The Good....As I mentioned in my previous post: the staircase makeover part 1, I was really excited to get started on this project AND by the time he agreed to do it the hubs was pretty excited too (although he probably won't admit it).....so that was REALLY good.....and probably that "high" of starting the project is the only thing that got us through this....
The Bad....OH-MY-GOODNESS...was there ever bad!! I'm not going to lie....after reading other blogs....talking about how they took off their carpet....and wow....beneath it they found a real "diamond in the rough"....beautiful stairs (some even with bullnose)....just waiting for a little sanding and some stain. Ha....Ha....Ha...what a cruel joke....we pulled off our carpet and we found this.....
Ugh!! Seriously...come on....there was a huge gap where the tread didn't even touch the riser on every stair....and....the stairs were covered with a THICK layer of paint and texture...most likely due to overspray when the walls were covered. SO....as I was looking at this mess....I was thinking....maybe....just maybe we should put the hideous lovely hideous carpet back on the stairs and walk away. Just as this thought ran through my mind....the hubs walked up....and he said....we are so lucky.....I got that carpet out to the curb just in time for the garbage truck to pick it up (as he beams proudly)..........AND THEN I PANICKED (on the inside).....but what I said was Oh really....well I guess there is no turning back now....
So....we trudged ahead....we thought we could solve the gap between the tread and the riser pretty easily by just putting a "beauty plate" on it to cover the gap....So the real problem was what to do with the actual tread.....the first thing we tried was to sand down the stairs and stain them....yeah....epic fail!! First it was REALLY difficult to sand down the stairs enough to even get the stain on....AND our stairs had huge nail holes....which we couldn't figure out how to deal with (I know about stainable putty....but really....has anyone got this stuff to work)....AND the stairs were just plain old ugly!! They were clearly never meant to be seen by anyone without their lovely carpet covering.
So....we decided that maybe we should paint the treads...this was not really the look that we wanted, but I was determined to keep this project easy and cheap (ha, ha, ha). We still had to sand....which was really difficult....but with dreams of a beautiful staircase....we pushed ahead....and we came up with this....
Ok....so not TOO bad....but let's just say that the pictures are REALLY forgiving!! Up close....the stairs were just....well....ok....but not GREAT, which was the goal....
So....we had to come up with a new plan....what if we flipped over all the stairs and used the non-beatup, non-covered with overspray side....ah....yes....genius....until we realized this....
The Ugly....
Looking at the problem area from a different view....
So....unless we wanted to also tear out the banister....there wouldn't be anyway to turn over the treads on the bottom half of our staircase. Ugh....remember that part about keeping this project cheap and easy...and I was not willing to mess with anything that could possibly make our stairs unsafe....that was an absolute NO....so I really didn't want to do anything structural to the banister.
Thankfully the hubs came up with plan A B C D......well at this point I had lost track.....but at least we had a plan. He found a YouTube video (yeah...I know...scary....we are now resorting to stuff we saw on YouTube)....where someone cut the nose off of their treads and then put a new tread on top of the old tread....then your new riser not only covers the existing riser, but it also covers the front of the old tread. Did you follow all of that??? Basically you are just placing a new tread on top of the old tread and then covering all of your "sins" with your riser. I hope that makes sense.....
I was extremely nervous about this plan....I mean what if it looked terrible....there would be no going back....once the old tread noses were cut off....well....it's permanent!! So the hubs decided to do the cutting while I was out shopping one day (smart move babe)....so I don't have any pictures of this phase. I can tell you he used a hand saw and a jigsaw to get those baby's cut off.
The next step was to pick the new treads. We wavered between Pine and Oak. Pine is a softer wood (less resilient), but 1/2 the price. We ultimately decided to go with the Oak....we have a precious little bulldog (60 lb) who is quite hard on everything....so we thought we better go with the harder wood.
The hubs built a "jig", so that he could get the exact dimensions on each stair tread....we found that the stairs were all a little different (imagine that). Here's the jig:
And then he cut the new treads....and FINALLY....here they are in all their glory!!
Beautiful huh? We thought so....and they weren't even stained yet!!!!
Ok...so....this post is long enough....so I'll leave it right there....up next....another fun adventure.....staining!!
Until next time....
XOXO,
Kristal
2 comments:
Love it babe! Keeping them coming back with the cliffhangers!!
Good choice, using oak. If you are going to take the time to do something yourself, you might as well do it right. They look great so far, can't wait to see them stained.
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