Brightening up a dark stairway!

This is a project I finished a few weeks ago. I'm not sure what made me decide to do it. All I know for sure is that I was sick of how dark and narrow my stairs always seemed. The color on the walls was pretty neutral. A brown/grey flat that was here when I moved in. I hate heights so repainting the stairs myself was never going to happen. I know that if I whined enough I could probably talk my crazy half/monkey mother into doing it. She will stand on a ladder with one leg and lean across the wall to get a high corner. She is insane.

Here is my stairway before the molding.

 

 

 
 
 







I love the silhouettes but it just needed something. The ceilings are so high the wall just goes on and on and on.




This is the first step to doing the shaker style molding. I measured the walls both above the rail and on the stair line, because they can be different and often times are.  I learned along time ago that walls are weird. They are never straight, square, perfectly level, or without imperfection. Walls are as flawed as the people who build them. As long as they are sound and safe, that's all that matters.

I used cheap MDF door trim found in the lumber/molding department at Lowes. Each piece was roughly a 1"x3"x10ft, I spent a total of maybe 60 bucks on lumber, and another 30 on paint, brushes, caulking etc.

The ledge was an MDF trim found in the same area that was half the size. 1"x1.5"x10ft

The saw I own was a hand me down of my grandfathers, and I borrowed my moms nail gun. Every DIY'er will tell you the same thing. Your project is only as good as the tools you use. Yes, molding can be done by hand without a nail gun, it's just a hell of a lot easier if you use one. I did a similar molding in my old home by hand and it took twice as long. So first get the right tools, find the right molding, always measure twice if not four or five times. Cut long so you can always shorten, but piecing is a pain in the ass. Use caulking, ask for help when needed and check pinterest, google, DIY network, and HGTV before embarking on any project you've never done before.

The hardest part about this whole process was the angles. I tried 30 degrees, I tried 45, and then 40. My wall and stairs hit right about 37-38. I fixed my saw made my cuts and attached the top and bottom pieces. Then I measured the distance between each board and cut my MDF trim boards at the correct angle.

When I got it right, it was fantastic, when I got it wrong luckily caulking hides a world of flaws. I nailed in my boards and then measured 10 inches between each board. The good thing about a project like this is you make your own rules. You decide how long, how much, and how far. That makes it pretty nice and pretty easy to let things like mistakes go.

I would not suggest this for someone who has never done molding before. The angles themselves are a headache. I have a entry way project that would be much better for any newbie to try out.

 

This is the finished product. After caulking the gaps, and covering the nail holes I painted two coats of bright white enamel. I like enamel because it is a little stronger than regular latex and its satin finish is very close to a regular latex eggshell. The job of course wouldn't be done without the other side.

 

During construction:

 

 

 Finished Product

 

 

 

I kept seeing the numbered stairs all over Pinterest so I said why the hell not. I took wood numbers from hobby lobby painted them chalkboard black and attached them with double-sticky foam tape. It's less permanent then glue or nailing that way I can remove it if I get bored.