Amazing what color can do

Our house has a great staircase. Its old, spindly and definitely not up to code. But it is original and authentic, and we like that.

When we bought the house, the stairs were carpeted with a mauvey-grey runner. The same wide plank pine boards run throughout the whole house, so we prepped the stairs to be refinished at the same time.

Carpet went in the dumpster and I got started on removing the foam padding and zillions of staples.

The Staples… all the giant staples.

There was a mix of staples, huge long nails and lots of hairy padding and previous green carpet remnants.

Once cleaned up, we had the wood refinished with the rest of the house. Afterwards I came in and painted the walls, kick plates and the trim white.

The wonderful team at the Home Depot by me suggested this Husky 7” End Nipper to remove the staples and nails. This would stop me from gauging giant holes in the wood steps. It definitely helped the process go faster.

We always wanted a runner, but couldn’t decide on style and price so we left the stairs bare for over a year. The runner we really wanted was Paul Smith’s super colorful striped runner but it was out of our budget.

(Next Priority Reno: Upstairs Bath).

Then last week I fell down the bottom 3 steps at 5am while holding our weeks old newborn. (Don’t tell my Dad please.)

So we pulled the trigger on the runner and I installed it this week.

Inspiration: Paul Smith Striped Runner for The Rug Company

BEFORE

AFTER

The runner is actually from Wayfair! We chose the Ciara Orange/Green 2ft x 12 ft runners.

Before I started I watched a This Old House Video on how to install a stair runner. It took me aprox 2 hours using a staple gun (we have the hammer kind), scissors and a heavy duty knife. I had to cut off the white binding in order to join the 2 runners around 2/3s up the stairs.

The dogs and Evie already love the cushion under their feet and I feel much better about not having a repeat fall.