How to paint stairwell

[bronnibro]

Hi I really need to paint my staircase walls, house is like a 2 up 2 down kind of house, but the stair walls either side they go up so high, my dad ( now deceased x) done it years ago when we first moved in by balancing 2 ladders and a scaffold wooden board to get to the very high bits and ceiling, I tried to go up too on It but im quite scared of heights and I couldn't really do it, I scooted along on bum and couldn't get up! 😂. Definitely wouldn't of been able to stand and paint, balance isn't my strong point and it was wobbly kind of bouncing when on it, Anyway, it really needs doing again it's grubby, im single mum with no spare money to pay a decorator, I have to somehow DIY it, is there any other less scary options to get this job done, been on my list for years! A extendible roller pole I have which is ok but I obviously can't cut in the edges I need to get up there for that and tbh the ceiling part really needs doing too, it's gone yellow over years and now I can't unsee it

We've painted our walls to same colour as the ceiling to avoid having to mess about with edges. We used a Dulux white that's been aroubd for years (so hopefully wont get discontinued) so that we can touch up any bits that get grubby with regular use without having to do everything again.

One of the extendable rollers (a non-flimsy one) and an acceptance that it wont be the smoothest finish as you get higher up - another reason to chose an easy to use white.

Colour drenching is in now! So either paint ceiling to match walls or paint everything white.

It depending on your hallway set up. When we had a landing with a bannister we managed to reach the lot from the landing, with a good extending roller pole and a paintbrush taped to a pole. You could look at paint pads too.

But in our current house it just won t be possible without a very high ladder and probably a scaffold board like you say.

I managed to cut in well enough with a brush taped onto a broom handle and me leaning over the banister on the landing. It probably looks terrible if you look at it closely, but since you'd need scaffolding to do that, who cares 🤣

Roller on a long pole for the ceiling/walls

There's no landing, it's stairs straight up with walls either side but it does go high, I think at the highest point it's about 3m roughly above my head to ceiling, yeah I may have to paint it all one colour to save the fiddly bits I didn't really think of that, so I suppose white will have to be it, it's like a deep shade of green/blue at the moment with white ceiling so will take plenty of coats!

Thankyou, I also didn't think of taping brush to pile, maybe there is one of those flat cornered paint pads that fit to a long extension pole?

It sounds like my set up. Basically a double height ceiling with walls going down either side.

Doesn't have to be white. Look up "colour drenching". We chose white because our stairs open into another room so it needed to compliment that room. Plus despite having a window, it's quite a dark space and we didnt want to "embrace" that. And, like I said, ease of touching up.

DH did ours with ladders and boards, but I remember years ago in our first house we got a long extendable roller to do it, and those rollers with bits on the side to make doing the edges easier? Also if you choose an off white kind of colour you could do the walls and ceiling the same so it’s easier

Do all the cutting in first then do the ceiling and work your way down the stairs. My old house had a bulk head over the stairs. I could wedge a ladder on a stair against that and reach the really high up bits far more easily. The stairs were narrow so it wasn't too bad.

Good quality paint shouldn't need multiple coats, but you can always buy a primer to go over darker paint or use standard pure brilliant white, which can be cheaper, and use less of your top coat paint.

You can buy stair ladders or post on Facebook or local street WhatsApp if anyone has one. My FIL used to have one but he also wedged a ladder up against the top of staircase before too which seemed precarious but he said it was solid and wouldn't budge. I did have a go but this was year's ago

Otherwise just white it all 😅
Maybe you could keep the blue on bottom half and add a rail/line so it's a two tone thing
Otherwise I have done brush taped to long pole before too lol it works surprisingly well. But in my place now I always just go for the same ceiling and wall colour. I've panelled the bottom half of dado rail in a deep blue just for interest and can actually reach that

The blue-green sounds lovely though. @CheeseandFigs is spot on, it doesn't have to be perfect if you are only going to see if from a distance. If you do try to keep the different colours do the ceiling first then paint up to it with the wall colour, but err on the side of stopping short. A bit of white on the wall will merge in, whereas a bit of blue on the ceiling will stand out. We have a Shuur-line(?) edging tool which is fab if you use it right but still hard to do at that much distance I expect.

Maybe take some measurements and calculate the distances. Find the best spot on the stairs for reaching into the high corner.