Front Hall Facelift

Just as you walk in my front door, you're greeted by the staircase to the upstairs. This is typical in a side entrance Greek Revival, only in my cottage it's much more petite. The stairs are about 2 1/2 feet wide and the hallway is just a little over 2 feet.

This is the view that greeted my friends when I gave the first tour of the house just after closing. They were speechless. They didn't see any potential at all. The carpeting was the first to get ripped out. The banister and newel post was stripped of its mint green paint, the pink wallpaper came down and the stairs and floors were refinished.This is same view today. I just repainted most of it except for the back wall where you can see the beadboard is half painted. On the left-hand side is the White River color I painted the living room and the right side is the white primer. The baseboard is also unpainted. And, yes, this wall is different than what you see in the original photo. I ripped that wall out before I moved in because it was such a dark area and I thought I would find a window hidden behind the outside wall. Why I rebuilt the wall is a story for another day.

Imagine how many people have walked up these stairs to bed in the last 167 years.

I kind of think the newel post and the banister should be a little darker. What do you think?

Here's a before photo looking toward the front door. It's a great shot of the pink shiny wallpaper.

And here's what it looks like today. As you can see it's a very tight space. The track light wasn't my first choice but it allows me to take off the spotlights making it easier to get furniture and building materials in and out. The back of the front door was painted mint green and since I expected the door to be replaced rather quickly--hopefully as part of the porch project--I just used walnut gel stain to make it look like wood. The door is also the wrong style. This is a Colonial style door. The original trim is still around the door so you can see where the sidelights are supposed to be (where the switch is). They may still be behind that panel.
Here's a really blurry shot of the front stairs viewed from the living room.
And what that looks like today. One the projects on my short list is repaint the wall going up the stairs. You can see that tried a color (behind the lowest balusters) that I hated so I primed over it.
I'm considering painting this stair wall a dark gray. I think it would beautifully highlight the graceful curve of the base molding.