to paint or not to paint

This is half of our staircase.
At the top of this picture is a landing and a second set of stairs leading to the bedrooms.

As you can see, they are carpeted and nothing fancy. Oh they serve their purpose and that's fine. However, lately I've had a bee in my bonnet about painted stairs and I very much want to rip this carpet up and get crackin' with some floor paint. Which, by the way, is more cost effective and easier than installing new carpet. Mr. Hawthorne has recently installed some carpet for the family room and it was a job, he declared, he didn't very much like.

My hearts goes pitter patter for anything country farmhouse and creaky painted stairs scream out to me. In my research, I've collected some images of lovely painted staircases for pure ogling goodness. Although we don't have banisters, and that alone will make the painting revamp easier (wink, wink), I do love the look. I must admit, however, I didn't love them very much when the kids were little as I had to pry a few heads out from between those suckers.

These lovely photos were collected from the following sites/blogs: fresh nest, 247 reno,  Southern Hospitality, love home uk, katy elliott, Ticking and Toile, Concord Green, 

and to your delight. Have yourself a peek, they are all super.

P.S. Rhoda at Southern Hospitality has an excellent step-by-step from carpet to paint tutorial.