The Staircase Makeover Part 4...The Grand Finale!!

Yahoo!!  I can't believe we are finally here.....ready for the big reveal of the "new" staircase!!  I have been thinking about this post all day, because I AM SO EXCITED to show you guys the finished staircase and find out what you think about it.....be honest.....well......be honest if you LOVE it and be nice if you don't :)

If you didn't catch the first couple of posts on the staircase makeover, then you can find Part 1 Here, Part 2 Here, and Part 3 Here.

AND.....SO......Without further delay.....below is my favorite shot of the "new" staircase:

 

And just in case you need a little reminder.....below are a few "before" pictures, showing what we started with....

AND.....for your viewing pleasure.....below are some more "after" pics of the (now) FABULOUS staircase:

 

And a few more from up top.....

And a few looking up:

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how the espresso stain on the stairs contrasts against the white!  At one time we had discussed replacing the white wood balusters with black iron and I'm so glad that we didn't!!  Everything looks so crisp and clean now.....ahh......how I love a good clean line!! 

And yes...we used bead board for the risers!!  Cool huh?  I haven't seen anyone else do that before.....but we thought it looked cool....and gave the risers a little more texture and some personality of their own! 

SO.....what do you think?  I hope you love it!  We are SO HAPPY with how it all turned out!!  And I promise the stairs/banisters are just as gorgeous up close!!

This was a HARD project for us!  Mainly because we had NO IDEA what we were doing....and we had to learn EVERYTHING along the way.  If we had to do this same project again.....it would be SO MUCH EASIER!!  SO......I hope that any of you that might want to tackle a similar project can learn from what we did....and if you have questions about our project, then please leave me a comment and I'll answer if I can :)

So a few more details.....

Materials:

Oak Wood Treads:  Purchased from Lowe's

Bead Board Panels (purchased as a package of long/thin strips to minimize cutting) from Lowe's

General Finishes Espresso Stain

General Finishes Polyurethane High Performance Top Coat (Satin)*

Minwax Polycrylic*

*I forgot to mention this in my previous post....all of your treads, risers, and banister should be top coated with some type of polycrylic or polyurethane for protection!!

Cost:

Ugh!  Gag!!  Remember in my first post when I said I wanted this project to be cheap....well.....hmmmm.....yeah.....that sort of went out the window when we decided that we would need to buy new treads.  SO.....well.....it is what it is......and we LOVE how it turned out.....and we figure we still came out way ahead by doing the work ourselves.......so it's all good.....but I did want to share the cost with you, so if you want to tackle this project you'll know what your getting into.....so hear are the ugly details.......

New Oak Treads [~$300] (Ouch!)

Bead Board [~$45]

Stain [~$40] (the stain we actually used)

Stain (testers) [~$50] (stain we tested out, but didn't use)

Gen Finishes Poly [~$20]

Minwax Polycrylic [~$15]

Trim [~$45]

Working materials [~$60] (brushes, tape, sandpaper, tape, sharpies, liquid nails, etc)

Total [~$575]

Plus we also invested in a few tools to make the job easier.  My hubs bought himself a present purchased a sliding mitre saw (which he absolutely loves), nailgun, and a Dremel sander.  I bought myself a Skil Octo Sander.  We didn't include these items in the cost for the project, since we will be using them for many more projects in the future!!

And with that....I think I've just about covered it all....at least I hope so......

SO....one more time....what do you think?  I SO WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS (and questions if you have some)!! 

Until next time....

XOXO,

Kristal

P.S.  Did you see the floor in the entryway??  That's new too....so....get ready.....a post will be coming on that beauty very soon :)

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