This was the state of the stairs:

When we moved in, it had a very nondescript runner on the stairs. I never liked it. The runner had both bubbles and peanut butter spilled on it too. Finally one day I tore it off. I was left with this mess, as the previous owner had not bothered to paint under the runner.

It’s sat like this for far too long as we finished other house projects. Gradually, it’s moved up my to-do list and I started to get fun ideas. My younger sister came up for a visit and helped me transform it.

We made rainbow stairs! I was determined to not buy paint, but to use the assortment of random paint I had. We mixed many of the colors, and others directly match paint used on the inside or outside of the house. I’m loving them. It’s quite a transformation from an eyesore to something I’ll sit and stare at.

And when you have a bunch of leftover paint, a very boring stool and a bit of creativity, you keep going and make this:

A few tips: plastic utensils worked well for the splatter paint. We also laid the stool on it’s side after we applied paint to get some nice movement. And I’m glad I keep leftover sour cream/cottage cheese containers. Way to use #253: they work well for mixing paint.