Basement stairway- paint prepping

Yes, this feels like the never-ending project. 
I thought it would be nice & quick, kind of like the linen closet was back over the summer (since it had the same wood shelves and gross walls!). 
But this is taking longer than anticipated, so we're just tackling it one step at a time.

The To Do List:
-Install a new handrail  DONE!
-Place moulding to clean up the edges between the plaster and the beams DONE!
-Paint the walls and the shelving (getting there!!!)
-Organize the shelves and come up with some organizational accessories to hang on the walls

Here's where we left off, with the trim installed:

I cleared off all of the shelves- two at the top of the stairs, and four deep shelves that are overhead as you go down the stairs.

I was absolutely thrilled when I realized that they popped right out- this would make it so much easier than cutting in around each of them when we got to painting!

Before painting, we needed to spackle the holes in the plaster. 

Mike found the kind that goes on bright pink, and turns white as it dries, so you know when it's okay to start sanding.  (I first heard about it here on the "This (Kinda) Old House" blog)

It worked great- we could get other things done and just peek in now & then to see if it was ready.



Wet

Drying

Ready to sand!

"Other things" included scrubbing the shelves- boy, were they filthy!  They almost look like they were painted gray, but nope- that's all dirt (yuk!)

<--- Here's a photo of the scrubbed shelves on the left, and the still dirty shelves on the right!

Once they were all cleaned up, I took them down to the basement to start painting.

I've also rounded up some things to help organize & I am in the process of painting them glossy black (you can see the spray can in the background).

Mike has completed sanding the walls, and we're finally ready to paint!

Mystery Door Opened

We left off on Friday's post with the door boxed over at the top.

On Saturday evening, we decided to figure out what it was hiding.  (Yeah, our social life isn't what it used to be!!!)

A little bit of sawing, and... not much to tell!

 

It did, indeed, hold the stack to the master bathroom, plus the hot & cold water pipes.  But NO LEAKS!  YAY!

In a sense, I'm a little sad there was nothing fun in there.  But mostly I'm relieved that there isn't a disaster lurking within!

Mike now thinks the leak must be located in the foyer wall- which of course, doesn't have a handy access door. (It's located directly behind this wall & likely contains the stack to the kids' bathroom, plus the steam heating pipes).


He was just about to take the saw & open up the foyer wall, when I stopped him.  
We have friends coming for a first visit to the house this week, and although I know they'd understand, I'd still rather not have a disaster greeting them at the front door! 
We'll save it for another weekend...

Trimming it up- Basement stairwell

We're still working away, trying to get our basement stairway into presentable shape. 

While not many people are ever going to see this when they visit (so it should probably fall lower on the priority list) it's one of those things that has been irking me every time I go down to do laundry. 
Plus, we're in a holding pattern on the kitchen/addition while we are interviewing the contractors, and it's too cold to do much outside...  So, this is at least helping me feel like we're getting something accomplished!

The To Do List for this space includes:
-Install a new handrail  DONE!
-Place moulding to clean up the edges between the plaster and the beams- see below :o)
-Paint the walls and the shelving
-Organize the shelves and come up with some organizational accessories to hang on the walls

Here are a couple of "Before" shots...

I love the thick, old, hand-cut beams. 
I don't want to cover them up.

But the jagged-ness of where the plaster ends (or the wood siding in the photo on the right) drives me crazy.

So, Mike installed some moulding...  Keep in mind that it'll look a lot better once we're done painting!

There were a couple of tricky spots where electrical was run, or the newly installed handrail bracket was placed (doh!)  But we're not stressing about it- since it's not highly visible.

We just got a little creative with the cutting, and will get a little more creative with the painting ;o)

We have a little spackling to do here --->

So here's where we now stand:

The Mystery Door

There's a little boxed off section in the corner of the family room.  When we were painting this room, we noticed it had a bunch of little hinges going up left side, and a bunch of screws on the right side.

We're pretty certain that it contains the main drain stack from the upstairs bathrooms. 
Pretty clever to leave access for future issues.  You can see it in the background of this photo:

Flash made the paint
look really bright here!

Mike noticed a little leaking in the basement, and thinks it's coming from the stack (gross).  After much procrastination, the other night he decided to open up the secret door to see what's going on in there.

Here comes the mystery...

See that box at the TOP, where the corner meets the ceiling? 
It was built OVER the hinged door.

WHY in the world would you do that? 

We tried to pry it open, but I think we need to get the saw out to cut a line across the door, just under the box, so we can at least open it!

Now I'm really dreading what we find in there! 
Will post when we finally get it open...

Kitty gets his own door!

Not to the outside... but to the basement.
(He's an indoor cat- the two outside "barn cats" that we inherited with the house would kick his furry little bottom!)

We had been keeping the basement door open a crack, since the litter box is located down in the basement.  But now that winter has finally settled in, the draft of cold air coming up from the basement was getting unbearable. 

I did a quick-fix with a blanket hanging inside the door frame that the cat could slink underneath, but Mike found a much better long-term solution...
A Kitty Door!

Let me say, I was VERY hesitant about cutting into our lovely old doors. 
I considered moving the litter box someplace else in the house, but couldn't come up with a better spot for it (requirements: out of sight, out of kids' reach, easy to access for cleaning, didn't cause MORE drafts).

So, here we are. 
To be honest, I hardly notice the door now (and it's only been a couple of days). 
I do notice that there's no longer a draft though!

I have a little touch-up painting to do.  I'll tackle that when I do the basement stairwell walls.

Best picture I could get of him with his door!