One Room Challenge Spring 2025 – Staircase Makeover

The Spring 2025 One Room Challenge has kicked off and I decided at the last minute to join in on this one to work on my staircase! I feel like I’m cheating a little because I already started on the space… last summer. But since I still have quite a bit of work left to do, I thought it would be a fun way to stay motivated and find some DIY encouragement!

So, for this first post, let me recap what I’ve already done to the space.

In the last few years, I ripped out the carpet in the living room and upstairs hallway and replaced it with LVP flooring from Flooret (ours is their Nakan Signature and we love it!).

And since then, the staircase connecting these two spaces has stuck out like a sore thumb.

It had the brown carpet I’d removed from the rest of the house and a lovely, straight-from- the-’90s orange-y wood banister. Add to that tired white walls, and, wow, did it take away from the aesthetic of the other two spaces.

Last summer I infused a little life by adding wallpaper from FancyWalls. I had wallpapered a few spots in our house before this, but the angle of a staircase was a bit of a new challenge! Panel by panel, I got it done, and it made a big difference! It felt like the little boost this space needed.

I was hoping that adding the wallpaper would help me not notice the other outdated parts as much, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. So redoing the staircase made it onto my 2025 Project List, and is now my One Room Challenge space!

I started the demo prior to the challenge and tearing out the carpet was nothing short of therapeutic. It was the last bit of the old brown carpet in the house (aside from our basement steps which I don’t plan to do anything to anytime soon!), and getting rid of it felt so good!

Carpet removal is fairly easy. You’ll start by tearing out the carpet itself and then the carpet pad underneath. After that you’ll use a crowbar and mallet and take out the tack strips. Once all of that is gone and cleaned up, you’ll want to remove any and all staples. I have done a lot of carpet removal in the house prior to this, but finally bought this tool to help and was impressed at how much quicker it made this task.

Just getting the carpet out made such a difference in the way the space felt. I hadn’t been sure what I was going to find under the carpet, and although I didn’t find any nice hardwood treads underneath, the risers are in good condition and the treads are pressed board and also in good condition which means they can be painted.

After all the removal was done, I used wood filler to fill in any holes from the staples or nails and where any knots where in the wood risers.

Here’s the rest of the plan for the One Room Challenge:

• Sand down the banister and stain or seal it. I’m hopeful that the wood tone under the orange ’90s stain will actually work with our flooring color and I might just be able to seal the wood.
• Prime and paint the stairs. Right now my preference is leaning towards painting the stairs the creamy color that is the background of the wallpaper.
• Add a stair runner. The actual runner is still a TBD. I’d love to find something fun that pairs well with the wallpaper, but haven’t found anything I love yet. If I don’t find anything in time, I will probably pick a jute or other neutral rug.
• Shiplap the ceiling. We have crows’ feet texture on many ceilings in our house, including the stairwell. I got the idea from Nesting With Grace to shiplap the stairwell ceiling and am happy that it will cover up some of that texture, but also add a more modern texture to the space! I plan to paint it a custom green that Sherwin Williams created for me pulling a color out of the wallpaper.
• Add a new light fixture and other final details. I got this light fixture on sale and think it’s going to look so cute in the space! I’m torn on hanging anything on the walls over the wallpaper because I’m not sure if it will feel too busy. I think that will be a game time decision after the rest of the makeover is complete!

I’ll be honest – I have never finished a One Room Challenge on time, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to with this one. But I’m excited to try, and even more excited to encourage and be encouraged by others in the DIY community working on transforming their spaces! You can check out all the projects here.