Lighting up the stairway

The stairway to the basement {not to be confused with the stairway to Heaven} is one of those spaces that is usually forgotten but it could be an absolute gem.  I plan on making the main wall into a family photo gallery.  I have been collecting frames since we moved here {it's a big wall}.  I want the space to be really unique and interesting, more than just a way to get from one floor to the other.

We've been working on updating the lighting throughout the house.  Lighting is one of those details that we feel is really important to the feel of a space.  Well, I feel that, and Handsome Hero loves me, so....

In the stairway to the basement, there was this dinky little pendant with one bulb that had been hung too high anyway.  It seemed like an odd choice to me, but, hey. 

We found a cheap brass chandelier at ReStore and painted it yellow.  Handsome Hero hung it a couple of weeks ago, and it's amazing the difference in the light and feel in here.

It's fun and funky, but will likely be the last painted chandelier we do for awhile.  Handsome Hero is at his painted-chandy limit.  He says I'm about to be a one-trick pony.  I actually agree, so we'll call two painted chandeliers good for awhile.

Eventually, this room will be painted a putty-gray color called Fawn Brindle.  It needs it.  Badly.  Picture flat builder-grade white paint with kids going up and down the stairs many times a day.  Nasty and unwipeable.  Obviously, I am really looking forward to having it painted, but it's a tricky proposition. With two story ceilings and a stairway, it's a difficult space to paint.  We may hire it out {we got a quote when we had the trim painted back when we moved in and it wasn't bad}, but we may just tackle it together.  I haven't been able to get on a ladder or swing since having Nate without being absolutely sure that I'm going to fall and die {I sure hope this pregnancy-induced vertigo goes away like it did with the other two} which means Handsome Hero will have to paint all the high stuff.  He's still fine with heights, though.  No sympathy vertigo or anything.  hehe.

I'll go ahead with the gallery wall and other things I'm able to do by myself, and I will enjoy my fresh and funky and very happy chandelier.  It will get painted eventually.

Nasty kid hands.  Sheesh.