11 – Take the Stairs Day

[vilakins]

Does your house have stairs?
It does, lovely rimu (native wood) ones with banisters, it being a 100-year-old house. The first thing we did was take out all the carpet to expose the rimu floors and stairs. When my sister comes to stay (only about every two years, I'm relieved to say) she complains bitterly about the stairs. "Why didn't you buy a house all on one level?" Have you considered carpeting the stairs?" "Why did you buy such an old house?" Actually they're good exercise, carpet dulls the lines and IMO isn't as safe, and the house has character (and indeed is referred to as "c character" by real estate agents). But I just ignore her. When we clear out the study of Greg's hoarded stuff now we have a garage, I'd like to put a spare bed in there to shut her up.

If you have the choice of stairs or a lift, which do you choose?
Actually I haven't used a lift since leaving Auckland six years ago. I don't think there are any in this town. But if there were, I'd take it if it was more than two floors up because I'm a lazy tart.

Comments

[zoefruitcake]

I bet she lives in a dull and characterless house.
I'd like to take the carpet off our stairs but Stegzy hates the idea and I have to concede it would probably be very loud. The cats have ruined the carpet on them.
I did giggle at you calling yourself a lazy tart

[vilakins]

Her house is much newer, fairly standard 80s for here, but very pleasant to be in - big open-plan living area - when her son hasn't made bone broth.

In our last (70s) house we took the carpet off the stairs because the cats had attacked it - and found beautiful rimu. In this house the carpet was old and horrible so it was a no-brainer. The stairs weren't noisy in either place.

Well, I am!

[warriorsavant]

When renovated the wreck of the house we'd bought, that included stripping every possible bit of wood of any covering, paint, or anything else equally vile. Wood is lovely, glowing with its inner light.

[vilakins]

Yes, I love that! We left the window frames but painted them white instead of the horrible dark cream they were. The walls are pale grey which is a lovely contrast to the polished floors; before they were a different colour in each room, awful ones like olive green, dark purple, dull brown, bright yellow...

In our last house in Auckland we stripped the kitchen to expose the beautiful rimu walls, and the new owners promptly covered them. I know there's nothing one can do about that but I was so sad to see all our work, there and elsewhere, destroyed in pursuit of plain white modernity.

[warriorsavant]

"plain white modernity” ugh! When we were looking at houses, it was dreadful how many were white-on-white-on-white. Were they working being a set for a horror movie set in a hospital? Our rooms are all different colors, but they all work with each other, semi-neutral shades on the ground floor. We have painted all the bedrooms different colors, and have taken to calling them “the green room” (or whatever), like a manor house/castle. (Not deliberately doing the Period Drama thing, just worked out that way.

[vilakins]

I'd like to have done that, but the rooms aren't very big and the pale grey really brightened the place up. I was inspired by a photo of a beautiful old house with dark wooden floors and the grey was so elegant I went with it. It suits it, but in a different house I'd love to have teal, aqua, pale greens.

[warriorsavant]

pale gray can be quite lovely and elegant, with something to set it off, as you seem to have done. our “red room” is actually more of a pale gray, but with a dark red accent wall.

[vilakins]

The grey is also a good background for artwork.

[katriona_s]

I prefer the old wooden floor to the carpeted floor! Carpet becomes shabby when it’s old but the real wood can be more beautiful than it was when it’s new. Old houses are often built with the real, natural material, I like them :)
But I know there are many people who always prefer just new things like your sister. Good. We’ll have the good old things! :)

[vilakins]

I like the natural look too. I much admire Japanese and Korean traditional houses, but of course have to go with the English style of our older houses here. You can see our floors and stairs are old, but that matches the house.

[mab_browne]

Rimu stairs would be soooo beautiful. I have a matai kitchen floor - it's roughly laid but it's such lovely wood I'm not covering it with lino. One of the few beauties of the place that wasn't destroyed in a sixties reno, along with some pretty stained glass fanlights in the front rooms.

[vilakins]

That sounds lovely!

Our living room has stained glass fanlights too, but just green. Much nicer are the two smaller art nouveau leadlight windows, one there and one in the dining room.

The bathroom suffered a horrible cream 70s reno which we have yet to fix, but the rest of the house was pretty much original except for the paint, all the wooden joinery still there.