Staple Stairs

I thought the stairs would be easy, but the more I considered it the more I wanted to leave the carpet down. We needed to pick a stain that would match the new floor and we didn’t even know what the stairs looked like under that carpet. Either way, something had to be done after Bill decided to rip up couple steps just to check!

When we finally ripped it all up I was relieved. The pine treads (the place you step on), were in good condition to stain. Meaning we didn’t have to buy all news steps. So, we filled in the staple holes and imperfections to be ready to stain. Except, the stain didn’t colour the filler! Well, I was done. It wouldn’t absorb! Like water and oil. So, I got out my acrylic paints to match the filler to the stain by hand. Thankfully, it worked! A couple layers later, plus a sealer, I could paint the risers white.

I decided to add faux board and batten to the walls because I originally, found the stairs closed in (plus, a little boring). Sure, they were beautifully refinished in my mind, but I didn’t want people to just be looking a their feet.

The board and batten required lots of MDF cut into long strips, painted on three sides, and put up on the wall using a nail gun. More filler and the interior walls were painted a bright white. At first, it was so light I kept checking to see if I forgot to switch off a light switch!