Finally! Our basement stairs are done.

We moved into our house a year and 4 months ago and redoing the basement stairs were one of the things on our must-do list. My husband actually dismantled and redid the stairs almost a year ago (just because they seemed rickety and kinda dangerous) and then I stained them back in the spring but then they were put on hold while we found a carpet runner and purchased a pneumatic staple gun and air compressor. Also, summer takes your mind away from inside activities.

Here is the old set of stairs:

What we (well my husband) did:

Took down the old stairs except for the stringers, since they seemed fine.

We purchased new risers and treads from Home Depot (where they know me by name btw) already precut and ready to go. We also needed boards for the sides.

The progress:

Finished:

My husband then had to do framing and drywall on the side of the stairs:

I then purchased some pre-stain and stain to stain the stairs close to the color of our flooring we installed.

After that came 3 coats of polyurethane.

Next (after maaaany months) we finally did the carpet runner. Which is a necessity after our 2nd daughter has fallen down these stairs twice. Twice too many. They are a little slippery. And if I’m bringing our newborn son to the basment I don’t want to slip either.

I purchased 3 carpet runners from Target and then cut some carpet grips to fit. We had to cut the runners to fit them together seamlessly, and it looks fine.

My husband is using the staple gun to staple the carpet runners in place.

Finally the finished staircase! I think it ties in nicely with our new flooring in the basement and now we have a safe staircase.