Windsor Terrace Reno

« Welcome to the boudoir. The power of paint - part 2 »

January 14, 2008

I say po-ta-to, You say po-tat-o

A little sneak peak at our scary man of the stairs. Despite his age and what he has been through these past few months, he is looking quite handsome to me. For those curious, the wood was stained dark walnut.

The latest decision to be made is what to paint the stair risers. For those obsessed with staining everything in site: yes,they need to be painted. I want to paint them black - its a tiny bit unusual but the black will work nicely with the pale grey on the walls and dark stain of the stair treads. It will also hide ugly scuff marks better. And its not any sort of strange choice like orange or teal. So whats the problem? Mr. Limestone didn't have an opinion on this until our contractor and architect chimed in that the cream would be nicer Now Mr. Limestone is literally insisting that they be painted cream.

Why is it that when I needed help picking paint colors, no one has an opinion but when Im sure of something then everyone has to chime in? Im sure intentions are good but its quite annoying.

I used to believe that whenever I would say white, Mr. Limestone would say black just to drive me completely up a wall. But I was wrong. In fact, when I say black, he says cream! A world of difference.

Whatever the shade, its quite close to being done. We're both in total agreement that a good thing.

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Comments

easily solved: put up black paper and then put up cream paper. should be easy enough as they are all the same size more or less and you don't need to be perfect to get a look. a couple packages of construction paper later and you will be victorious.

Posted by: guest at January 14, 2008 2:01 PM

This "Mr. Limestone" seems like a brilliant guy, as cream is the obvious choice. He’s probably quite handsome as well. (wink) :)

Posted by: guest at January 14, 2008 2:14 PM

Guest@2:14 - Can't argue that he is a handsome fellow.

Guest@2:01 - Good suggestion but Ive already done a mockup via photoshop of the black vs. cream and he is still insisting on the cream. Its no use really - once my husband hears a complete stranger voice their opinion, he is completely unable to disagree with them. Its quite a sickness really.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at January 14, 2008 2:57 PM

I simply believe that the cream painted risers along with the cream posts and the cream painted molding on the left and right parts of the stairs provide a nice look, which aptly contrasts the darkly stained steps and railing. No need to add black painted risers, which break up the continuity of the cream, and add a third color.

Most people would agree with me, but my wife would say “it doesn’t matter if the whole world thought it was a bad idea to paint the risers black, I only care what I like.” She might not say it that way, and she would be correct; however, what if the whole world + her husband thought it was a bad idea? Surely, that should mean something, shouldn’t it?

After writing that, I guess I realize the answer is NO!

Posted by: Mr. Limestone at January 14, 2008 3:39 PM

I vote for cream!

Black paint can get surprisingly funky looking on floors, baseboards and risers. It hides scuffs and wear less than you'd think.

Plus the cream will bounce light not absorb it like black would, thus brighten the stairwells and that's always welcome in brownstones/limestones.

Posted by: guest at January 14, 2008 4:02 PM

Are you sure you need to paint the risers. The all wood look in the photo above is very pretty. And believe me -- people (well, guys with big feet actually) will kick the risers as they walk upstairs and mark them, even chip them.

Posted by: guest at January 14, 2008 6:30 PM

Guest402 - Have you had black risers? You mention the black doesn't hide scuff marks but I don't see how the cream could hide them better than black since scuff marks tend to be black. Can you explain?

Guest630 - Yes, they need to be painted. The photo doesn't show you the detail but they don't look good stained.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at January 14, 2008 7:42 PM

Mr. Limestone, You should just give up the fight and listen to Mrs. Limestone. She's done one hell of a job so far! I'm a Mrs. with a Mr. who learned very early on there are some battles he could win and some he couldn't. I give Mrs. Limestone a great deal of credit for handing the basement over to you and understand how difficult that must have been even though you do have very good taste and the basement looks absolutely fantastic. Anyway, paint the risers black and call it a day. Congratulations and good luck to both of you on your fabulous home.

Posted by: guest at January 14, 2008 9:50 PM

you could always do some sort of foot stop on the riser - it might be a nice compromise.... or a kick plate - i have seen alot of really nice looking ones but for some reason I am having a hard time looking up an example on line.....Either way i cant wait to see what it looks like

Posted by: guest at January 14, 2008 11:38 PM

I don't understand why the stairs need to be painted. I think they look beautiful as is.

