This is part of the series, The House on High Street. The entire series is indexed here.
The front staircase was one of my first projects because, as you can see, it was in such a frightful condition. Poor little staircase, it just cried out for help. There were big pieces of the old horsehair plaster broken and missing. Everything was covered in graffiti. That big swath of white stuff was either an attempt at plaster repair or, perhaps, someone had just painted over some particularly offensive gang tag. I tried painting over the things that were written on that wall, but they kept bleeding through the paint. It turned out that the B children had used not only pencil and pen, but markers and lipstick, as well. The paint store people supplied me with a product that was guaranteed to stop the bleeding through, and I was finally able to finish repairing and painting the wall.
Please forgive the layer of dust on the banister in the first photo below. At the time it was taken, there was still plenty of sanding going on.
It's possible that if I had it to do over again, I might not have done all that amateurish stenciling. But think about this--it was the 80s, and I'm sure that if you remember those times, you can picture the way we were dressed then and how we did our hair--so we really didn't know any better.
It's possible that if I had it to do over again, I might not have done all that amateurish stenciling. But think about this--it was the 80s, and I'm sure that if you remember those times, you can picture the way we were dressed then and how we did our hair--so we really didn't know any better.
ametuerish!?! i think not! that stenciling quaint, country home perfect! you two did so much work on that house...unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteYes, Erikka, the stenciling certainly was an improvement over the graffiti. We worked so hard on that house--you are right about that. When we moved in we decided to be more practical than optimistic, and set up a Ten Year Plan for Home Improvement. However, at the end of those ten years, we realized that we might have underestimated the work to be done and that it was time to map out yet another ten year list. Thank goodness someone else is carrying out that plan!
ReplyDeleteI love the stenciling! I think your was charming and I do love hearing all about it. You guys did do a LOT of work. Do you ever miss living there?
ReplyDeleteLooks great to me!
ReplyDeleteI like it, too, and everyone was doing it in the 80s. I have a metal rocking horse exactly like that one in the window in your picture!
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