Brightened Up Basement Stairway Reveal

I am thrilled to be hanging out with you all at Bless’er House today. I often call Lauren my blogging BFF. She’s one of those people in this big blogging world that you meet, and right off the bat, you know she’s the real deal. Genuine, talented, and sweet as Georgia tea on a summer’s day.

I’m Heather. My husband Dave and I’s site is The Heathered Nest. We’re new to the blog scene, but old-timers when it comes to DIY and home renovation. Last year, we moved out of our urban comfort zone, and moved into, I’d have to say, a bit of a country twilight zone. We bought a home on a little land…a place where the kids could run, frolic, and enjoy the wonders of the great-out-of-doors. Problem was that the in-of-doors was a tad of an ugly-80’s nightmare.

This was kinda ok, because I do love me some 80’s. If I had to have picked a theme song for our pad it was probably that Golden Earring song…you know, “Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone…” Or possibly Guns n Roses’ mega hit “Welcome to the jungle”…

You don’t get more classic 80’s hair metal than that one, right?! To prove this home’s 80s-ness, check out this totally gnarly, gag-me-to-the-max bathroom we had. Seriously. And if you’re still not convinced of this time warp we were dealing with…check out the shower curtain we inherited when we bought “The Twilight Home”.

DO YOU SEE THAT??? Our inherited bathroom curtain MATCHES Axl Rose’s outfit!!! I moved into the 1980’s…drop the mic.

Here was our 1980’s smurf-er-ific stairwell that led into the 1980’s basement (side note: that smurfy blue color follows us everywhere…check out THIS room we remodeled!).

I know…

So, we got to work. Oh, that’s us…in our normal weekend leisure garb. Wish I was kidding.

Painting this stripe design was a bit time consuming, and we learned a couple tricks along the way. More about that soon on the blog.

And voila, no more 80’s-ugly! We removed an old builder-grade vanity mirror from that bathroom in the first picture, cut it, and framed it out in some barnboard. We love barnboard here at the Heathered Nest. If you click those links, you’ll see some examples of what we’ve done with it.

And that light fixture? Guess how much that cost…ZERO! It used to be one of those old builder-grade-boob-lights (yes, that’s a real term, didn’t make it up). Here’s a pic of the light before…

We just spruced it up with some capiz shells and again, the almighty spray paint. Now, I think she’s a “total babe” as they said circa 1988.

To me, the white handrail with gold hardware feels clean and bright, which are helpful in a darker basement.

Once upon a time, there were walls flanking both sides of this stairwell, floor to ceiling. We knocked one side down to open up the space and make it feel less like entering a dungeon.

We’ve done a lot of stairwells in our time. Funny thing is, this is one of the cheapest we’ve ever done, and despite the low price tag, the finished product is easily one of my favorites.