Our Second Floor Staircase Landing
You know when you're too busy working to sit down and write a blog post, that you're probably at the midpoint in the project. This is week four of the One Room Challenge, so I’d say we’re at the midway point of the challenge, right?
I realize we’ve primarily been talking about the Guest Bedroom so far, and I’ve mostly neglected discussing our second floor staircase landing. There’s so much going on in this space right now, so I wanted to dedicate this week’s post to the second half of my (Two) Room Challenge.
Our Second Floor Staircase Landing
Before I dive-in to all of the progress pictures, I wanted to take a minute to revisit the design concept for this space, as I’ve made some changes since I shared the concept during the first week. The design concept for this space was inspired by this gorgeous rug from Garnet Hill, which I’ll be using in this space. I love the colors of the rug, and how it visually connects the hallway and the guest room. The color palette of the rug is very close to what I’m doing in the guest room, so I’m excited to draw those colors out into this space as well.
I’m also SO EXCITED to update the lighting and the door hardware in our space. I’ve chosen the Flare Pendant from Hudson Valley Lighting for our hallway, and can’t wait to see these installed. For the door hardware, I’ll be using the rectangular plate from Emtek, with either the Georgetown glass knob or the Norwich Knob, in a French Antique finish.
One last piece that I’m looking forward to, is a custom console table which I’ve designed, and will be upholstering in a new textile design from my collection. I’ve never upholstered a table before, so this is a bit of a DIY experiment. I’m hoping I can pull it off.
To round out the space, I’m planning to incorporate a few favorite older pieces like some of my Grandmother’s plate collection (she was quite the collector), and a Federal style pier mirror that I purchased at an antique fair last year.
Our Beadboard Ceiling
We are in full-on construction mode right now, as you’ll see that in this week’s photos. One of the first projects that we tackled in this space was restoring our ceiling. We have original bead board ceilings throughout our home which I LOVE, but boy are they a pain to work on. My husband has been meticulously sanding down any uneven bits, caulking the seams where gaps have formed, and then painting the entire ceiling with a paint brush, groove-by-groove. I don’t envy him this task. None of this work really shows up in photos, but it does make a big difference to us as we live in the house.
Contrast Painted Trim
One of the features that I’m most excited about in this space is doing a contrast painted trim. Since restoring our Family Room last year, I’ve really fallen in love with the look of lighter walls with a darker contrast painted trim. For some reason it feels more historically authentic in our home (though I’m not sure if that’s actually true).
I’ve tested different wall and trim paint combos, and just this week have settled on the perfect pairing. I went with Benjamin Moore French Canvas on the walls (which I adore, by the way). For the contrasting trim, I wanted a rich greige with similar undertones to the wall color, and have finally settled on Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter. I’ve started sanding and painting the SEVEN doors this week, and the color pairing looks sooooo gooooood!
Our Heart Pine Floors
Probably the biggest transformation in this space will be refinishing our original heart pine floors. This week we removed the old carpet and carpet pad, and we’ve been prepping the floors to be refinished. You’ll notice there are a few areas with missing boards. Unfortunately in the past some of the hardwood was poorly cut out to run electrical wiring, which damaged some of the boards. We’ll have to seamlessly tie in boards so it doesn’t look like a bad patch-job. We haven’t done this before, so it’s something new we’ll need to figure out. Suggestions welcomed if you’ve done this sort of thing before!
Do you remember all of this woodwork around the staircase used to be painted?
Special thanks to a few of my wonderful sponsors whose products I included in this week’s post:
Time for me to get back to it. FYI, the One Room Challenge will be paused for the coming week. I’ll be back on Friday June 12th to share the latest with you. Until then!
——//
Lauren