It's about time!

 

Over the past 2 months, our stairwell has looked like this...

It was still that brown-ish tan color, which did NOT match with the new gray...

I had to leave all the paint stuff out because eventually I WAS going to paint the stairwell.  It is a complicated process, so I put it off.

 

Dave thought it would be a great idea to take Ashley's first day of public school picture with this background.  Mostly gray walls, bad brown stair well, and tons of painting supplies in the background.  Good thing Ash is so cute, because the rest of the pic is YUCK!  

It took 2 months of living with it, and being so busy I could hardly stay awake at night, to get the motivation to finish!!  Finally, two weekends ago, I knew I had to finish!  Please excuse the pics, I took them at night.

Ahhhh, the cooling and lovely gray!  Now we just need new carpet.  If it's not one thing, it's another!

It so easy on the eyes, unlike that ugly brown.

Our house is a mess in this picture, but at least all the walls are gray now!  I love how the gray looks with the nice, white trim.  

My next project for this space is installing a chair rail up the stairs, and doing a huge gallery wall on the top.  It's going to be a big project, but so cool in the end.  I need to start getting my frames, pictures, and DIY art started.  I'm trying to figure out if I want all black frames, or all white frames, or a smattering of both.  I think both black and white look good with the color, but I hate all our dark furniture now so I am thinking I may like white better?  I have to think long on these things.  

Decorating a home is such a journey.  I decide on one thing, and let the idea cook for a while and then it morphs into something else, and then I get a new idea or learn of something new, and then I think outside the box and the idea changes again!  That's why I give myself some time, instead of jumping right in.  Even then, it's not fool proof.  Take the kitchen, for example.  I thought I wanted it yellow, and I agonized over colors of 6 months!!  Now, that I have gray walls, I know I want to change the color.  At first, I wanted a lighter, greenish yellow color, now I am re-thinking that all together.  Maybe another gray?  Maybe a mocha?  Maybe yellow, but another version?  I need to get more swatches up in here and think long and hard...

I guess the point is, there is some trial and error to jazzing up a home.  It may change and ebb and flow, but hopefully the end result is a beautiful space to live in.  I am loving the journey!!