Stair Design / Iron Design to be honest with you, those stairs look like they need some additional strengths... the stringer boards have been cut down so much that it looks like there is only about 4-5" of beam left... be careful adding too much weight to this or find a way to support from under

Adams Mohler Ghillino Architects I agree that veneer plywood would be a good choice. We had a similar condition at this stair with a 'freestanding' wall at the center of the stair extending three stores through the house (see image). We clad the wall in CVG fir vener plywood. As I recall it was about $5k to clad the wall on all four sides and the top.

The comment that the GWB will be difficult to keep smooth is spot on. It took a lot of work to get it to an acceptable level on the stair sidewalls on this project.

I can't say that I'm a big fan of the 'imitation concrete' idea. There are artists who could finsih the wall with plaster and paint in either an abstract or muralistic way but that could cost more than the plywood. Here's a friend of ours who does that kind of work.

http://www.williamson.ws/portfolio/

Hope that helps.

Rick

Stair Design / Iron Design if you went dark with the wood, the contrast would look great with the stainless balusters, it always looks good to have the dark floors but do you want a big dark stair filling up the center of the room, too much of the same is not always good, i would go for contrast with the floors, you could stain the center of the balusters dark to accent them as well,

my vote...
Light stairs
Dark rails / post / center of balusters

Jim

Stamps Design Services I would go with the "natural finish", it will give a light, clean, contemporary look to your space. :-)

noramak oh my! talk about different perspectives! thanks everyone...did I mention how much i dislike renovations?!?...Gotham, I know what you mean, but I don't like dark floors as they show dust too quickly...and I would have loved to go all white in the kitchen but it's not within budget.

Stair Design / Iron Design wow... i feel smarter just for reading your post ironwood... thanks for the complements, it is very true that it takes skill to put a stair together and make it look right, if the stair is framed with all the same heights on the risers this will still work for code, unless you put something very thin as a flooring at the bottom, if you have a 3/4" flooring material the difference in height is only 1/4" which sill passes code, and if the top landing area is carpet, carpet with pad usually measures to be about 3/4" so its the same math.

in my 30+ years of installing stairs, i have seen a lot of bad tries.... think about the final product that you want, and price out a few stair contractors to see if your were told a correct pricing for the job or if the builder put a big markup on a subcontractor

Jim Harris
Stair Design / Iron Design

Steve Grimes I created a quick sketchup of the first and last riser problem created by applying treads over existing treads. The brown rectangles are the original treads, each original riser in the picture is 7". The red rectangles are the applied treads and the resulting riser heights are shown to the left of each riser.

CMR Interiors & Design Consultations Inc. You could do a modern cap on that left dry wall.....and put a wood rail to the right to match your stair treads.

Sandvold Blanda Architecture + Interiors LLC This cabinet was custom designed by our firm.

Stair Design / Iron Design Very interesting look..... but i dont think the California inspectors would like it to much.

Noel Cross+Architects It's not a "system". I custom designed the rail and it was fabricated by a San Jose steel stair subcontractor.

Stair Design / Iron Design a stair fabricator is the way to go if you want something like this, If your in the bay area ( San Francisco area) and you need something like this , please give me a call, you can find my info on my web site www.stairdesignonline.com

Jim

Stair Design / Iron Design it looks like your treads and risers are Fir, have they been clear coated?
if you find a water based putty like ZAR or any flooring crack filler this will take a stain better than an acidtone based putty, you would need to sand all ... fill holes and then stain to desired color, with white risers this will make for a great contrast,

Whats the plan for the balusters? to get a real good look you might have to remove / replace them

Jim

Amanda Cook I think it's raw wood. I don't notice any clear coats. So you're saying fill the holes first if I find a tinted filler that's the color of the stain? I know there will be lots of sanding involved; preparing myself for that! I was thinking a cream color for the risers...we live in a country home and we've gone with a cream color vs white. I had planned to paint the balusters the same cream, re-finish/stain the railings/posts. I'd love to change to iron balusters...will see what the cost is. Hoping to keep this reno inexpensive, not a big budget. Thanks for your tips.