Do you like my dramatic blog post title? Yep, that’s me – all Wile E. Coyote treading air over a sudden drop while that darned roadrunner makes his escape once more.
I guess I should explain a little more. I’m no stranger to experiencing a “creative slump”. I know that creativity comes and goes in random and not-always-convenient bursts. However, that knowledge still doesn’t make the current slump any more fun or less frustrating.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “champagne taste on a beer budget”. I think it’s adorable. I love champagne and beer. Well, let’s just say that lately our beer budget has been greatly reduced (figuratively and literally). It is what it is. I’m not here to complain. I’m proud of the way we’ve been able to cut back on expenses, but my “champagne taste” is restricted to shopping off the dollar menu right now… Sorry, that’s a lot of metaphors. I think you get the idea.
What do you get when you combine a creative slump with a tiny budget? One stumped Brynne, wracking her brains (in vain) to concoct a plan that is both fabulous and frugal.
Finally, I settled upon redoing our staircase. The carpet has always bugged me – the way it folds over to the wall in the living room – it’s so…furry.
I’ve also always particularly disliked the funny-shaped top of the wooden post at the bottom and top of our railing (the black spindles are metal).
Now I’ve seen millions of staircase makeovers on Pinterest. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But it’s a downright trend to rip the carpet off your stairs, paint/stain the treads and risers, and viola! One gorgeous stairway, brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Gathered Home.
So a plan was formulated.
Carpet: Poof! Gone! Weird thingamabob on the wooden post: Poof! Gone! Railing: Painted matte black. Wall: Painted sage gray to match the living room. Stair treads: Painted black. Stair risers: Painted something awesome (a geometric pattern??!) or wallpapered (!!!). Entry light fixture: Replaced with something rad and blingy.
Expenses: Affordable. I only need to purchase some paint, maybe wallpaper.
Projected result: 1000% improvement.
What’s that faint whistling noise you hear? It’s getting louder…
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… SPLAT.
It’s an anvil. An anvil that just fell on my unsuspecting head out of a clear blue sky. An anvil that looks an awful lot like rough and crappy OSB treads and risers hiding beneath my stair carpet rather than the plain unfinished pine steps that I (rather naively) had counted on.
Foiled again!
Why didn’t I pull up a corner to check what was underneath before I pinned all of my hopes and dreams on this project? Grr, I don’t know. Thankfully I didn’t start indiscriminately ripping up the carpet before I noticed!
Sure, I could put down new solid wood stair treads and risers, and perhaps I will one day, but that is just not in the budget right now. I’ll still be carrying on with my plain to paint the railing and wall and replace the entryway light fixture, but the carpet lives to fight another day.
I’ll leave you with my attempt at a photoshopped plan… Please envision some lovely framed artwork on the wall going up the stairs.
I’ll get right on it… As soon as I crawl out from under this anvil.
Oh, no…. that's disappointing. I may not know you like that, but I know when you do share a project with us, it's pretty freaking stellar. The stairs project will be phenomenal when you figure out and execute your plan. As will whatever else you concoct.
Thanks friend! I think I'm feeling particularly slump-y because I'm just not excited about my plans yet… Hopefully once I start the missing pieces will fall into place!
What a bummer, I hate when that happens! It looks like just updating the wall color and painting the railing will make a nice difference though.
Yes, I think it will be a big improvement! I'm calling it my "Phase One" because that makes it sound like there will be a "Phase Two" at some point in the future – hope springs eternal! 😉
Oh so frustrating! I agree that painting the railing will give you a little update – and that is low-cost and will still have impact. Baby steps!
At the very least, the living room will finally feel cohesive once that last wall matches 🙂
Ugh! Such a huge bummer! I hate it when (great) plans are foiled.
But hey – if I have to have a plan foiled, at the very least I should get an entertaining blog post out of it, right? 🙂
oh man, i feel ya! our house has wood floors but upstairs in the bedrooms (the hall is wood!) it has awful old disgusting carpeting…. when we looked at the house we peeked under it praying for wood as it was in the hall…. no luck. so now we live with it as we have no new carpeting budget. i use area rugs to at least make it look a little better. and on the plus side at least it's neutral.
I would love to replace all our carpet one day with wood or at least something that resembles wood, but those pesky things called budgets always have something to say about that plan… Yay for area rugs!
Big disappointment. I want to redo my stairs too but then on the other hand I'd rather move 😉
Fingers crossed, Julia! 🙂
We have the same problem with the gross particle-board treads! Not in our budget yet either. I know small budgets suck, but I found that I got pretty creative with smaller projects when that was the case. Here's hoping you find inspiration soon!
