A little paint...a big impact! And some other things...

The stairs BEFORE:

The stairs AFTER:

I LOVE it!!! It is so much brighter and cleaner! The white makes the wood look even more beautiful. Two products that rocked this project were:

Guardsman Wood Marker (comes in 3 colors-I used the lightest color) and Bic Wite-Out EZCorrect
The roll-on white out was PERFECT for covering the hundreds of finishing nail holes and some rust spots that soaked through the primer. The marker, which is made to fill in scuffs in wood, was so easy to use and it covered all the scratches on the steps and they look so good now!

I also worked on curtains...I took the 2 long panels from the living room and turned them into 3 valances in the kitchen nook and 2 valances in the living room.

 This nook SO needed some valances!

 Living room window where the long panels used to hang...now high valances. Look so much better!

 I just love this fabric!

All fabric I had on hand, in the form of other curtains. I purchased some wood and L brackets to mount the valances to in the kitchen nook. Some other things I used: sewing machine, rope (to make the piping on top), hot glue gun (to keep the 'pressed' edges looking pressed), staple gun, metal drill bit, and wood screws.

One last super easy thing I made with an empty frame I had:

A memo board for "up-and-coming" events or special items to display. Used: bendable thick wire (that came with a flower bouquet I got) and some adhesive to glue it to the frame. Easy peasy. :)