Basement Stairs Accent Wall: Before & After

I wanted to make the stairs to my basement more inviting. Instead of doing something with lots of texture (which you know I love) I opted to go with a less complicated approach. Here’s another sneak peak of a before-and-after in my basement.

I have this odd wall on the landing of my stairwell leading down to the basement. During construction, I wanted the lower portion of the wall on the landing of my stairs knocked out so that I could have one even wall. But NO DICE! Soon after I took my handy hammer to the drywall and punched through there, I quickly realized that the lower half of the wall that stuck out was the foundation wall. Total bummer! I was stuck with it.  🙁

My vision (if I got it to a single wall with no ledge) was to do an exposed brick accent wall, but a bricked wall with a ledge would have looked odd. My other idea was doing a design with molding, but then it would have affected the width of the landing which would have made it really tight to get furniture up or down the stairs. So, I had to scratch both of those ideas.

Then I thought, I’m going to keep it clean but sophisticated so it coordinates  with my main floor (since you can see it from the main level when the door to the basement is open).

Adding trim to this accent wall was SO simple! It was totally doable in a weekend and the costs all together were under $80.

I got everything from Home Depot… minus my left over white paint from Sherwin-Williams Greek Villa SW 7551.

Here’s what you need for this project:

• Nail Gun & Nails
• Sandpaper Sponge
• Painters Caulk
• Spackle
• Spackle Knife
• Paint (I’m using a Door/Trim Finish)
• Painting Supplies (brush, rollers and tray liner)
• Miter Saw
• 1″x4″ White Primed MDF Board
• 1/2″ x 1/2″ White Primed Pine Quarter Round
• Measuring Tape

To build the wall: make a drawing with detailed measurements on a piece of paper. Always, always measure twice if not a third time. I like to get my wood cut close to the correct size at the hardware store, if I can.

For this project we built two large frames. We made the outer frame from primed 1″ x 4″ boards cut straight. We added primed quarter-round trim cut at 45º angels to add a more finished look.

Once they were cut Nate and I nailed it up, then double checked our measurements and cut the next piece. Following that, I caulked all the gaps, spackled over the nail holes and let it dry overnight.

The next day I sanded, wiped it all down, and painted it.

These images (taken from my phone) only show one coat of paint, but I still need to add at least one more coat, plus clean up on the edges.

Overall I’m very happy with it. It’s more attractive and I love how clean and elegant it feels. I’m also happy that it doesn’t disrupt the depth of the landing, in case we need to carry something big up or down the stairs.

And, I don’t hate looking down the stairs anymore! Now, I have to stain and paint the stairs and railing, and install the runner. Oh yes, then there’s the art. Well… I’m getting there.

Stay healthy everyone and have a great weekend!

XO,

Melessa