Inspiration for a Painted Staircase (+ Poplar Progress)
THE POPLAR COTTAGE
The Poplar Cottage officially has a staircase! Some of you probably remember that this house was originally just one story but the tall, unfinished attic was crying out to be finished. Fast forward a few years and we finally have a second story and needed a staircase to go with it. Today I’m sharing progress photos plus some inspiration images for a painted staircase that will hopefully look like it’s original to this old house. Let’s get into it…
Finding a location
Probably the hardest part of this whole staircase was finding a spot for it. We spent hours with pencil and paper, moving it around and playing with the rise and run to see where it would fit in the tiny footprint (less than 600sf!). But ultimately there was only one spot we could make it fit without reworking the rest of the main floor layout - right down the middle. In the end, the stairs are on the steeper side (11.25” treads and 7.75” risers) but they fit!
Sourcing Materials
We originally planned to order really nice custom fir treads, but we decided to keep costs down and go with basic hemlock instead. The hemlock was 1/4 the price of fir and will be perfect for paint.
Can you believe the balusters and handrail came off the shelf at Home Depot? I was very pleasantly surprised by the turned balusters, handrail, and newel post selection. It’ll all be painted and I don’t think you’ll ever know it’s not original.
Inspiration
I wanted to share the inspiration for the staircase. Much of the design was based on the space we had available, but the paint color will definitely be inspired by these spaces. For the record, I will always love unpainted woodwork and I know these would have looked stunning as fir, but with our budget constraints, paint feels like the right choice. Plus, after living with SO much natural woodwork at the Farmhouse, I’m ready for something different. A pop of blue feels like just the ticket…
Faye Toogood’s home via The modern house
Design by Hadley Wiggins | photo Malcolm Brown
We’ll be painting these after we get the hardwoods finished on the main floor and I can’t wait! I’m thinking of using the blue color that was in the Farmhouse guest bedroom. Thoughts?
xx
