New Paint for the Basement Stairway

Now this isn't the most beautiful before and after you'll ever see but it is a big change for us.  As I've said before our house was built in 1866 so keep in mind that the basement is almost 150 years old.  It is built on a stone foundation and you can just barely stand up in the basement.  The basement floors were originally dirt that were covered with cement and there are some other old house oddities down there.  Most of all it is creepy and dark.  It is the reason why I have a 2nd floor laundry - which is really just the best thing ever.

Anyways, the stairway to our basement has always been very dark.  There is no lighting and the walls are made of old dark brown bead board.

I took this picture from the doorway in the kitchen at the top of the stairs.  You can see the door to the yard on the right next to the stone foundation and then straight ahead is another door at the bottom of the stairs.  On the left is the old dark wood.  This wood makes the back of our pantry cupboards off of the kitchen.

There are shelves built into the stairway and our back staircase is above your head.  You can see how dark all that wood makes this little space.

I thought if I painted it a brighter color it might seem less foreboding.  I had a ton of yellow paint leftover after the kitchen update so one day last week I just went crazy.  

It was actually kind of fun to paint this area because I didn't have to be careful at all.  I used an old brush and I just went to town.  When I got dirt in the brush, I didn't care I just kept going.  I didn't worry about drips or edges or anything.  I just put paint wherever I thought it would help.

It's never going to be a nice finished basement like in new houses but this spruce up makes it a little more pleasing and much less creepy - always a good thing in my book.



~ Gold Shoe Girl ~