How to get round this

[daffyduck1962]

My stairs and landing need to have the woodwork painted and then the walls and ceiling.

Walls are currently papered with woodchip, and as you can see from the pics is lifting ever so slightly near the edge of the stairs.

The paint on the edge of the stairs is in an awful mess but I can't work out if it is just a build up of old paint or something more severe.I had tried on a previous occasion to rub it down flat but is is very stubborn to remove to obtain a nice finish.

I thought of using a heat gun but then I don't want to damage the wallpaper as it would mean recovering all the stairs, upper landing and entrance hall!
How do I achieve a smooth finish to re-gloss?

Also the highest point in the stair well is nearly 11ft(3.3M) and I will have to paint the ceiling. (God does it never end?!) How can I paint the ceiling when there is no safe way of seting up a ladder to reach the highest points?

 

[gregers]

try using a couple of sections of ladder either side of stair well and a plank between the 2.

 

[Addypaul2]

Why not build a ladder? An ultimate ladder....

 

[versioncity]

If your going to re-paint the wood on the stairs then why not use a stripper solution & then a quick sand down. - Mask off the edges to protect the woodchip.