How to Add Interest to a Tall, Narrow Stairway
I have a bonus room over the garage which has a tall, narrow stairway going up to it which has always felt like a cave...very tall, straight walls with very little light. No matter how many pictures I hung, I couldn't seem to get rid of that cave feeling.
Using some inspiration from a much fancier house than mine, I was finally able to do a stairway make-over that makes me happy! (Click the post link at the bottom of this page to see the inspiration picture)
Here's what I started with. Notice the blue, builder carpet that always seemed to look dirty. And that light fixture at the top of the stairs is really bright (it took 8-60 Watt bulbs) but the stairway still looks dark.
Step 1: Add moldings to the walls. I added faux-columns at every corner and a chair rail half-way up the wall to break up the huge, flat wall surface. Then I painted the whole thing in Benjamin Moore Ivory White to help brighten the space up.
Step 2: I removed the builder-grade, blue, wall-to-wall carpet that was on the stairs. I was originally going to replace it with hardwood flooring, but found out that was too expensive. Instead I sanded them, and painted them Benjamin Moore Onyx. To add some pizzazz, I installed the leopard print runner (I have always wanted one of those!!)
Step 3: Hang a chandelier at the top of the stairs. It not only adds a lot of light, it also looks beautiful! To reflect even more light into that narrow, dark space, I hung a mirror behind the chandelier. (That mirror used to be a window in an old church...they were replacing them with new ones, so I replaced the glass with a mirror and painted the frame black).
Step 4: Hang pictures, wall sculptures and paintings in between the moldings on the walls. I chose to go with mostly black and white to go with the stairway color scheme.
Enjoy the finished results! While my stairway is still narrow, it isn't dark and cave-like any more.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Thanks, Candice! I bought it from paylessrugs.com. It looks like they don't have that exact pattern anymore, but if you search for leopard stair runners on their website, they have some other ones that are similar.
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