Blank Stair(well)

We have had a blank stairwell.  Two giant, blank, ugly walls staring (no pun intended) us in the face every time we went up and down the stairs.  And to make matters worse, we had a very traditional oak handrail that didn't seem to fit into the scheme we were achieving in the rest of the home.  So, on a Friday night we decided to break out the saws-all, tear down a wall, and begin a project that would consume us for a solid week.  What happened to Friday night date nights?!?

BIG BLANK WALLS AND OH SO CLASSY HANDRAIL

OAK HANDRAIL

Our Friday night tear out began with wanting to "open things up".   We decided that opening the stairwell wall back as far as we possibly could would help with the heaviness in the main hallway. Unfortunately, we decided to write this blog after a lot of the renovations were done so before pics are hard to come by.  You will have to live with some in-progress pics instead.

BEGINNING OF THE TEAR OUT

A DIFFERENT VIEW ON THINGS

Notice the line on the wall in the above pictures?  That is where we are going to remove the wall to open things up a bit.  Nate first took a utility blade and scored the drywall on the front of the wall.  Keep in mind that this wall was already painted and we didn't want to have to do a ton of touch up work so we were being as careful as possible.

BACKSIDE OF THE FRAMING

After scoring the drywall, we went around to the other side, removed the drywall and Nate tackled the studs with a saws-all.  This is not a load bearing wall, so removing the studs was not an issue.

STUDS AND DRYWALL REMOVED.  (Please excuse the drywall dust spots all over the camera)

WHAT A MESS!

Once that was complete, we ripped down a 1"x6" primed pine board to the appropriate width, painted it Benjamin Moore Cloud White (surprise, surprise!) and attached it to the bottom to accommodate the future railing.  We also added a 1"x6" to the ceiling as well.  The main reason was to avoid having to do drywall, but it actually turned out to be a good aesthetic choice as well.

Once all of that was complete, it was time to deal with the big blank stairwell walls.   In a masochistic moment, I decided that adding the paneling detail to the stairwell walls would add some dimension to the very large, very blank walls.  Off to Home Depot we went to purchase a truckload of 1"x4" primed pine.  We laid them out in the garage and painted them....you guessed it!  Cloud White!
While they dried, we painted all three of the walls of the stairwell (refer to below pic to see the unpainted walls) with the Cloud White semi-gloss paint as well.

THE THREE BLANK WALLS

Once the walls each had two coats of paint on them, we figured out the dimensions for each of the panels. We nailed a full board vertically going up each of the three walls.  We then cut the horizontal boards to the appropriate length and nailed them to the walls creating a grid on each of the walls.  Again, the panel detail is repeated throughout the home!

FINISHED RAILING AREA AND PANEL DETAIL

Once all of the boards were nailed in the grid pattern, the hard work began!  I, admittedly, am terrified of heights.  Well, when working in a stairwell, getting to the very top can be a bit challenging!  We set up the ladder, I overcame my fears, and I began the arduous process of wood filling all of the nail holes.  While I was tackling that, Nate was taking on the terrible task of adding a 1/8" diameter round over with the router to the interior of each and every grid.  Once that was complete, Nate then had to caulk between each board and the wall.  (By the way, if you ever do a home renovation buy a contractors pack of painters caulk.  It will become your best friend!)
The next day, once the caulking and wood fill dried, we added one last coat of Cloud White to to all of the boards and the caulk.  Nate was also able to add some recessed lights to the ceiling in the stairwell.  With the addition of the lights and the white painted walls, the stairwell was no longer a dark and scary place! And we were finished!  It was a LONG process but well worth the result.  What do you think?

FINITO!  VIEW FROM THE FRONT DOOR

VIEW FROM UPSTAIRS LOOKING DOWN

VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM UP (Sorry, it is a little blurry!)

 And the Before and After side by side (or top by bottom)......

BEFORE

AFTER

We obviously still need to add the handrail and railing.  We already bought some simple square white spindles and Nate already made a walnut newell post (the post that will sit on the landing and the handrail connects into), but we still need to find a handrail that we both like and that can either be stained dark or painted.  Because although we LOVE our Cloud White color, all of those grimy hands up and down the stairs can really mess up a light colored handrail!   OH, and notice the addition of a round window at the bottom of the stairs?  That is a project Nate and my father tackled one weekend, and it will be featured in a future post.

We will also hang some photographs when we acquire them (we are on a budget people!) either in the squares or on the boards (that is still under discussion).  Once we figure all of that out, you will be updated!

White or Red?

No, I am not talking about paint, I am talking about wine!  Nate and I are pretty big wine drinkers (not winos, but we enjoy a glass or two with dinner) and we needed somewhere to put all of it.  When the kitchen was being redesigned, there was a space that was going to be created between the peninsula and the drop down into the den.  We knew that the area surrounding the window should be used for some type of storage.

THE AREA SURROUNDING THE WINDOW

Nate suggested that we do some built-ins around the window that would act as a "wine cabinet" and incorporate some countertop space for all of the cookbooks that I have collected over time.  Off to Bob's workshop we went!
We used MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) to build the wine cabinets.  We made a dado groove (a groove in one piece of wood that will support another piece of wood) in the vertical boards, and inserted the horizontal pieces into the groove.  Those were then glued and nailed into place creating a system of grids.  STOP!  Before we glued and nailed the boards together, Nate and I suggested to Bob that it would be a lot easier to paint everything before we assembled the pieces.  Bob responded with "I want these things out of my shop, so put them together now, and you can paint them at your house."  So, we obliged.  BIG MISTAKE!  I, being the "painter" out of the two of us, was assigned to paint the already assembled wine cabinets.  Let's just say that I put down my very small, custom made, piece of crap roller on several occasions so that I could review the divorce papers that I was about to serve to my dear hubby.  Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but I was seriously miserable.
Nate, noting that I was on the verge of cracking, handled making the seat bench to go under the window and even surprised me with a fully functioning drawer in the bench for additional storage.  Good man!
AnYways, once painted (Benjamin Moore Cloud White, which should be no surprise if you have been keeping up with this blog), we installed the lower cabinets and the drawer/seat bench.

BOTTOM CABINETS AND SEAT BENCH

Notice the panel detail cropping up again on the front of the seat bench.  We also added panel details on each side of the wine cabinets to blend in to the adjacent kitchen.  We also had the granite guys install granite on top of each of the bottom cabinets.
The upper wine cabinets were a little trickier to install because of the weight.  MDF is a very heavy material and we probably should have thought about that before building these.  Oh well! Nate put blocks in each of the four corners and nailed the blocks to the wine cabinets.  The blocks were then screwed into the studs in the wall.  The upper cabinets were now securely attached to the wall (fingers crossed, we have a lot of cheap Trader Joe's wine in there!)

UPPER CABINETS ARE UP!

We added a base moulding kick plate to cover the area exposed at the bottom.  You will see in the photo above that there was an existing air duct that we needed to vent out from underneath the seat bench.  Nate came up with the idea of drilling a grid of holes into the base moulding to serve as the vent.  It turned out great and functions extremely well.

FINISHED WITH AIR VENT HOLES

I found some fabric at Calico Corners and had my mom make us a seat cushion to finish everything off.  This is now Murphy's (our cat) favorite spot to lay because he can see out of the window.

Ready for the before and after?  Ready or not...

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

We are currently debating on whether or not to hang some roman shades in the window.  We did purchase some cool floating glass balls that hold "air plants" from West Elm and have hung those in front of the window.  We will also be adding some bolster pillows in a solid red color on the seat bench.