Before & After: The Staircase That Broke the Internet

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If you’ve been following us for a while, you probably saw our funny celebratory dance when we got our recent spike in followers on Instagram! The good ole Insta gods @chrislovesjulia named us as a design team to follow. So exciting we almost wet our pants, we’ve loved getting to know so many new people…and they all love this staircase. We thought it might be fun to give the people what they want—the low down on how we updated a dated entrance with a beautiful stair runner:

Before…

This was a second-floor remodel only, but the staircase took up a huge portion of the square footage, so the clients and our team knew we had to turn it into a dramatic entrance and get rid of that builder grade look. We opened up the second-floor entrance and mimicked the rest of the staircase around the double vault entrance, bringing more light into the hallway while simultaneously creating an almost spiral staircase effect. 

We lopped the newel posts down (because those guys are dead ringers for builder grade) and then we squared them off. Not only did it balance the spindles but it also made the whole staircase feel more modern. 

Then we decided to repaint the staircase in one of our favorite colors, Benjamin Moore’s Onyx. This color is gorgeous and always makes our list of must-use, classic Moore House paints. We love painting the treads, risers, posts, and balusters the same color because it creates a statement and is still so much more calming to the eye than white risers and black treads.

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After…

And finally, the part you’ve been waiting for…the pièce de resistance—THE RUG! You’ll always hear us say, it’s all in the rug. A good vintage rug that’s broken in can make or break any space. Make sure that the colors are muted and there aren’t too many different competing hues. You want to create interest in your focal point, while making sure the colors balance with the rest of your space, and all still feel cohesive within your design. 

We sourced one of these rugs from a local market and the other two are from our girl Sheba from @blueparakeetrugs. She sourced these for us and knew the colors we wanted..and did she ever deliver! 

Our team did the install but you can easily call a carpet installer and/or your local carpet showroom to get a quote on the installation.

Here are a few of our favorite tools we use when we’re installing a runner:  

 1. A Pneumatic staple gun. This one is our favorite and once you splurge on one you’ll never know how you did without for so long! We use it for a lot of home projects. 

2. Carpet padding. We love this with the nonstick rubberize for the stairs. 

3. Carpet cutter. We love this cordless one and use it with fabric and curtains too.

4. Rug tape. So necessary!

For easy instructions, head on over to Annie Selke’s site,  she has a great tutorial and explains it way better than we could!

Images: Erin McGinn 

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