What do you do to relieve stress? Often I clean the house, or putter around and do a project. I am sure many of you do the same thing.
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| Black stairs, white risers and balustrades |
The house I live in is alive with Alberto. Every nook and cranny was touched by his handiwork. He always went along with my decorating schemes and ideas, wiring chandeliers, making cabinet doors, doing repairs, anything and everything I asked him to do. I run my hand along a piece of trim on a cabinet door he made, and know how he taught himself to do this. It is alive with memories that make me smile and cry.
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| All black stairs |
Black has been accepted in decorating. It started with chalkboard paint and black kitchens, and segued into black bathrooms. Then black doors became hot. And media rooms and stairs painted black. I love it.
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| Black stairs by Kelly Wearstler |
We have (notice I still say we) a stairway in our kitchen going up to the camel back second floor. It is very builder looking and not elegant, wood, with open treads. A carpet runner was not possible. The stairs have sandpaper like safety strips. I could never peel or scrape them off. The stairs also had ingrained dirt that never came out no matter how much I scrubbed them.
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| Carpet stair runner - charcoal with black edge |
So I decided to paint the stairs black. At first I was going to do the whole thing, steps and hand rail, and balustrades. But I thought it would be too heavy. There are also some other wood elements in the kitchen, a tall cabinet with chicken wire doors that holds cookbooks and dishtowels, place mats and napkins; an armoire; there is an elaborate wood casing around an archway. The wood stairs always made sense with these other wood elements since they all had a similar mid tone stain.
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| Whimsical painted stair runner in black |
So I just painted the steps. It was my therapy, another small step, on one of the countless nights I couldn't sleep. I painted right over the sandpaper strips. I like the two tones that occur since I only painted the steps. It's not fancy, but I like it, and I know Alberto would have liked it too.
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| I painted the stairs black and left the rest of the wood alone |
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| I painted over the sand paper safety strips that I could not remove |
What have you painted black lately?
So glad to read your post and reconnect. i have painted all my interior doors black and the handrail is next.
ReplyDeleteSharon
Not yet, but very inspiring. I also think Alberto likes this as he loves all your design ideas! Hug for you! Linda of the WB
ReplyDeleteThe stairs look great! I think just doing the steps was a good idea, too. Well, I have been painting things black for decades. I remember painting my dining room chairs black about 25 years ago and I just continued from there. I still use the same chairs, I've only had to repaint them once! The big table has been cream, turquoise, gray - now its back to black, too. I've always had black accents and accessories scattered around -black lamp base, I found a huge old black and gold frame years ago and did a chalkboard - over 20 years ago and I got the idea from Ballard catalog - they have been doing chalkboards forever. I had to locate a real big piece of chalkboard/slate - no chalkboard paint at that time. I remember my grandma thinking it was so "unusual" - she didn't understand my loving black so much!
ReplyDeleteIt looks really good, Valorie! I really like the black. Stay strong, my friend! xo
ReplyDeleteI haven't been reading here long...really just before Alberto passed. I appreciate your honesty as you grieve for him. And my heart flipped when you shared his willingness to conquer and teach himself "how to" in order to champion your dreams. My husband is like that, too. The stairs look great. Hang in there.
ReplyDeletejust stoping by to tell you that you are always in my prayers. xo my heart aches for you.
ReplyDeleteand the stairs look fab, everything you touch always does.
The stairs look great and I like the sand paper strips with it. I'm sure Alberto is smiling down on you and your latest project.
ReplyDeleteI painted my coffee table base black and it changed my living room so much. Next is the armoire.
I had a client's window and door trims painted black, which was a lovely contrast to the taupe walls. This was back in the early 80's. Too bad he was a major drug dealer and was hauled off to prison before the project was completed. (and we always wondered why he came in and paid his bill in cash.......)
ReplyDeleteI've painted more things black in my home than I can count. Last things were my old oak barstools. It always makes things look a little more sophisticated (kind of like a little black dress) and updated. Glad to see you're hanging in there.
ReplyDeleteA chair or twelve, a small dresser that's destined to become my bedside table, and several doors, one at a time, as we replace our flat 1982 builder doors with random salvage finds. Handrail on staircase, very soon.
ReplyDeleteI painted my front door black, and love it. The hundred year old bench also, the legs on my oak desk, and the drop leaf table. Love your stairs.
ReplyDeleteJust the steps. . . . . just right. The black adds fresh style and is a rich contrast to the medium toned wood, and I agree it was important to retain some original wood for resonance with the other wood elements you mentioned. Love to you. -Carey
ReplyDeleteI love updating things with black or white paint and spray paint is my decorating go-to. I painted two mismatched plant stands black to use in my dining room. I painted an old dresser white and spray painted the hardware black and use it in my kitchen for storage. We had a bunch of picture frames that I painted black for a more unified look on a gallery wall. Now all this talk is making me want to go paint something!
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