Yesterday was the end of the three-week fiasco that was our staircase project. We happily cleaned up all the sawdust and wood chips littering the floor, finally leading to the big reveal!
A couple of months ago, while my father-in-law Richard was in town, I randomly got the urge to pull up the edge of the carpeting on the stairs…you know, just to see what was under there. We found solid 2” pine treads, and more staples than I could imagine. We had replaced the carpet with vinyl planks in the closet upstairs to make way for the cat’s litter box (because, really, litter on carpet–eew). We knew the installers had gone a little overboard, but we were not prepared for this project.
There were staples not even holding anything down–just there for fun I guess. We counted over 300 staples per step, and we kept finding them even after we started the painting. Vice-grips temporarily became my best friend, after stabbing myself in the gut with the regular pliers out too many times while pulling too hard on the most stubborn of staples. Derek’s weapon of choice was a very small flathead and a mallet; he preferred “digging” out the staples.
Of course, his method led to a lot more wood filling, which took several days. Fill and sand, fill and sand, scrape and clean and fill and sand. After a little research, we settled on the cheaper Dewalt rotary sander and a 25 pack of 120 grit sandpaper rounds from Gator (?). We also bought some 220 grit, but didn’t end up needing them.
Most useful tool was an angle stabilizer attatchment that we bought for our rotary Dremmel. We used it in conjunction
with a sanding/grinding bit to bevel the rough edges a little. This was especially necessary on the ends of the stairs that stuck out past the wall on the bottom 5 steps. Not safe at all for folk passing by, and certainly not attractive.
With the carpet up, padding and most of the staples removed, we could finally start considering our options for decor. The treads were solid woods, but certainly not decorative. After weighing the cost and labor factor, we decided it just wasn’t the safest option to try replacing the treads with oak. And hiring help is, of course, always out of reach. My father-in-law had a professional look at his stairs, and they quoted him $6,000 for removal and refinishing. Crazy!
After the filling, sanding, and beveling, I started thinking about the paint. And, let me tell you, the deck and floor paint from Valspar, alongside my Purdy 2′ short handle brush, made for a smooth and professional finish. After 3 coats of paint on the treads, stringer, and the banister, it was time for the color! With all clean white, we first tried a special combination of decopaged paper on the risers, but the divides between the sheets of paper didn’t look as professional as the paint.
I reverted to one of my favorite standby’s, a green and white contact paper from Target (it once featured as a back splash of color in my first apartment kitchen). This turned out to be the perfect solution! I can always remove it if I want a change, and it will be easy to repair any rips or stains in the future. And I have to say…it looks SO SO much better than the carpet!!
The Nest Nook 