It was just painted a light tan, and I felt like it really needed something more. I also desperately wanted something easier to clean handprints off of than the tan paint. (Seriously. You'll see what kind of shape it was in down below.)
I had visions of hanging our annual family pictures in a stairstep pattern once it was finished. So ...
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
I bought the same frames from Ikea that I used in Amelia's room (the Ribba frame, $9.99). I already had all of our family pictures from the last eight years enlarged to 8x10 size, so I just moved them from their former location (where they were framed in black) to the stairwell.
The frames go all the way up the left side to the top of the stairs, and then they come down the right side. I went ahead and hung a frame for our 2011 photo, but I'm waiting to get a great one (it's usually our Christmas card photo) to put in the frame. (So right now it is framing some strange people we don't know.)
I'm very happy with the way it turned out, though, and I'm especially glad to have high-gloss paint there now ... easier fingerprint removal!
