stairwell

For the few that have been reading my blog, you may remember that this past year was a crazy one in my home. We had a lot of remodeling done including tearing down a wall, new bathrooms, and new tiles for our floors, just to name some of the madness. I wanted to post before and after shots of everything but I haven't been able to. Although all major work is complete, there are still a lot of other touches (like furniture and decor) that had to go on hold. While it drives me insane, I understood that in order to have the funds for a great vacation this summer, our home needed to wait a bit. So now that we're back and slowly but surely getting into a routine again, I have that desire to continue with our home. Hubby and I have set a monthly budget that we're willing to spend on the house. I'm also working on a few lists such as repairs, things we need to buy, and game plans for each space. All of this has gotten my creativity brewing and I've been looking at some inspirations in my folder.

So here's our staircase which looks like this as of now (pls excuse the paint marks on the window and the dusty banister, this was taken right after the guys finished):

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but this is NOT the color we chose. We chose "chili" and got....purply mauve? I also wanted a different color for the banister but by that point I was willing to accept anything just so the workers could be finished. So even though I'm not crazy about it, this is what I have to work with for now. See the window? I need to do something with it without blocking out the sunlight. Hmmm....maybe a sheer panel or two? Maybe a fixed roman blind? And the space under the window is just too large not to use.

So one day a while back I was looking at modgirl's blog and found this picture:

It was quite inspiring because I wouldn't mind creating an art wall in my home. It also caught my eye because here we have a staircase with a high window, similar to mine. Hmmm. So, here I am thinking...could I make something like this work in my stairwell? Or should I stick to something more simple?

Suggestions? Ideas? Please do share...:)