Stairs

These are my stairs. Isn't the carpet yummy? Don't you just want to lay on it? Ha! I have wanted to redo the stairs for a bit but didn't know what to do, where to start or the cost involved. I mentioned to my oh so trusting of my DIY skills hubby what I was thinking and his response was "ok"! Oh dear Lord that is permission in my book. While I don't want to rip the house apart when we are supposed to be finishing doors and painting some stuff I decided to play it safe and see what was under the carpet to get my game plan going. So here is the before pic. 

Here are a few inspiration pictures that I like. A few I love and little ideas from all of them I would like to add. 

LOVE! Not my house style but I love this one. 

Love the wainscoting on the front of the step. I think it would tie in with our new doors and the
trim we have in our bedroom and bathroom downstairs. 

A before and after with a painted stair and banister

Love the tan paint with the white. Farm feeling but light and would match our floors 

I started by pulling up the corner of the carpet with a screwdriver and lifting the carpet one stair worth. 

Once the carpet was lifted up it exposed the pad and tack strip. I pulled the pad off and it left a ton of staples to be removed. I used a pair of pliers to take those buggers out. I pulled out the tacking strip by lifting it up with a flat head screwdriver. Watch out because those things are death on a stick. 

This is what I was left with once I took everything apart. Not the shape I was hoping for but we will make it work. A really good vacuum job and we were ready to experiment. This is what I came up with and it isn't permanent at all but just to see if I like the wood stair look. I am thinking instead of wood for the step using paint to get that old farmhouse feel I love like in some of the inspiration pictures.  If we do go with the wood we will stain it to match the floor and apply polyurethane to each step. I am really leaning towards the wainscoting for the front of each step. You get the feel of what it will end up like from one step. I love it! Best part is I can lay the carpet back down and tuck it at the bottom until we are really ready to do the stairs. At least I know what I want and how much work we are getting into.