Oh, Those Ugly Stairs!!!

One of the biggest updates on my to-do list was my basement.  I included the whole basement in there as EVERYTHING needed updating.  The stairs, the walls, the floors.  My main bathroom was priority #1 in the home, but now that that project is complete, I could focus my attention on the basement.

The dark, dungy basement!  Certainly not too appealing a place!

It's such a great room of the house but has no appeal!!!

I first started with the stairs.  I had researched numerous before-and-after pictures of others re-doing their stairs, and I concluded that I liked hardwood floors.  But I had a mess to get through to get to the original wood.  Let me see if I can describe this in full.  My basement stairs had a soft, red protective cover that was held down by metal on the edges.  Below this cover was a coat of black paint that was painted over brown paint.  The red mats appear to have replaced previous mats, or else the owner simply painted around the red mats, as some exposed wood was beneath the red mats.

The stairs after removing the red pads as seen on the basement floor.

Certainly sturdy but just not much to look at!

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me.  I tried paint remover, but that was quickly becoming a mess.  A very dirty mess.  I tried sanding, but I didn't like that method, either...my sander simply wasn't penetrating the two layers of paint.

So before I could even start the project, I did an about-face and went an entirely new direction!  Instead of bringing back the original hardwood which was appearing very elusive, I decided to just repaint the stairs in their entirety!

I first started with the vertical wood which I chose to paint white.

Painting the stairs...

It's lookin' great!

I then pulled out my $1 paint from Wal-Mart and started painting the horizontal pieces.  I had debated going with a black-and-white theme, but the more pictures I found, the more I realized that my home didn't quite match up with such fancy stairs.  I am happy with the colors I chose...the results are simply night and day.

Now painting the horizontal portion with my cheap $1 paint!  :)

I am beyond thrilled with the results!!!

I opted to keep the iron railing off of the new stairs.  I feel like the piece is from 1960 and doesn't match the new look I am going for.  I LOVE the new stairs.  It's amazing what a little work can do.  :)  Now that the stairs are fixed, I am forced to continue updating the rest of the basement!!!  Oh, what work this is going to be!!!  But what a GREAT start!