A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this stairs makeover. And paint too.. let’s not forget the paint.

I must have went through every possible shade of grey on this wall before I finally threw my hands up. All diva-like and flustered. White , I said to my husband. Let’s just go with the white paint!

If you’ve been following along with this makeover on my Instagram stories , I salute you – I really do! Your patience, watching me (and the hubby) soldier on for the past four months, is something to be celebrated – truly!

You know those people who re-design rooms in a few days, weeks, or even a month? (not a rhetorical question by the way- such a person does actually exist)

Yeah. Totally not me.

Not you either? Meh. Lets be friends!

When it comes to decorating…. I am a snail… a sloth…

‘Sid the Sloth’ (or Medina the Sloth might be more apt here). I take my time. And I also tend to procrastinate whilst taking my time.

Every decision I make has to feel right before I can move on to the next one. Sometimes, that may mean I have to go back and re-do things. Which is infuriating, to say the least.

But it’s how I work.

It’s a ‘Grillo’ thing – which if you hadn’t already noticed, isn’t just a name, but a way of life (Yes, I did just quote my mother)

THE STAIRS MAKEOVER

*The carpet for this post was provided by Carpetright. This post contains affiliates for your convenience, see full disclosure here*

The stairs was the biggest challenge in this makeover. I don’t have a before picture of the staircase fully carpeted but I do have a post carpet photo .

Behold..

Once the carpet had been pulled up, I’ll admit to getting a little carried away surfing wooden staircase ideas on Pinterest. I thought, with a little sanding and stain, I could go au Natural!

It would be beautiful.. I told myself. Magnificent even!

Turns out, bare wooden steps aren’t that great to walk up and down on.

They’re cold ….super noisy (not kidding about this part, my tiny cat was made to sound like a beast) and probably not ideal, when you have a five year old who likes to use them as the starting point for all major tantrums.

It’s not pretty to watch.

Clearly, I have Pinterest to blame for all my over inflated interior dreams – and subsequent fails as a result. Just a thought .

So I made the decision to go back to carpet .

Well sort of.

I would paint the risers and carpet the steps (treads) – best of both worlds right?

I’m jumping the gun a little here – but here’s an after picture.

With that idea in mind, I reached out to Carpetright and asked if they would like to collaborate with me. They said yes, and a few happy AJ fist pumps in the air later, I was off to my local showroom to pick a carpet.

I chose a carpet from the Dakota wool range in a twine colour. I say chose so flippantly there, when in reality it was anything but that. It was a mission, attempting to narrow down my options because there were just so many amazing ranges to choose from.

I had to go through lots of perfects before I found the ‘perfect one’ .

The Carpetright staff were great though, from the sales team right down to the actual fitting department. They gave lots of useful advice and if I had gotten on their last nerve with all the indecisiveness – they sure didn’t show it!

Although baffled by my odd request to ‘just carpet the steps and not the risers’, they were very accommodating and eager to make it happen!

SOURCES: Carpet / stencil numbers

It feels pretty nice to have a good quality carpet for a change. As opposed to the usual quick fix cheap carpets we buy whenever we move into a new rental property.

I’m kinda excited to see how it will wear over time!

SOURCES: Round Mirror / Umbrella stand / IKEA IVAR cabinet

We painted the banisters, skirting and stair risers with Valspar Coal Tipple (the same paint I used on my bedroom wall)! Everything had previously been white so the darker shade really added a little drama to the space. … .

I’ll be sharing a little more about the painting of the stairs in a future post. They totally need their own moment of glory.