DIYer Transforms Outdoor Steps For Under £25 With Makeup Sponge Hack
- Nicole, 32, wanted to jazz up her plain grey outdoor steps
- She bought a stencil from eBay for under £4 and got paint from Wilko and B&Q
- After spray painting the stencil didn’t work she came up with a makeup sponge hack
- Now her steps have been given a monochrome makeover for under £25
If your home has steps leading up to the door, chances are they’re a plain colour - such as the grey stairs savvy DIYer Nicole Bell had outside her house before taking action.
The arty PA, who hails from South Ayrshire, decided to spruce up her steps and breathe new life into the space on a budget - making use of a clever hack for the final effect.
Nicole, 32, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘I wanted to make my outdoor steps look brighter and more inviting. The plain stone needed sprucing up and I decided a monochrome effect would look good.
‘I came up with the idea after I bought a stencil to decorate my gas box. I realised I could do something similar with my steps and get even more use out of the stencil.
‘I did advanced higher art so I knew I would be able to give this project a creative twist. Like the gas box, I wanted the black and white effect and I knew it would look really striking.
‘The stencil itself cost under £4 from eBay. There are huge stencils out there for £30 or more that people use on their patios, but I knew this one would be big enough for what I needed.
‘I only needed two other supplies, and that was paint. I got a tub of Wilko Exterior White Masonry Paint for £14 and a small tester pot of Sandtex Black Masonry Paint from B&Q for £5.50.
‘Altogether the supplies cost under £25 - which I think is great as the stairs have been completely transformed for next to no money.
‘The first step was to clean and brush the steps within an inch of their life. As people are going up and down these stairs there was plenty of dust and dirt to get rid of as I didn’t want any of this grime to get mixed in with the paint.
‘I then lacquered the steps so that the paint would go on evenly. The lacquer also helps the paint to adhere to the stairs to create a more professional finish. I already had lacquer from previous projects.
‘Next I taped all of the areas that I didn’t want to accidentally get paint on. This step is so important as you can never tell where paint could end up during a project like this.
‘I then applied the base coat of white paint. I needed to apply two coats for good coverage and to ensure it was totally even. I then left it to dry.
‘After that I painted the sides of the stairs in black. Then it was time to move on to the stencilling. At first I tried spray painting over it, but that was a fail so I had to think of another solution.
‘I came up with the idea to use a small makeup sponge, dabbing the black paint onto the stencil this way. It worked so much better and created both better coverage and a neater effect.
‘There was still a challenge to overcome as the stencil would smudge if I wasn’t careful. The key is to go slow and make sure the stencil is down properly.
‘Alternatively, you can buy an adhesive to glue the stencil in place each time - but I didn’t want to use it for this project.
‘Once I was done I arranged some plants on the steps and now it looks completely different - very bright and inviting! I love it and wouldn’t change anything about it.’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Stencilling has been really popular this year, but I have seen patios being decorated - steps are a new one! It looks fantastic though.’
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WoW Nicole, I just love the way you have transformed your back steps. It has made such a massive difference and i'm sure other people who see this will do the same to jazz up their steps too.