Stairwell Spruce Up Reveal

It’s reveal day, you guys! I am stoked to be done with this corner of our home! It’s hard to believe this space sat empty for the last 18 months and it really didn’t even phase me. It wasn’t until another challenge rolled around that I started toying around with the idea of refreshing the staircase instead of an entire room. The New Year, New Room Refresh Challenge has come to an end so here is the Staircase Spruce Up Reveal!

If you’re just tuning in, at the beginning of the year I set out to give the Basement Stairwell a quick makeover. The New Year, New Room Refresh Challenge takes place each January where a group of content creators are “challenged” with updating a space in our home over the course of the month. Stephanie of Casa Watkins Living hosts the Challenge and has graciously invited me to participate each year. I’ve taken on 7 spaces in 3 different homes every January since 2016!

While it’s a ton of work with a tight timeline, I’m so thankful for the fire that gets lit underneath me when I say yes to a challenge. And ultimately, so grateful to have a finished space in our home at the end of it!

To see all of my NYNR spaces, go HERE. And if you missed any posts in the Stairwell Spruce Up series, click HERE!

WEEK 1 // STAIRWELL SPRUCE UP BEFORE PHOTOS
WEEK 2 // STAIRWELL SPRUCE UP MOOD BOARD
WEEK 3 // STAIRWELL UPDATE
WEEK 4 // HOW TO FILL A STAIRWELL NICHE WITH FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS
WEEK 5 // STAIRWELL REVEAL!

Stairwell Spruce Up Reveal

This year, I wasn’t ready to jump into an entire room [although there is plenty of work to do in our new home in AZ] so while racking my brain on what I could work on that wouldn’t be too much to bite off, I came up with our Stairwell.

It’s directly to the right when you step in the front door, so it deserved a little TLC since it’s such a focal point off the entryway.

The stairwell was a blank slate so all I had to do was come up with ideas to fill both niches and swap out the light fixture and it could be as simple as that!

Easy enough, right?!

In order to see how far we’ve come, let’s go back and see where we started.

THE STAIRWELL BEFORE

We did have the stairwell painted when we had the other main areas done when we first moved into the house in the Summer of 2021. The color is SW Gossamer Veil.

But we didn’t touch anything else.

The railing was simple, the carpet was old and tattered, the niches were empty and the light fixture left a lot to be desired. It was actually much too small for the space.

STAIRWELL DESIGN / MOOD BOARD

sources here

A quick peek at my vision for the stairwell above and now let’s see where we landed…

STAIRWELL SPRUCE UP AFTER

LARGE DIY ART PIECE FOR NICHE

As I mentioned, I had two empty niches to fill in this stairwell. I ended up finding another amazing wall tapestry to use for art. My dad and I used this same process for creating a “canvas” as we did in my bedroom last Fall. We built this one to be an 80″ x 80″ square.

Before hanging the art, I had my painter over to paint the back of the niche in SW Tricorn Black. I love how the black wall frames out the canvas with a thick border and allows the art to really pop! It is the first thing you see when you step inside and you can even see it through the window when you’re outside approaching the door.

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! If you also love this design, but don’t have room for such a large piece, you can get this art as a small canvas, print, and more.

Click HERE to see all of the products available in this design.

MIRRORED NICHE

The other big change in the stairwell was the addition of these mirrors in the smaller arched niche. My dad helped me hang 8 individual full length mirrors to make it look like one large mirror.

We couldn’t have put in a more custom “piece” if we tried. We almost weren’t able to squeeze them in! I talked all about the process in this tutorial post here.

They are so beautiful and when hung all together, they really look like an expensive mirror!

Maybe it will be my new selfie mirror for try-on hauls ha!

BLACK RAILING & NEW CARPET

We took the bold factor up another notch by painting the railing. If given another opportunity and a bigger budget, I would’ve replaced the railing with something metal and more modern. But for now, our current one got the paint treatment.

We used SW Tricorn Black here also.

And wouldn’t you know… our basement flooded in July 2022 and we just so happened to get the greenlight from our contractor for our carpet install. It was replaced this month just in time for the the reveal! We’ve been waiting on every little thing down there as far as repair and reconstruction goes, but the carpet install [basement and up the staircase] worked out perfectly.

It is so soft and plush and feels amazing on your feet!

Someday I’ll have a gorgeous stair runner, but for now, this carpet works great for us! Plus, it leads to the basement, so the cozier the better down there!

STATEMENT LIGHT FIXTURE

And when I thought I couldn’t love this little refresh anymore, we had this new light fixture installed last Friday.

It is absolutely stunning! With the light off and on.

This gorgeous light fixture was actually a last-minute change.

I had originally ordered the light you saw in the stairwell mood board, but after we completed the mirror project, I decided the other light had too many black lines and it would ultimately compete with the black lines of the mirror.

I am SO happy with my decision to order this long gold one and hope it would arrive in time to be installed before the reveal!

And for an idea of the size and scale of this space, here I am standing down at the bottom of the staircase.

And to get an idea of the layout and location of the stairwell, here is a shot from the Dining Room, which I actually transformed during the NYNR Challenge last January.

The stairwell is essentially across the entryway from the Dining Room.

It felt strange not having a space to fully style and accessorize, but I love that I was able to simply add art, mirrors and light to give it a wow factor.

What do you think? So much better, right?!

One last look at the project punch list I created at the beginning of the challenge.

STAIRWELL PROJECT TO-DO LIST

• swap out light fixture
• replace or paint railing 
• paint or wallpaper niches 
• add art or other wall décor to both niches 
• replace carpet
• add light source to other niche??
• window treatments??
• MISCELLANEOUS DIY PROJECTS:
  • ___create canvas with tapestry_
  • __________________________________
  • __________________________________

I basically accomplished everything I set out to do here, with the exception of adding more light and window treatments. I omitted these ideas altogether.

That is it for today, friends. I hope you love this little space as much as I do. Sometimes all it takes is a little focus and concentrated effort on one space versus always trying to multi-task on various rooms. You start one and then get it over the finish line! And I’m so happy to have this stairwell on the other side now!

Be sure to scroll down and see the other participants’ reveals today. They are going to be good!

You can check out the rest of my NYNR Challenge posts over the years, click here or the recent challenge posts below:

WEEK 1 // STAIRWELL SPRUCE UP BEFORE PHOTOS
WEEK 2 // STAIRWELL SPRUCE UP MOOD BOARD
WEEK 3 // STAIRWELL UPDATE
WEEK 4 // HOW TO FILL A STAIRWELL NICHE WITH FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS
WEEK 5 // STAIRWELL REVEAL!

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