We're in the middle of a kitchen remodel which should be done in a month (new cabinets, granite countertop blah blah). When the kitchen is done, we intend to finish the entire main floor with Pergo laminate as it's more scratch resistant than hardwood and we have pets.

We have an open floor plan on the main level. Entry, powder room, living room, dining room, kitchen. The stairs down to the finished basement come off the family room and they are normal stairs with rise and run, and I know we can do a combination of planks and stairnose to get those finished off. It is a split staircase, 6 steps going down to a landing and then turn the corner and 7 steps continuing down to the basement.

The bigger challenge are the stairs going to the upstairs. They are split also - 6 stairs up to a landing, turn a corner, 6 more stairs up to the upstairs landing - BUT - they are OPEN. In other words, it's just the board with no rise. You can see the underside of the second set of stairs that lead upstairs from the family room, and you can see the underside of the first set of stairs that lead upstairs from the landing that leads down to the basement. In other words, the undersides and back side of these stairs are visible.

I can see a solution for the top of the stairs themselves - planks on the run of the step, and stairnose on both the front and back of the step. BUT. What do I do about the fact that the stairnose doesn't cover the entire step width AND about the underside? Paint or...??

Thanks in advance!