Painting the Stairwell

 

The basement floor needs to be painted. It was rough when we moved in 25 years ago. Wear and water have made it worse. This summer, I told myself. It’s a big project; lots of stuff needs to be moved, cleaned, cleared out, replaced. Then we had a bout of Revenge Poop at the base of the stairs, and I bought a gallon of grey floor paint. I’ll just paint that small area, I thought. It will keep nasty scents from seeping into the bare cement floor. I cleared away the gallons of house paint and brooms, crowbars, and other tools stashed in the area, washed the floor, and painted. An improvement.

Project creep set in. Maybe I needed to paint the landing, too. That had also seen an occasional “accident” from the cat, which was mad that we were latching her in at night because a bear was wandering through town. After all, I already had the stairs blocked off so that the cat or one of us could not wander down accidently. I washed the landing. Then there were the stairs. They were also rough. And the gate was already up, I was wearing my painting clothes, the brush would need to be washed no matter how big the project….A good coat of paint goes a long way in improving a space.

This morning, I laid down a second coat of paint at the bottom of the steps, and then worked my way up. It’s not easy to paint up stairs—but there’s only one way out of a basement, so there I was, awkwardly perched two boards above the one I was painting. Each time I shifted positions, it looked better. Cared for. Cleaner. Warmer because it’s actually a nice shade of grey paint. As I worked, I thought about other spaces that could use a coat of paint. I was in a Portland restaurant yesterday that I remember as being a bit upscale, over on Hawthorne. It felt battered; there were old table scars on the walls and the bathroom drain screen was loose and rattling around the floor. The place could have used a coat of paint. All of Hawthorne, actually, could use a coat of paint. Like my basement, it has been hard used for 30 years and needs a bit of TLC.

Half an hour later, the first coat was down. I’ll need to come back for the second round and I will wait a few days before I move the furniture and tools back into place, but it looks good. So good that the walls and railing are now appearing a bit battered. But that is a job for this summer.