Fresh Coat Basement

After I won all that paint before Christmas it sort of turned into a marathon painting session all spring and summer. Here are some before and afters of our basement.

Staircase from above ~ Before

Staircase from above ~ After

Staircase from below ~ Before

Staircase from below ~ After

Door from garage into house ~ Before

 
Door from garage into house ~ After

And one more just because I’m so happy it’s no longer green ~ Yay!

 

So I was asked if I have any advice on painting stairs. Not really, it's just like painting any other wood in my book. Do plan an escape route though, mine was to leave through the garage after I was done painting and then to enter the house again from outside upstairs. If that's not an option for you you can paint every other step first so you can walk on the unpainted ones and then once the painted ones are dry you step on those and paint the rest.

 

As for the paint itself, I ended up choosing ordinary indoor oil based paint, the kind I used on all the trim and doors too. It's not a special floor paint but I used this the last time too and it held up well for over ten years. We don't wear shoes indoors though so if you do you will probably want a more hardwearing floor paint or maybe painting the stairs or floor for that matter isn't a great idea for you.

About the shoes indoor thing btw, do you wear shoes inside your home? To most of us Swedes it's very weird to do so. We take our shoes off after entering a house and walk around barefoot, in our socks or put slippers on. Personally I'm a slipper wearer. If you do wear shoes indoors, don't your floors get really dirty and scratched? I'm always amazed when I see photos of people wearing sneakers or even boots indoors. All I can think is that they must get very sweaty feet and wonder if there are separate indoors shoes and outdoor shoes and how they keep their carpet clean.