New look for Stairs

We have been so motivated to update our house that it almost seems like these projects are never ending. When the basement project began we knew that the carpet was going to have to be replaced. It was the cheapest quality carpet and we chose it on purpose. Spending a lot of money on carpet in an area that knew was going to have some spills was the practical way to go. Now? That carpet is in terrible shape. The new carpet has been ordered and should have been installed by now......but there was a series of problems and general mismanagement. It won't be installed until next month. 

There was no intention to have the stairs carpeted. It came to us one day when the Mister was vacuuming the stairs that carpet would be a waste of money. They were filthy with use. We store a great deal of our outdoor equipment in our basement storage room. Virginia humidity and high summer heat makes for a damaging environment for equipment. We noticed that those things we kept in the garage were becoming destroyed by the seasons. With everything being kept inside those stairs take a beating when we haul things up and down. Carpet was not going to be a good idea any longer. While looking for countertops the Mister came across some wood stair treads. That's when the idea took hold. After talking about it we agreed that having wooden stairs was going to be the best solution to our updating desire and need to have easy to clean stairs.

This project was delayed because we had been waiting on the carpet to be installed. He had sanded and stained them the same time he was working on the countertop and bar top. He was holding back to wait for the carpet. After we discovered that our carpet is not going to be installed until May the Mister decided to get it done. He spent the day ripping out the old carpet and prepping the treads for installation.

He found Hickory for the stair treads. They turned out beautiful. Our dream was to use real slate for the riser part of the stairs but that was way too out of our budget range. We opted to use formica laminate sheets in a slate print. This worked out very well. The laminate will be able to take the wear and tear of our foot traffic and will be much easier to care for on a daily basis.