Upstate New York, particularly the Hudson Vally have always felt like home to me. I can't exactly explain it but from the first time I visited, over a decade ago now, I had the strong feeling that, "I should live here"! I guess I'll chalk it up to my love-hate relationship with city life and the high density of gorgeous old homes in the Hudson Vally! While leaving the city for greener pastures is always at the back of my mind, I've got lots of work to do right here in Brooklyn on my own turn of the century fixer-upper! sigh...
So when my friend Anthony De Argenzio, of Zio and Sons & my buds over at One Kings Lane suggested we do a project in Hudson NY at Anthony's turn of the century home, I was super excited (read next best thing). We decided to tackle his entryway and settled on a project using a mix of vintage runners to create one long runner that added style and texture to the entryway stairs. After some serious rug shopping I was ready to hit the road and head up to Hudson NY.
I drove up to Anthon's house early on morning with a car full of rugs and my trusty staple gun and got to work! In case your were wondering the space didn't look like this when I arrived. So, let's back up and take a look at where we started...
Photo on left by Zio and Sons
Anthony's entryway had great bones but it lacked personality so our plan to add a variety of vintage runners seemed like the perfect solution. Before we got started Anthony had the space painted, and that was a good thing because I had my work cut out for me with this project... It took a full day to install the runners and if our photo shoot had not been booked for the next day I would have done it over the corse of two days. Word to the wise if you're thinking about tackling a similar project.
Photo by Zio and Sons
I started attaching the runner at the bottom of the stairs and worked my way up, stapling as I went. I used this staple gun with these staples and I would not have even attempted the project without it! For the nitty gritty on this project head over the One Kings Lane Styel Guide where I shared all nitty-gritty How-2 details.
I used one pattern rug on the first 4 steeps and switched to another pattern for the strighaways.
Photo by Zio and Sons
To finish off the look and add a consistent feel I installed Brass stair rods. House Of Antique Hardware has a huge selection of styles but we opted for the 3/8 inch ball tip rod.
Photo by Zio and Sons
Because we used vintage rugs the widths of the rugs varied a little bit. To ensure that the stair rods fit perfectly I ordered them slightly longer than I needed. The end brackets are separate from the rods so they were a cinch to trim down using this small pipe cutter. Don't be intimidated if you have never used a pipe cutter before, it's a little clamp that you tighten around the rod and then twist to make your cuts... Seriously simple!
The little hallway at the bottom of the stairs is the perfect place for this tiny table. I'm a big fan of dressing a space even when its small. On the floor, I added another runner in keeping with the look of the stairs.
I might not have a house in Hudson (yet) but you better bet I'm gonna use every excuse to visit my project at the Zio and Sons HQ!
All Photos by me unless otherwise noted!