I'm beginning to wonder if the upstairs of my house was simply not finished when the house was first built. It's odd, in any case. I guess at this point I'll just be thankful I still have all the old hardware intact and in good working order! After they get a fresh coat of black enamel and a little WD-40, they're going right back on the doors where I hope they'll stay for another 143 years. Thanks for the ideas!

The rapid flashing of that light usually indicates it is receiving a signal of some kind not necessarily connected to a door opener. Have you added anything new to your garage or home that plugs in? Even something as strange as a fish tank heater can cause interference. Do you have an old door opener remote laying around that isn't used? When something interferes it can block the receiver so your normal remotes won't work. This is what sounds like and you are going to have to do some sleuthing.

Great feedback! Yes I am starting to realize how ugly those stair treads are. I have a dog who suddenly avoided the stairs, so I did something kind of quick. I like that they have a rubber/silicone backing so you can pick them up and throw them in the wash as needed. Unfortunately that’s a new enough feature that there are not any nice designs with that feature yet, but I will keep looking. For the same reason, that’s why I don’t want a full runner - need to be able to clean dog tracks. I love the part about hyperfixating! Yes! That’s exactly what I’m doing! Haha. I considered beadboard or board & batten. My home is a federal style row home and the original ones have an enclosed space (two sets of doors) often with tile between the inner and outer doors. I considered trying to recreate a look like that (without extra doors) by doing beadboard for a small entry with some coat hooks, etc. then I thought about pulling the beadboard all along the left wall and to the back garage door to disguise it, but that may not be a good solution either. The right wall that goes up the stairs is part of what is called the tower or the stack. All the floor stairways are in the same location and they’re all open to the floors they’re one, so it was a challenge finding a place to stop one color and where to start another. That color goes all the way up to the third floor. It looks amazing on the second floor where there’s more light, but it’s true - it’s not flattering on the first or third floors, which are basically just hallways. I guess I should consider different paint too.

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