Wow, that's a beautiful transformation! It looks like a professional result. Makes a huge difference and brightens up the stairway.

Really beautiful! Nice job!

That is one fantastic job! I continue to be amazed at the initiative and ability of GWers who can make these WOW improvements in their own homes.

Amazing!! Great transformation.

Great job!

That looks great! I hate carpeted stairs, we had a similar issue in our townhouse. Unlike yours however we didn't have "real' treads under the carpet, just low grade plywood! I did have to replace the treads and risers but I just overlaid them on top of the existing treads/risers. So yes you could have done it if you had to - but it's great that you didn't!

Awesome! I love these type of DIY jobs! And just $50.

Looks great! You're lucky it had the pine!

Our stairs have dirty old carpet. This post inspires me!
That's a beautiful job & you should be proud : )

Looks great!

You did a fantastic job! For the large railing I'd paint it white also and do some colorful stenciling on it, have a little fun in the stairway. :)

You did a great job. Amazing what a difference it made!

Beth P.

Amazing!! Such a great job!

Beautiful job.

Beautiful!

Absolutely beautiful!

I saved a previous thread on how to overlay plywood/composite treads with pine treads (complicated math to get them right so wish I already had the pine treads like yours).

How did you continue to use the stairs during the refinish? Work on alternating treads?

Beautiful!!

But one word of caution. We did a similar update in our house (but we replaced the treads because DH is a woodworker). Those new steps are SLIPPERY. It took about 6 months before the dog stopped falling down the stairs. I haven't fallen .. yet .. but I'm really careful, especially in socks.

Wow! What a difference. Looks fantastic.

Wow, so impressed. Can't believe you did it, and for $50. Great job!!

Thanks everyone! I always love to see what people redo in their houses too, especially when it doesnâÂÂt cost a lot.

We were very lucky that the treads were nice. Our basement stairs are the same, so I was crossing my fingers that they matched.

Tinan- thatâÂÂs awesome that you transformed yours. IâÂÂm still afraid of saws, so I really donâÂÂt think I could have done that yet.

Laurie - the hardest part was the sanding. Not exactly hard, but it took a long time. I did a litte each day, and it was definitely doable (it was my first time staining anything).

Ghostly - We have a friend in the exact same floorplan that has white painted railings. I tink the top cap part on the right of her stairs looks much better, but the long left railing doesnâÂÂt. The paint doesnâÂÂt seem to be standing up to all that touching. So weâÂÂre t hinking about it but are unsure. My dh is considering trying to cut some of the railing off and then reshaping it on the bottom , and then we would paint or stain it.

Javachik - I worked on these on and off for at least a month. The sanding took a few weeks, and then I had to take a week off when my kids were home from the blizzard a few weeks ago.I worked mostly in the morning once I started doing steps that needed time to dry.
I stained, starting at the top and working my way down (I think I did 3 steps, then wiped off the top step, then did another, then wiped off the next top step, etc, so the stain time on each step was roughly the same). That night we could walk on them to go up to bed. I did the same thing the next day with a 2nd coat of stain. I bought fast drying poly, and the can said it would dry in 3-4 hrs. I think I did 2 coats the first day (one in the morning, and one at lunchtime), and then for the next 2 did once a day in the morning. I was going to poly every other tread if needed, but it worked for us just to use them lightly at the end of the day. I waited 3 days before taping off the treads to do the risers, and I did those pretty quickly (1 coat primer + 2 coats paint) because I was ready to be done! : )

Aok - thanks for the warning. I used satin poly in the hopes that it would be less slippery. I like the look of sisal runners or stair treads, so I thought we could do that if weâÂÂre having trouble with them.

Great DIY; I bet this inspires many people to ditch the carpet.

As a word of caution, you were very fortunate to find solid wood treads in basically great shape (except the darned staples); most of the time when the stairs are intended to be carpeted from the get-go,the treads will be plywood. And as you stated, it's quite a task and expense to replace them with solid wood.
Casey

noellabelle, I am afraid of circular and table saws too - I measured first and had the treads and risers cut to the right width at Lowes. The heights were all standard. Just a tip for anyone who doesn't find useable treads under their stairs! I did need my jigsaw to cut off the existing plywood overhang.

You can also get stuff called sharkgrip that you add to stain or paint for grip. We didn't need it - ours are not slippery at all, perhaps because the wood is not dense grained or polished.

I love the colors you chose, it blends very well with the existing flooring. Carpeted stairs are so hard to keep clean, with the wood I just either swipe with a broom once a week or take a rag and wipe as I walk up the stairs!

This post was edited by tinan on Thu, Feb 28, 13 at 10:56