The staircase that taught me to trust my own taste

Image- staircase after

Every time I walked through our front door my eyes went straight to the staircase.

It curves through the front of our entry framed with 2 windows going up and lined with what feels like an endless number of white spindles. The hardwood steps are beautiful, the risers are crisp white and the walls are light but everything started to blend into one another.

The entry is the first impression of our home. It sets the tone before you’ve even stepped into the living room and although the space is bright, it felt like something was missing.

It needed depth.

It needed character.

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If I could have chosen anything I would have stained the railing, posts and spindles a rich walnut. I love the warmth of stained wood but refinishing every spindle wasn’t the direction I wanted to take. Paint became the next best option.

There was just one problem.

I didn’t want black.

I wanted something softer. Something that felt warm not harsh. A rich brown that looked almost like stained wood.

That’s when I discovered just how complicated brown paint can be.

Some browns lean red. Some lean purple. Others have green undertones that only seem to appear once the paint is on your walls. Choosing brown wasn’t nearly as straightforward as I expected.

After what felt like endless research…and I mean endless, I narrowed it down to two Sherwin Williams colours. Black Fox and Urbane Bronze.

Both were beautiful.

Urbane Bronze has a brown grey tone while Black Fox sat somewhere between black and brown. Both complimented the darker tones in our hardwood floors and honestly I could have happily chosen either.

Then I realized I was asking myself the wrong question.

It wasn’t about which colour I liked more.

It was about which colour suited this home.

Our front door windows face north, while the windows climbing the staircase face east. Although the entry receives plenty of natural light, the direction of light changes everything.

When I looked at Urbane Bronze in our space, the grey became more noticeable and the green undertones started to appear. Green stairs definitely weren’t part of the vision.

Black Fox however did something completely different.

The eastern light gently pulled out it’s warm brown undertones, giving the look of dark walnut rather than a flat black paint.

The decision suddenly became easy.

I chose black fox.

And then I panicked.

This wasn’t an accent wall that could be repainted in an afternoon. This was one of the biggest architectural features in our home-the first thing everyone sees when they walk through the front door.

There was no turning back.

Before the painting even began there was the sanding.

Fourty-four spindles.

If you’ve ever sanded stair spindles, you’ll know it’s a true test of patience. Every little groove and curve seemed to take forever. The previous owners also loved glossy paint so I primed everything with Benjamin Moore STIX primer to make sure the paint would properly stick to it.

Finally it was time for the first coat.

The moment the paint started going on, I knew I made the right decision.

It looked exactly how I had hoped. A rich, dark brown that reminded me of stained walnut.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

The second coat threw me off for a moment. It looked much darker and covered the slight variation that has made the first coat almost resemble stain. I was worried I had lost the look I wanted.

But as it dried, the colour settled into something better.

Rich.

Warm.

Grounded.

Exactly what the entry had been missing.

Today the staircase still feels bright because of all the natural light, but now it has presence. The contrast adds warmth without making the space feel heavy, and the entire entry feels more balanced.

I still plan on changing the art at the top of the stairs but I’m waiting till I find the right piece.

This project taught me something I think I’ll carry into every decorating decision from now on.

Sometimes we spend so much time searching for the perfect choice that we forget to pay attention to what our home is already telling us. The light. The way the colours shift throughout the day. The details that make this space different from one space to another.

The answer wasn’t just finding a beautiful colour. It was finding a colour that belonged in this particular space, with this particular light, in this particular home.

Every home has it’s own personality.

Our staircase didn’t need lighter paint or a trendier colour. It needed warmth. It needed depth. It needed something that worked with the natural light instead of against it.

That’s what Black Fox gave us.

And perhaps that’s that’s the real lesson…creating a home isn’t about finding the perfect answer. It’s about learning to see the one that’s been there all along.