Stairway to Heaven

 Transition spaces are often neglected in terms of effort and style. Walls are often left a blank white or beige and pictures are hung haphazardly if at all. For the transition from the more formal lower floor to the more casual and intimate upper floor, I wanted it to be breezy and clean feeling. Stairs and halls easily accumulate dust, especially along the edges, and my kids bang into walls when they walk, either with themselves as they race around the corners, or with the stick pony/giant firetruck/random chair/baby stroller they are carrying.





We begin in the living room, where there is a small landing leading to the stairway. The color on the stair walls is a light blue called Ocean Air. It seemed like a good retreat from Sea Reflections in the living room.

Turn to the left and you see the stairs going straight up. The original treads are the same as the rest of the flooring and the riser (the white part) is painted the same color as the rest of the trim in the house, which is the original color that was in the house. If you ever have a color you love, chip a bit of it off and take it to the paint store. They can color match it for you.

Flowy white floral curtains are from Ikea.

At the top of the stairs you are in the hall, which I keep wanting to put a rug in but everyone just slips all over it and it's always out of place, so I am leaving it bare. It feels very English to me. Like the cottage in Sense and Sensibility.

To give you an idea of the floor plan, in the photo above, immediately to the right is the bathroom door, and the small door you can partially see is a linen closet. Straight ahead and to the right is the master, far left corner is a bedroom/family room, next to the ladder is another bedroom.

View from the other end of the hall. This is a custom ship's ladder with the treads closer together to make it easier for children to climb. Leads (obviously) to the attic. That's another post.

 Headed back down...

Moral of the story: When all else fails, stick to clean lines. You can't go wrong.