Taking it from blah and boring to amazing and unique!
Friends, I did something a bit crazy and certainly unconventional to our stairwell that leads down into our basement. I painted it black and hung large stars in it. And oh my, I tell you, I love it!
Here is what it looked like before. The walls were a cream color and the light fixture didn't even have a shade on it. This is how it was when we bought the house 5 years ago and how it has stayed up until last weekend.
We had to hire this project out because I am not getting up on a board in a stairwell to do a project... that's my line, haha. We found 2 wonderful carpenters though that made my vision come to light.
Here is the hallway after one coat of paint. The paint color is Inkwell from Sherwin Williams, which is a deep black with a hint of blue. Perfect for a "night sky".
At this point I loved the color, but when I went to get the light fixture gathered up, the stars looked like there weren't going to work. I was crushed. Why did I not think to check this part of my idea before I hired painters. I would not have painted it black if not for the large white stars I wanted to hang. (Psst. The stars are from IKEA.) Thankfully my mom and husband can talk me off a cliff and I went to bed feeling defeated but what was done was done. I was going to have to use the light fixture without the stars.
Here is the light fixture I got, (and where you can get it too). We actually had one like this from Pottery Barn in another house and I loved it, so on its own would have been cool. But I was dead set on those stars working. As soon as I woke up, I had an idea of how to attach them with fishing line and thankfully it worked... so in the end I was able to attached all the stars. But it had to be done before the light fixture was installed.
Bless those two guys who stood up there and hung this light fixture, on a board, that had giant stars attached. There is no way I would have been able to do it.
Here is what it looks like from the top of the stairs. Don't let the pictures fool you, these things are giant!
And from the bottom of the stairs.
And my favorite view. My friend and I stopped and stared at them for quite a while the first night. It is safe to say that my vision was able to come to life and that I am overjoyed with how the once blah stairwell has been transformed into an interesting focal point. It's like a little bit of surprise and joy as you head down to the basement living area.
Hope you guys liked seeing the process and that this inspired you to think outside the box a bit.
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