Yes, small budgets definitely spur some creative solutions! And some of my favorite projects come out budgetary restrictions! But it's always frustrating right up until inspiration strikes though, isn't it?
It's funny, because we buy cheap champagne (and wine), but expensive beer, so the saying doesn't really work for us ;). I thought maybe this post was going to be about how you did some amazing DIY involving aluminum foil….you should work on that, because it'd be super cheap :). Bummer about your stairs :(. OSB is so ugly; it's the reason I spent my whole winter last year tiling my bathroom instead of painting the floors after we ripped up the carpet. on the bright side, at least the carpet's not in your bathroom–yuck! It's going to look great with the changes you are going to make!
This is why I love blog comments 🙂 We drink expensive beer too, lol, so perhaps that wasn't the best metaphor! So our beer budget has been decimated lately. And oh man – our bathroom is carpeted too! Carpet crimes against humanity! One day…
Hey if I may maje a suggestion it would be to do a lower hanging fixture. I dont know if the one you used can be lowered. Also I am in process of a mini kitchen makeover and found a glass and brass hanging fixture at Habitat for Humanity Restore for $5!
Yes, I agree – a lower light would look great! I have 18" from the ceiling to the top of the front door, so I'll have to see what I can find that will work with that height… It's hard to tell in the photo, but the door swings open right underneath the light, so I need to have enough clearance!
I have fallen victim the the "anvil" of destroyed design plans as well. (Great analogy to describe the feeling, BTW.) I find that if I move on to something else for a bit and come back to a dilemma, I usually feel more encouraged to tackle it. Sometimes the "something else" I move on to is expensive beer-hah! Or wine or tequila or gin…Best of luck getting "unstuck".
Also, if that's the fixture from Lowe's, I have it in my daughter's room. We love it. I'm curious like the comment above me how a fixture might look if it was hung just a tad lower as well.
That is the fixture from Lowes – I like the shape and how affordable it is! I'm contemplating doing something like spray painting it gold for a glam lotus pendant look 🙂
Damn anvil! Hate when that happens. Whenever you can swing it, it will be great – we ripped up a carpet runner on the steps in our old house and it really did make a huge difference. In the meantime, your other changes will have great impact too 🙂 Have you thought about reaching out to PureBond (from Haven) and see about them trading you wood for the stairs for a post? I bet it wouldn't be that much product on their end…
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Is there a way to incorporate it temporarily – OSB board is really in right now! check out 100k house broadcast in the UK – might be on BBC USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_That_£100k_Built
Happy new year though!
How crazy! OSB is in?! Live and learn! Unfortunately mine is really terrible shape under the carpet… I think patience is my best bet right now until I can afford to replace it.
Huge bummer. Sorry friend 🙁 I think you'll still be happy with the update and it'll look great!
Well, I'm so late replying to this comment that it's now underway and I think it's a huge improvement so far!
Dang it! Not fun. We are working on our stairs right now as well and I was bummed to find that they were 2x12s instead of having a pretty bullnose edge. We also have two that are OSB that we are debating on as well since we're staining the rest. Maybe layer some 1×12's on top? We're still going back and forth : )
If you're painting and they're in good shape- why not go ahead and paint them anyways? Could use a thicker paint and just call it added texture in the space : ) Trim along the edges would hide any unevenness as well! Cheers!
Darn my perfectionism! I just know that I wouldn't be happy with them, so I hate the idea of putting forth that effort only to redo it later. With pretty decent carpeting, I'll just be patient for the time being.
Oh boo, dang those builders from the past! I'm sure the paint and light fixture will prove to be a great update until you can squirrel away those pennies for the rest. In the meantime, the carpet is pretty warm for the winter, no? (glass half full statement right there!)
That's true – always look on the bright side, right? 🙂
Oh that blows… sorry about your disappointment! I'm certain that just the small updates you can do right now will make a world of difference. We have the mankiest most disgusting carpet going up the stairs at the moment and so I understand that urgent NEED to just get rid of it. Alas, it's low down on the priority list for now so I'm gonna have to clench my teeth and wait 😉 xx
Hahaha! My own 'inquisitive' kitty got stuck on ours and had to be 'rescued' down it. Note vine taking by my other half in all her sad/defeated glory: https://vine.co/u/1162562289736491008
This was totally supposed to be on your 'broken ladder' post. #Blogcommentfail