Monday, October 10, 2011

Halloween Infestation

A little more house history...When we bought our house, everything was wood. The family room and kitchen had panelling all over. There were original yellow oak hardwoods throughout the entire house, and every piece of moulding was also shiny yellow oak. Most of the floors were in great condition, but the color was not my favorite. And then there was the staircase:



Here's another view with even more wood around the front door:



I loved that the treads were in good condition, and I know there are people out there who would think it was all beautiful, but it was just too much wood. So after a couple months of living with it, I set out on painting the risers, spindles, and trim white. This involved a painstaking hole filling and taping process:



Then I sanded, primed, and painted about 4 coats of semi-gloss white. It took forever and my back and hands were cramped for what felt like weeks. I love the way it turned out, but it was a painful process.


Then I saw this photo while checking out some blogs:

(Thifty Decor Chick)
I knew I just had to add those adorable mice to my stairs - they would really pop against the white. Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick got her paper mice from Michaels, but I downloaded the template from Martha Stewart, printed it on some card stock, cut them out and traced them onto some black construction paper. To preserve the paint, I used some masking tape to stick them on. Here is the finished product:



(in addition to painting all the trim, we also had the floors refinished, so no more yellow oak!)


(You can see a bit of the "spooky fabric" I have hanging over the railing, perhaps I will get a chance to do a post showing my Halloween entrance way and fall decorations outside.)


Verdict: Although it was time consuming to trace and cut out these little mice, it was mindless and worth the effort. If I had more energy, I would probably dress up the stairs a bit more like Sarah, but I am afraid I might trip (I am a bit clumsy these days).


Because of the time it took to cut them out, I am hoping to save them and use them again next year, but one or two might just make a reappearance around Christmas time - just like Sarah who made them into adorable Christmas Mice!:


(Thifty Decor Chick)


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...