When we started decorating our HQ we all decided it should be a relaxing and welcome space to work and visit. We also wanted to reflect our love of sewing and handcraft through the furniture and decor.
At first, the stairs from the shop floor to our workshop space looked… tired. Hundreds of pairs of feet must have run up and down these stairs in the shop’s former life as Busy Bee Toyshop. They were brick red, scuffed and a bit unloved. First, we painted the walls white and added a few coats of hard-wearing grey floor paint on the treads. Already a fresher, cleaner space.
Alice then had the idea of using old dress patterns on the vertical bit of each stair (apparently the technical term is ‘riser’). Using spray mount she first put them on rectangles of card, then once dry mounted these on the staircase. A quick and easy bit of interior design, plus we’ll be able to update in the future. We already have a few ideas: maybe dot and cross paper? Or how about pages of fashion magazines?
Don’t worry! No valuable vintage dress patterns were sacrificed in the making of this staircase. Instead we used ones which were damaged.
