Salem House, you've seen the kitchen, the main floor bath, and the living room. Time to go upstairs!
The stairs to the second story were best navigated without thinking too much about it. They were carpeted in very old, brown shag, and there were 4 or five different textures to the walls. Dark and depressing, at some point the walls had been a flat white above the level of the Fleach.  It didn't make it brighter or more inviting.

 At the top of the stairs is a closet with sliding doors. It isn't pretty. But, with a little house, storage space is premium, and I'm not willing to lose a closet, even an ugly one.

 Looking down the stairs gives you an idea of the many different decisions in this small space.

 Using the ugly shag brown ick as dropcloth meant I could paint the walls and ceiling without worrying about paint falling. So the entire space received a good scrubbing, followed by two coats of Bedford Gray in a semi gloss, so any light that comes from above or below will reflect a bit. Plus, the gray will make the white trim look brighter. I also commenced putting layers of white paint on the closet sliding doors, and any extra white left in my rolling pan was put to good use in the closet. New trim and a coat of shiny white paint in the closet and on the shelves means it is not scary anymore.



Next, a face mask and goggles and gloves to find out what is under the dirt(y) brown carpet. 

Rug pads that are trod upon for 30 years lose the "pad" part and just become stuck on grunge.  I have an indispensable tool that I use for many, many applications. It is a 1 1/2" putty knife, and it has that perfect amount of wear for scraping without gouging. It is the second one I have created, as it takes years to perfect. The first one I had not guarded well enough, and someone snapped it in half using it to pry something up. I tried not to cry, bought a new one, and 8 years later, it is just right.

My handy scraper helped eliminate the pounds of melted padding.

One of the jobs that I don't mind because I can totally think about other things is the pulling up of all the carpet staples and old carpet tacks. You have to run your hands over everything to make sure there aren't any little pieces of sharp metal poking out to hurt bare feet. But, be patient, thorough. It's just time.

After a thorough scrubbing, I got to have some real fun!

 I painted the stairs (more on that in a minute) then, made Eldest give me a hand.
The railing is a nice old one, but it was covered with so much grime that it was sticky. So we inserted elbow grease into the equation.






You can see where the newly clean part meets the yet to be tackled bit.

Then, clean, fresh and painted. 

The stairs are ombre. The bottom riser (out of the shot) is a dark grape, and the topmost is a whisper of bare lavender. Each stair riser gets one more shade lighter as you go up. This is how getting home should feel. By the middle of the stairs, the color is just like the lilacs from the back yard. The treads are the original color. I loved them! They are a milk paint cream color that when scrubbed up look warm and solid. They look slightly disheveled in that "used but loved" way.

The upstairs, after it was finished was filled with charm, but getting there is half the fun.