Hey guys! I am running into two problems, hope you guys can help! I am looking to buy a property for a good price, but it has this ugly stairwell in the middle of the dining and living room. Possible solutions that I have thought of to make it look a little better would be to make it an accent wall and/or put shelving in front of it. Any thoughts on other options that will or have worked? The second problem that this picture shows is this old fireplace that looks to be filled and coated with white paint. What can I do with that? My goal is for ideas to make this more appealing so that if I want to sell in the future I can find buyers. Thanks!!! stairs in center of dining and living ( photo / image / picture from nohandss's Garden )
Hi nohands, I think some shelving would definitely look great on the staircase wall. Perhaps a dresser also?
I think you have a challenge there. Making the stairway look like it is supposed to be there is the biggest goal, imo. (New paint would be a must for me. Yellow is not my color, so I would start there, repaint, strip or replace the trim). Is the fireplace functional or just a facade? if it is just a facade, rip it out. Book shelves, with a few chairs as a focal point or a collection of yours if you have any collectibles, a themed wall of photos or family pictures. A mural? With the fireplace though, it is competing as a focal point.....Choose one to be that and down play the other as best as possible.
Are those electrical sockets and a thermostat? I'd move them or get rid of them. I'd then place a shelf for books, photos, collectibles. Does that room have windows? If so, I'd put shelves all the way to the top and put plants. Or hang paintings.
There is valuable storage area under any staircase, here's 3 pics. I've found of way to use it and make it attractive: sorry about clarity, had to up size, thumbnails. ( photo / image / picture from SusieQ07's Garden )
Right now you only see an eyesore. You can approach the problem in one of two ways, either disguise the staircase so it is not the center of attraction by diverting the viewers attention away from the stairs. Or you can be bold and change the stairway into a feature like an open frame spiral stairway. There are many ways to 'hide' something: making everything around it the same coloring or perhaps adding a distraction so the viewer ignores the staircase. As for the bold statement, you make something people do not usually see i.e. an open frame. It actually says 'look at me, I'm unique,' and people say wow!! Jerry
I like the idea of ripping out the fireplace and putting new drywall there. I also think creating built-in shelving in the staircase would create a nice look. Now, I am not very handy. Who would perform a task like this, an how much would this cost?
Instead of shelving in front of or shelves attached to the wall, build a full size book case...floor to ceiling/edge to edge. Make the bookcase the standout feature, don't close up the sloping section of the wall use that section of the book case for displaying pretty glass objects or other pieces....light and air will still reach the stairwell. Make the bookcase the same color or maybe a shade or two lighter than the floor, the bookcase will blend in with the floor and not stick out like a sore thumb. Is there a walkway between the back of the stair way and that wall? If it's just a niche, find a nice tall live plant that will be happy in the lighting conditions there. If the fireplace is real and you want to keep it, have to repaired if needed, strip that white paint off of everything and see if it's covering stained hardwood. Especially around the fireplace since painting old brick and hardwood seems to be the 'design feature' pushed by designers today. If it isn't real, you can have it removed and the wall closed up or put a gas or electric fake fireplace unit in there. That would make a cozy reading nook with a comfy chair between the bookcase and wall. It would finish off that end/corner of the room instead of it looking awkward as it does now. And yes the yellow has to go. But painting the area is a whole 'nuther topic. Don't decorate your home in the hopes that a future buyer will find it appealing. Decorate it to your likes and needs. Chances are really good that a future buyer will see their own ideas and start ripping out your features the minute they sign the papers. When my folks sold their house many years ago they spent close to $10,000 on paint and new carpet that the realtor told them had to be done to get the house sell worthy. Within a month after the new owners moved in I saw all that brand new carpet on the curb for trash pickup.
thanks toni, that seems like a real good idea. My goal is to have a modern look, wouldn't the wood grain take away from this? I'm getting a vision in my head tell me what you think. The walls would be painted in a mid-tone gray, the staircase wall would be painted in an accent color of light cream color. The bookshelf that your mentioned would take up the whole staircase area as you mentioned. But instead of the bookshelf color being woodgrain, paint it black. I would most likely rip the fireplace out because it just seems out of place. And I am also thinking that the TV would go in that area and have sofas on the other walls. What do you think of this?
Yep, I like your vision. My main reason for woodgrain is that floor, I love that floor!! But it can be adapted to the more modern look. As dark as that floor is and with the almost black boards in it, black for the book case would work together. I like the light grey on the walls, instead of the woodgrain trimming you could go with a darker grey than the walls. Or black if that looks good to you. How much wall space is to the right of the fireplace? Don't limit your seating places to sofa's, not every one likes to sit that close to other people. A sofa for you to be comfy on while watching the TV and fill in other seating with chairs. If you watch a group of family or friends, most of them will grap the individual chairs instead of sitting on a sofa. How big is that room? Will it be more formal or used for just about every family and friend get together you have? If there is room you could have a separate seating area with a smallish table on the wall across from the TV for reading, or guests to sit and visit if they don't want to watch TV. Point is don't make watching TV the only thing that anyone in the room can do. And don't put seating just along the walls unless you plan on needing room to dance. If that's a real 'chimney out the roof' type of fireplace you can't just rip it out, that would involve some major work and money. It can be sealed off at the roof and inside and the wall replastered I think, but you would have to check into that. Oh, how about a grey/blue accent wall behind the bookcase?
yes, I like your idea of a grayish blue accent wall. Also the different colors for the book case as well. I have not seen this property but am going to get in touch with my realtor about it. This is a townhome, but I would have to check about the fireplace. If it is not possible to fix that I would probably paint it, but am unsure of what color. Possibly to match the bookshelf? I would also have to worry about the wall behind the stairs that would be in the kitchen area. Probably would paint that the same color as the accent color in the living room. I do not know big the area besides making assumptions from the picture. Haha and I like all of your ideas about the living room arrangement, Toni you have this down!
?definitely looks like a challenge but i have to agree with everyone that there is a lot that you can do with it. I have to say that bookshelves is definitely a fab idea!
Nohands welcome to the stew glad you found this great helpful community from all over the world. It sounds like others have given you some great ideas. I to love the floor. It is a shame they painted the wood trim. I looks like it is the older wide woodwork which I love. If you could extend the stair wall to meet up the fire place wall it would look a lot better. The staircase wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb then. I like the bookcase idea. If you didnt want to extend the wall you could put a floor to ceiling wooden storage unit in that area. Then have the bookcase butt up against it. That way it would look like one unit. I would try and stain it a color that matches the floor as close as possible. I wouldn't paint it black. But that's just my preference. If you can walk around behind the stair case into the other room. You still could do the storage unit. Just put one on the other side. You know, back to back so to speak. Yes I do agree the yellow has to go. But I wouldn't paint the walls grey as it will fight with the fox red color in the wood floor. I would paint the walls a light beige in the same tones as the floor. Then you could use a dark chocolate color as an accent color, and also paint the trim the same. Or you could paint the walls a light peach color, and then use a dark adobe brick color as an accent. Plus grey is a very cold feeling color. You want a color that will invite folks in and make it feel welcome. Where the fire place is you can get narrow inserts that look like fire places. Kind of like a tv screen but it gives off heat as well. Oh well just a few things to think about.
Just my 2 cents worth but modern design in an older house usually doesn`t work well unless you have enough money to do the same to the entire interior.
I agree with Tooty about extending the staircase wall to meet with the fireplace wall. It would transform the staircase from an odd island to an actual wall. You could possible make the space to the right of the staircase a storage closet of some sort. We did that with an overly large storage unit and it came out great. You can still put shelving on the wall, or whatever.
