Staircase Makeover

Tackling the stairwell to the upstairs made all the difference to feeling like a more welcome apartment. This staircase makeover wasn’t too expensive and was completed in a couple of weekends. The majority of it involved painting- and lots of it!

A Look at the Before

The stairwell entry to the upper apartment wasn’t inviting at all. Immediately upon opening the door you were greeted with a smell– or rather, stench– of pet odors. The walls, which were a lovely retro pastel green, contained many marks and scratches. The ceiling tiles were mismatched, and one was obviously falling out of place. Even the railing had pulled some of the plaster off the wall and was loosely held in place. This was no way to tell a tenant, “Welcome to your new apartment!”

(Want to see some other ugly befores? Check out my post of what my unit looked like on move-in day here!)

 

Paint the Walls and Ceiling

The first step of the staircase makeover was to paint the walls. I decided to go with plain white, since that is what I’ve done in every other room in the house. I wanted to keep a simple and neutral look like the rest of the house. This quickly became a challenge, though, since I didn’t have a ladder tall enough to easily reach the ceiling. Luckily I was able to pick up one of these nifty ladders for about $60 at Menards. It was a different brand, but it was able to be modified to work on stairs. This alleviated a lot of the awkward reaching, but the ceiling tiles were still unreachable. So for those, I opted to use some spray paint on them to clean them up a bit. One of the tiles was not quite the right size, and sagging (see in the picture on the right above), so I replaced it with a better fitting one. The white really cleaned things up.

Remove the Nasty-Ass Carpeting

There’s no way around it– that carpet was absolutely disgusting. Not only was the odor extremely unpleasant, there were also holes in it. Luckily the dark brown color kept what exactly was in the carpet a mystery. I happily pulled it out–and I wished I had done sooner! It was pretty easy to pull up, I just had to go back and make sure all of the staples were removed to help prep for the paint.

It was interesting to see what was under the carpeting! The stairs themselves were found to be in pretty decent shape, so no major patching or replacing had to be done.

Prep and Paint the Stairs and Trim for Operation Staircase Makeover

For prepping the stairs, I removed all of the staples from the carpet. I also found some nails (perhaps from previous carpet) on some of the undersides of the stairs. I lightly sanded the stairs, vacuumed up the loose particles, and then gave them a good wipe down with some soap and water.

The stairs to the basement are made of concrete. I removed carpet from them, too. I did my best to scrape off as much carpet glue as possible. This is the tool I used . Sanding that stuff didn’t work. Then I did the vacuum and wipe down protocol just like the wood stairs.

I painted the stairs a dark brown color that matches the exterior trim of the house. I wanted something darker that would hide dirt, and also be neutral. Additionally, I painted the trim, door and window frames, in this color. I painted about three coats in total.

Paint the Doors

The older, wooden doors also needed a fresh coat of paint. There were three- the basement, the airing porch, and the entry to the main part of the apartment. I chose to paint them in a lighter, tan color, that is more like the main exterior color of the house. This way they were still neutral, but freshened up and and not too dark. The two doors are opposite to each other at the top of the stairwell and I didn’t want that to feel too enclosed.

Railing Fixes

The main railing had created a couple of holes in the plaster walls, so I patched those up prior to painting the walls. I waited until after the fridge was delivered upstairs and all major work was done in the apartment before putting it back up.

Both the main rail and the one to the basement got a fresh coat of the dark brown paint. I also picked up some new railing hardware, since the others were a bit outdated and had seen better days.

I installed some hooks at the top of the staircase for tenants to hang their jackets, bags, and etc. This makes it more functional for the tenant. Plus, they’re not haphazardly screwing stuff into the walls.

Lastly, I constructed a support and rail for the few stairs that you initially have to climb. The inspector said this was not up to code. This was not very difficult, even for someone like me who has no experience in carpentry work. I channeled my late carpenter-grandfather to help me with this. I haven’t checked in a few months, but I think it’s still standing!

A Successful Stairwell Transformation

In all, the staircase makeover was a success. The entry to the upper apartment is now much more welcoming for my tenants. I’m hoping the floor paint holds up well, time will tell with that one. I might eventually install some neutral carpeting. But the odor is completely gone, and it feels very clean when walking into the entryway. 

It’s amazing what a little bit of paint can do to a space!