A Destructive Influence, or Inspiration?

Not long after we moved in, all the kids decided one of the best ways to use couch cushions was to go down the stairs on them, like sleds. They love this game.

One day, Doug and I came home with a story of a neighbor's kid who had actually used a sled to go down their staircase. And had crashed through the wall at the bottom of the stairs. No one had been hurt, but the wall had a ginormous hole. In retrospect, I'm not sure why we told them that story.

The original culprit

Even at the time, I could see the wheels turning in Collin's mind. Within a week, he had gone down the stairs on something (can't even remember what) that opened a small hole. Probably not more than 3" in diameter. Within the next few months, though, that hole was picked at. Pulled at. Other kids going down the stairs tried to widen the hole. As soon as I would clean up the mess, there would be more drywall pulled down the next day.

Argh.

This week, it became a very large hole.

Doug was ticked. After explaining that it was only going to get worse until it was fixed, Doug went to work. Not happy enough to give the camera a smile:

Now we have drywall up.

The previous owners had left us several packages of beadboard in the shop. Ever since Doug told me this, I have been envisioning beadboard on the walls of the hall downstairs. Texture and pattern without being too much for a hallway. This was still while I thought it was white beadboard. Turns out it is rustic pine beadboard.

Had to capture Doug doing a bang-up job, even while being seriously ticked.

Look at that lovely wall. I want it to continue throughout the downstairs hallway, which would require us to purchase more of this rustic beadboard. For now, Doug will just finish this wall.

He's even done some fancy cutting for a mystery hole. We're still unsure what this is for. There's one remarkably similar to it upstairs, and it is simply covered with an outlet cover. Hm.

This is what you see as you come down the stairs. It does look a little as though you're going to run into a wood wall. That's not really a bad thing, considering that is exactly the message we want to ram into our children's minds. We even discussed possibly running some nails through the back of the wall, so that just their poky tips are coming through this side. Then, in the event of a slide incident, we would also have indelible marks on the culprit. And said culprit might not be so interested in taking a slide down the stairs again.

Decided against the nails, although I still think about it and laugh. Hysterically.

I am planning on painting it, which doesn't thrill Doug so much. "You don't like wood?" he asked. Well, it's not that I don't like it, per se. I just am not thrilled about how dark it can be, especially in a basement hallway. I do like the rustic look, with the pine knots and all. So I'm thinking about milk paint. We can enjoy the knots and whatnot without feeling like we're entering a different decade by descending the stairs.