At Kim's house
Sun, 5 Oct 2008Things are a little nutty at my house, as I'm trying to get some projects finished before the kitchen renovation work needs to start. I had 2 things I was determined to complete, the renovation of my staircase to the second floor, and my basement.
I took Friday off from work to start the stairs and I managed to get them pretty much done. A couple paint touch ups and a few nail holes left to fill but I am too tired to finish it. I thought I'd show some before photos first so you can see what I've been living with since December. This first photo is what the stairs looked like for about a month after I moved in.
I ripped the carpeting off because it was so dirty (from moving in a snowstorm) and not installed properly - I almost took a tumble down them a few times. This is the horror that was underneath. Linoleum tiles, aluminum trim and lots of paint splotches.
I am dying to paint all the floors in my house white, so the stairs were no exception. I painted them white, and the staircase is now so much brighter than it was. Now if I could just figure out how to get them to clean themselves...
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Here is why I am too tired to finish the stairs. Below are photos of the remnants of what was on the floor in my damp and leaky basement (there's more that has to come out but I'm too tired and need help with the rest). I am so pissed off that someone was stupid enough to decide to hide leaks by putting down layer upon layer of plywood on a damp floor. The smell once the top layer of linoleum was removed was so disgusting. The wood in some places was BLACK and crumbly. I am afraid my cats and I will get sick from the mold. I wore a mask while I was working down there but the smell was so bad I can still smell it, and I feel kind of nauseous. There are alot of annoying and poorly executed things I keep finding around this house, but this one definitively tops the list of bad judgement.
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Reader Comments (30)
Thanks createacraft, Laura and AMR. And AMR, I'm dying to see the kitchen against the new hardwood floors I'm having installed nd painting white. :)
Kim,
The stairs look stellar! And yes, worth every penny. Did you polyurethane over the paint?
As for the mold, yikes! Highly toxic. When I had to move my antique store in April, the new location had filthy carpeting worse than your stairs. I thought, no big deal, I'll tear up the carpet. Mold under the carpet, and mold under the 60 years linoleum under the carpet. And this room was 15x25. 10 hours later.... Horrible. Glad to hear the worst is behind you!
Lisa & Alfie
Mold is undoubtedly horrible and putrid. Thank god it's behind me and behind you too Lisa & Alfie. And nope, I did not polyurethane over the paint. Each coat takes 24 hours to dry, and after 3 coats I was getting impatient (and I had to paint them before gluing them down because of the 6 cats I'd never be able to keep off of them). It's super durable paint.
I'm wondering how you've liked your white stairs after living with them. I'm thinking of painting mine white, too.
If you don't mind seeing every spec of dirt then it's great. Except mine yellowed alot and drove me nuts after.