The Staircase Transformation

Welcome to my first blog post ever!

So.........this was a year in the thinking, two weeks in the making!  After stumbling upon ThriftyDecorChick.com, (while I was trying to find out how to paint laminate furniture-which I never did) she had refinished her stairs and I decided that I too, could take off my builder- grade carpet, and create loveliness in my home!  But the spouse doubted me, and as you know,  that just fuels my fire.

Now, I did not go into this thinking, "this is going to look like a model home with a hardwood staircase!"  etc., etc.

I knew up front that they would look old and rustic, but that's what I wanted.  So stop right here, proceed no further if you aren't a fan of the farmhouse wannabe staircase! 

 So... after an exciting Super Bowl Game, I ripped the rugs off of the bottom flight of stairs and the rest was history!

I had a ton of questions when I started this and really had no resource for how to do the landing and the outside edges of the treads so I am going to share my way!  Let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope this helps someone else to...Bloom Where You're Planted!

This is the staircase before, yes there are kids and clutter all over my shots!

The tools I used: 

• flat head screw driver
• pliers
• blue painters tape
• DAP paintable caulk
• Elmer's Wood Filler
• (I could've used a second tube- but remember, I'm impatient)
• paint brush
• edgers- small ones
• Porch Paint in black-for the tread
• Semi Gloss trim paint in white
• oh and my Favorite New Discovery, Working Hands (optional) : 

I left out the brands of the paint because, quite frankly, nobody endorses any of this so who cares, it was the cheapest one at Lowe's.

My stairs had the carpet wrapped around the tread.
(This became so much fun when removing the staples- I think the installer had a bad staple gun that misfired and shot out 5 staples in one shot? )

Look close at all that sand and dirt the grey stuff ewwwww

The landing has a curved edge but plywood, hmmm solution?

After the carpet came off, some of the spindles had gaps,

so caulk, 

and caulk again!

 Good.

 Then I sanded with a palm sander and 60 grit (whatever I had-remember - I'm impatient with 5 kids, not going to the store)

Finally some progress that won't destroy my nails,
I painted every other step, but a certain member of the household who isn't human, didn't understand me and walked his big hairy body up every stair, so I had to do some of them twice.  I should've taken
other blogger people's advice and done this when kids and pets are in bed!  Again, patience -zero.

I used a remnant of our new family room carpet and re-carpeted the landing.  Oh yeah...the spouse was impressed. 
So after taping and painting and taping and painting again, it's done kinof?

I want to add some trim under the treads like this one below that I found on Pinterest, and I love the mill work!

http://pinterest.com/pin/140596819589144095/

So now I need a compound miter saw.......