How to Paint Stairs without a Ladder or Scaffolding

Today’s post is about painting my stairs. It’s also about doing hard things. I have been avoiding painting my stairs because it is hard work. And painful. If you have a project like this (since we all do, right?!) my advice is to break it into small steps, don’t over think it and just dive in. Sometimes your brain is awesome and sometimes it holds you back thinking about what a pain every step will be. So get started with an open heart (and listening to a good podcast) and just do it. If you came here for tips of painting a stairwell without a ladder of scaffolding, here’s where those tips begin. Let’s begin with how things were looking:

before

I had dark grey walls with a dated gallery wall that I didn’t hate and so I wasn’t sure I should update it. But let’s be honest as I took it down, I felt freedom and relief that it was done! Ha! #honesty

more before photos

Coming up from the entry one was painted white, but the other one wasn’t since I wasn’t sure how to paint the large wall. I’m so lucky my husband puts up with all of these changes!

how to paint stairs without scaffolding

Supplies:

• Pro Shur-Line edger
• painting pole
• paint for your stairs in your color of choice. I used Delicate White by Olympic from Lowes

edger

What you are going to need are less than $10 in product. The first item is a Pro Shur-Line edger for $5 (make sure to get the one that has a hole for a pole- the one at the top of the photo). You will secure this on the end of a painting pole and then dip it in paint. then you use it to cut out your corners and edges. It is such an awesome tool! It does a pretty good job if you don’t over fill it with paint and will be your bestie for this project.

paint pole

The next tool you need is a painting pole. You can connect your roller or edger to the pole and get those 12′ areas. I got the $4.38 Shur-Line option (note, I have attached affiliate links so you can see exactly what I got and I couldn’t find as good of a price on this on there). 
To start out, I used the edger and cut out the space by painting the corners. I then used the roller on the pole to get any leftover grey areas. And guys, that’s how it’s done! No dangerous ladder on the stairs (we don’t even own a ladder), just some awesome tools that will save the day! Here are the after pictures. Sometimes life is busy and you barely have time to paint during nap time, let alone take good pictures. Remember, I still need to put wood on the stairs, put trim up, and add fresh art (here’s the plan).

after

There you go! How to paint stairs without a ladder. Even though these pictures are a little dark can I tell you how much better my stairs look?! This is a dark area of my home so brightening the paint makes a night and day difference! It also feels really good to complete something that I set out to do. If this project is on your to do list, let me encourage you that you can do it! Buy the supplies and start with one coat of paint. Little by little, a little becomes a lot 🙂

p.s. want to see how my stairs turned out? Here is the post were I put up picture molding on the stairs. Here is how I hung an art gallery wall on the stairs. And here is the after with the whole project completed!