Scrubbing the unadhered paint off with TSP and a scouring pad was kind of a rotten task. I took as much off as I could. I let that dry overnight then painted all the surfaces with an adhesion primer. The railing and spindles had been stripped and varnished – but there was nothing else in this area that had an original wood surface. I never liked the contrast – or the color of the wood so away I went with the primer, feeling approximately 0.005% guilt for painting over exposed wood.
Covering the difference between the the light colored paint below what I scrubbed off and the charcoal paint that wouldn’t budge took a couple of coats of primer. The surface was complex so using a roller was useless, and it all had to get brushed on. I decided I didn’t like the charcoal border on the stairs, so I primed that out. BUT – doing this exposed the many carpet staples that had been painted over, some with chunks of carpet that the PO had painted over. I had to dig these out individually, and patch the holes:
The almost black border (the floors were all painted that same dark charcoal as the trim) did a good job of hiding all the staples left behind. The painted surface on the stairs was showing wear, so that had to get repainted, too.
I used Benjamin Moore Advance paint on the trim, spindles, railing and doors, Heppelwhite Ivory HC-36:
leftover BM Advance in Nantucket Grey HC – 111 for the border:
and leftover BM oil based enamel paint for the stairs, in Manchester Tan, HC-81. This was leftover from my house in 2015. I don’t know anyone else who moved with numerous cans of house paint but I did, twice. It was still good ! :
Painting the stairs with stinky oil paint in January, during a cold snap where I didn’t want to open the windows, was not my brightest idea. The contrasting stripe was painted BM Black Forest Green. Did I mention that a Previous Owner somewhere down the line had used a copious amount of floor levelling compound, probably made by Dap, as it retained that used chewing gum texture many years after the application ? This was applied over many of the stairs and their underside, which created a smeared and blobby texture. I dug as much off as I had the patience for.
After it was done it looked brighter and felt better. It needed 2-3 coats over the primer to cover the dark/light areas, and a rare sunny day exposed more thin spots that needed to get another coat. Then it was done enough. I did start thinking about the wall and ceiling color, but that was an agony that didn’t merit re-visiting.
Black Picket Fence 