stairs.... a love story + w30 update

I don't know about you, but I have always, always loved the idea of stairs.  But going up- going to the basement, I don't romanticize that - having an upstairs, that, to me, was always dreamy.  We lived in a ranch style house growing up, and I always longed for a two story house.  The having another level seemed so cool.  Don't ask me why- I'm weird that way.



source Our Vintage Home Love




source Style at Home

So last year, when we began our reno, putting in stairs was so darn exciting for me.  [lame]

I knew the way our house was, that I wouldn't be getting a grand stair case with railings and all that jazz (no lit garland at Christmas, boo), but I'd be getting stairs, so that was cool with me.

 Our contractor came to the house to talk about our plans and try and figure out where the stairs would go.  In the original farmhouse, the stairs were in what is now the kids' playroom- we could see the ghost of them when we did our first reno, 6 years ago.  They were farmhouse stairs - not "farmhouse style" but actual farmhouse stairs.  Steeper than steep, narrow and high.  A straight shot from the main floor upstairs, I swear, they were so steep they were almost vertical.  With two terrible clumsies in this house, that was not an option.

I knew, right from when we started planning, that I wanted the stairs at the end of the hall.

I liked the idea of looking down the hall and seeing the house open up.  So after a bit of figuring, that's what we did.

In doing so, we had to loose the closet in the master bedroom (we were moving the master upstairs anyways, so no big deal)

(Sorry for the dark phone photo, but you get the idea)

The entire closet cavity became the stairwell.  We had to put in a landing, because of the lack of space to rise.  (I like landings!)

We did the reno while living in the house- once they opened up the stairs, we had to plastic them off to keep the dust and mess out of the house.  

It was killing me.  

I felt like the woman in the Mervyn's commercial from the 90's

via GIPHY

So when this happened

I was so, so excited.  We added a small window to the landing and it washes the stairway and the hall with natural light, it's so nice.  What was a dark hall, now has glow when you look down it.  Anytime you can open something up to get more natural light, it's like a whole new house.  It looks brighter, it looks better- I swear, it makes YOU feel better.  So, so worth it.

When the contractors left, they left us with jobs to do- finishing the stairs was one.  My Our original plan was to paint out the stairs- all the vintage white we use on our trim work.  But I have always loved the look of stained treads and painted risers.

Like this image from The Inspired Room



(There's so much more in this image that I love, but we're concentrating on stairs now....)

The problem was, our hardwood floors.  We got these at Home Depot and they are now 6 years old- I think they are ash, but I can't remember.  And I wanted to get as close to a match as I could.  Off to the hardware store and grabbed a can of my favourite colour wood stain- Early American by Minwax.

Minwax® Wood Finish™

Natural 209	Golden Oak 210B	Provincial 211	Red Oak 215	Puritan Pine 218
Ipswich Pine 221	Sedona Red 222	Colonial Maple 223	Special Walnut 224	Red Mahogany 225
Early American 230	Gunstock 231	Red Chestnut 232	English Chestnut 233	Cherry 235	Fruitwood 241
Golden Pecan 245	Pickled Oak 260	Driftwood 2126	Dark Walnut 2716	Ebony 2718	Jacobean 2750
Weathered Oak 270	Classic Gray 271	Espresso

source  Minwax.ca

Lo and behold- it was almost an exact match.

I loved the stain so much, I went back and forth on staining the risers too....

Paint won out.  And I'm glad it did.  They are so light and fresh.  I love them.  

I went really simple on the wall.  It's filled with a few special things that make me happy every time I go up and down.  

This pendant fixture is allen + roth from Lowe's- it's the Bristow 1 light Oil Rubbed Bronze Chandelier  (Click on it for the link.)

I love my stairs.  It IS cool to have an upstairs.  I love it.  Even when I go down at 3am to feed the !@#$ cat.  I still love them then.  I am totally a member of Team Stairs.  And a bit of a nerd- but I'm good with that too.

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Whole 30 update

If you remember from my last post I started a Whole 30.  I'm on day 18 (the end of day 18) and I'm still going strong.  What I find hard is when I just want to grab something out of the cupboard- like, crackers- cause it's easy and I'm hungry.  I can't do that.  So I sigh and grab some nuts or a piece of fruit or I cut up a sweet potato and pop it in the oven.  And I have a glass of water, and probably a cup of herbal tea.  Then I'm good.  The moment passes.

I'm using this book a ton.

Once I do a wind up, I'll share some of the winners with you.  But so far, EVERYONE has liked EVERTHING I've made.  And in this house (when it's not cookies) that's a big deal.

I am noticing this far into the challenge a few things- no headaches (!).  When I turned 35 I became prone to migraines- and they suck.  Big time.  I do have to say I did get the sugar detox headache for 2 days, I think it was 3 and 4 - but since then, nothing.  Yay.  Also, my skin is smoother and less patchy and blotchy.  That I really noticed a few days ago.  Another yay.  I don't have sugar cravings, nor do I binge when I'm hungry.  I am the sugar monster.  Candy is one of my favourite foods.  But right now, I don't even want any- and the kids got a treat of licorice the other day (my fave) and I didn't feel deprived.  There have been A TON of tests to my willpower- fresh warm cinnamon buns, pizza, chips, candy, the After Eight mints in the freezer, Christmas cake- but I haven't eaten any.  I feel pretty accomplished (and not bloated!)

Eleven more days to go and I can do it.  It's just 11 days.  In the grand scheme of things, that's not a big deal.  But the way I've been feeling is, so I'm not going to throw it away for a bite of tasty, cheesy pizza.  I can do that in 12!  ;)

~l