Posted by: Brooklynnative at January 15, 2008 8:55 AM

Have you thought of carpet runners (cream colored or black-lol)? We had them in our rowhouse when we lived in Brooklyn and they made things quieter-always a plus in these types of homes- as well as taking the brunt of the damage caused by constantly walking on and scuffing up bare wood.

Believe me you won't regret it.

-carolyn

Posted by: guest at January 15, 2008 9:05 AM

Here's a third idea. What if you try a darker grey than the walls on the risers? It could be better at hiding scuffs than black or cream, keeps the grey and cream theme going, and could make you both happy.

Otherwise, I'd vote to leave them as they are in the photo.

Posted by: guest at January 15, 2008 9:32 AM

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think a deeper grey would be a lovely option too but the Mr. isn't keen on that either. Its cream, cream, cream for him.

The carpet runner would not solve this problem. The risers would still need to be painted before. I'd still want them black, he would still want them cream. But it is a thought to deaden the noise.

Neither of us want to leave them stained so we are thankfully in agreement on that.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at January 15, 2008 10:08 AM

You've done a truly lovely job so far, but I think black risers will be too harsh and too much of a contrast. I'm liking the darker grey idea though--darker than the walls but not charcoal, though. And cream could work, too!

FYI, we have very dark stained stairs and they show a great deal of dust. I imagine black would be the same.

One thing we learned the hard way...we painted our stairs to the basement using high quality Pratt and Lambert floor paint (I think it's really a type of epoxy). It dries to the touch fairly quickly, but takes a very long time to cure--like three weeks to get to a truly hard finish.

I don't imagine you can avoid your stairs for three weeks, but paint them when all the contractors are pretty much gone, and bear in mind that the finish will be pretty fragile for awhile--avoid those stilettos!

Posted by: tinarina at January 15, 2008 10:33 AM

Paint the risers and spindles "China White" in a Semi gloss. Leave the treads and banister wood. It's classic good taste that will never go out of style. It goes with your house and you will love the look. Black is too edgy for this home.

Posted by: guest at January 15, 2008 7:17 PM

I also stained our floors dark walnut, and did not paint the risers. having lived with them for two years, I now do want to paint them a white -But its not about scuffs or light, I think contrasting risers emphasizes the architecture of stairs-more about shape and form. . .

Would you disclose the color grey on the wall above the stairs?

Thanks for being so thorough with your reno blog-beautiful work!

Posted by: guest at January 15, 2008 8:49 PM

While painting for a couple they once asked me what I thought about picking a color for walls in a bathroom that had small purple and onyx tiles. (They'd already been disappointed by two interior decorators, who'd given them a free opinion - being old friends). I said green, and they looked at me funny. Finally they asked me why and I told them, "because it's a split-compliment on secondary hues". They looked at me funny again. This went on for two weeks! Then I lended the wife my color-theory book, which was educational about why certain colors work in certain places. Asked her what she thought of it. "Seemed like a book for color retards!" Sheesh! I was only being helpful. To solve the problem before they could argue any more about it their son and his wife came in on Friday night and painted it light purple, kinda light mulberry. It sucked! Monotony! Boring!
Fine! I was off the hook.
Moral of the story? Never give free advice.

Posted by: akryeguy at January 16, 2008 1:16 AM

Akryeguy - I don't mind people giving their opinions. Its always good to know and Im not the type to be driven mad by too many choices.

And I am not surprised no one likes the black. As Mr. Limestone says, if I like something I don't care how many people hate it. As a general rule, Im a pretty happy with the choices I make even if they buck a trend. My style tends to be mostly traditional but I like to add something a tiny bit unusual to make it look a little more contemporary.

The color on the hallway wall is called "Abalone" and its a Benjamin Moore paint.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at January 16, 2008 9:35 AM

I'm with cream, but my own are white. Did you use anything over the stain on the post and bannister? We just finished stripping and staining ours. It looks dull.

Posted by: dt at January 21, 2008 10:49 AM

By "it looks dull" I mean mine, not yours!

Posted by: dt at January 21, 2008 10:50 AM