Stairway to heaven....

The stairs up to the bedrooms left something to be desired! They were broken, had a big 70's style double banister handrail (the type your Nan would have in a 60/70's new build) scribble and a grubby red carpet. I actually had no intention of doing anything with them for quite some time. That is, until my friend lent me a decent belt sander to finish the bathroom floor with....mmmm this tool is good!

I wasn't sure what to do about the stairs in all honesty, I am also playing it fairly safe with the decor for now. Having three grubby little boys and their many friends in and out, means I need to have things that are robust and can stand heavy usage (they've already pulled the curtains down twice and broken a lampshade...ahhh the joys of motherhood). Paint that is hard wearing, easy to source & touch up, together with things that are simple to maintain and fix is definitely high on the agenda.

So we ripped the vile carpet up, hoping the wood underneath would be passable - it was... Yaaay!
Sanding was hard work as it had paint and varnish glued on from years of heavy footfall.

i MUST JUST TELL YOU THAT oSIRIS is rolling all over the keyboard as I'm typing this, HAPPILY PURRRING AWAY! XXXxx

....however, suitably attired in my dust mask and headscarf the sanding commenced. With a lot of elbow grease and a sanding sheet per stair, the stairs came up a treat. I precision sanded the corners, then used a light oak hard wearing wood varnish on the tops, and a grey hard wearing paint for the risers, paying homage to the grey wall downstairs (I now know what the down bit is called thanks to Cathryn googling this for me)!

The banister still looked vile though and no amount of sanding would change that. I popped to the local builders merchant to get some paint and screws and noticed they had a load of different stair spindles that I could just cut to length. I only wanted plain square ones so I bought four lengths. I have a dreadful habit of doing things by eye, being visual and artistic means I'm often not far out, but sometimes I get it wrong! I explained to Dad and Dave my idea of keeping one handrail and cutting the spindles to length and screwing them on. They both said this would be a nightmare. However, true to form and in their usual engineering style, they discussed how to do it and Dave cracked on. In a few hours I had spindles (there was plenty of wood) - looking wonderful too! Mum then said there was some kind of legal spacing requirement, whereby it had to be safe should a child get their head stuck in them. I said, in that instance we would just get a saw (not for the child's head) or call the fire brigade!!!

So, I painted the spindles and banister white and wrapped a sweet flower garland around it. The upstairs hallway is called the hallway of judgement. I am not a religious person at all, however I do love a good icon. They make me smile and are actually quite beautiful (ok some are just kitsch, but hey). I wanted a wall where they were all together and up the proverbial 'stairway to heaven' seemed the most appropriate place.

The stairs look really great, fitting in with both the downstairs room and upstairs hallway they are in, and more importantly they will last a damn sight longer now! How's that for a days work!

This post is dedicated to my parents lovely friend Mike, whom they've just lost. Mike gave me some of the religious pictures from French brocante finds. xx

You can listen to Led Zeppelin playing Stairway to Heaven whilst you look at these pictures if you like...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7Vr3yQYWQ