That Stupid Little Thing Bugging Me
You know how some things just bug ya? And sometimes it's just little stupid things? Well, I've had a stupid little thing bugging me here at 173. It's the front steps. Here's a shot of the front probably 2 or 3 years after moving in:
I have no idea how long those steps had been there, but they were pretty old. You may not be able to tell in that picture, but there was no stoop, the risers were really high, and the treads way too narrow. Several years back I built a stoop and installed new steps, and it was ---- okay.
Out of love for all things Adirondack, 173 had that whole brown-and-white theme happenin'. But, a few years later they were beginning to look a little ragged:
I have no idea how long those steps had been there, but they were pretty old. You may not be able to tell in that picture, but there was no stoop, the risers were really high, and the treads way too narrow. Several years back I built a stoop and installed new steps, and it was ---- okay.
Out of love for all things Adirondack, 173 had that whole brown-and-white theme happenin'. But, a few years later they were beginning to look a little ragged:
But then we had the big porch redo back in '13, and the front stoop ended up looking like this:
So far, so good. But there's one...stinkin'....little thing that always bugged me.
You See It?
It's right there! All that work that went into the outside of the house, the total change from brown-and-white to white, gray and black - and yet, the steps remained brown. And just a big blob of brown at that. It caught my eye every-single-day when I came home from work. NO MORE! Today I draw a line in the sand and scream from the rooftop I DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH A BLOB FOR STEPS! Okay, dialing back the drama. Fact is, I decided to paint a little (LOL - probably could have covered that in the first sentence and been done with it!). Of course with all that dark brown stain I figured some Zinser primer would be a good first step:
White Almost Won Out
I really liked the white on the risers, but there was an almost unfinished look to it for me, so I decided to go with the Valspar Elephant Gray (which exactly matches the Flagstone siding).
A little closer look...
So I only painted the risers, and in real-time the treads are a very dark brown - almost black, so I decided to leave the treads as-is for the time being. Ultimately, I plan to replace the treads altogether so I think I can live with this for now. At least it's not a huge blob anymore!