This is how we took carpeted stairs to stained wood.

Since moving into our home, we have embarked on several home project updates.  I tend to get ideas then just run with them.  In our home, I come up with the ideas then my husband makes it happen.  I come back in and do the final touches of course.

I got a surprise when I married him, I was unaware of just how handy he really is.  I can simply tell him, oh I would love to have something like that and boom…he can get it done!  He rarely uses a plan, he just does it all.

I am amazed and completely thankful because the amount of ideas I come up with, I needed a handy man.

As we were in the midst or ripping up the carpet in our office and replacing it with tile, I got this inner urge to rip the carpet off the stairs too.  Of course, my husband was completely against this because he was already in the middle of another project.  He knew that it would take us months to find the time to get those stairs done.  I didn’t care though…I was more than happy with raw wood than that nasty carpet.

So, guess what?  I got my she-woman self out and ripped that carpet up with a little help from my dad.

The bad part?  My husband was right.  It took us 6 months to finish it and honestly that is by far the longest we have ever drawn out a project.  We almost always get things done within days.  We ended up with the holidays and so much coming up that we just could not find the time.

So, once we got that carpet off, it was tack and nail heaven.  We had to get them scraped, steamed, and cleaned.  That was by far the longest part of the entire project.  Then, the sander.  Oh heavens, the sander.  We sanded ours down as much as possible, although I wanted the rustic look so I really didn’t mind a few harsh spots on them.

Once we sanded them, then it was staining time.  We used a dark stain we had on hand and just did them a few times.  We sealed them with a glossy finish.

That was it.

Once we had that stain on we left it like that for months! Finally, we got motivated again and knocked this project out!  My husband used trim and bead board to complete the stairs.  It was LOTS of cuts and caulking but we got them done.

Once they were in place, we painted all the trim white and then added decals to them for a final touch.  We still need to restain the rails on both sides and touch those up but other than that…it’s finished.

I am beyond thrilled with it and so happy that I took that carpet out!