Hey there guys. The wife and I are doing a lot of renovating/remodeling in our house. We ripped up the old carpeting in the living room and are about to put down laminate flooring. In fact, you guys helped me with another thread I had on that.
Now I need some help and advice regarding my open-riser staircase. We tore off all the carpeting and were trying to think of ways to change the look of the stairs. The wife got a little ahead of me and sanded and primed the stringers, but now I'm really not sure the best way to approach this.
The stairs are cheap treads mortised into the two stringers. A basic, one-piece metal baluster piece is screwed into the outside string with a handrail attached on top. The handrail and stringers are stained and don't look all that great. The space beneath the staircase is open with only a single wall outlet in the middle of the cove beneath. There is a closet located beneath the top three stairs with the door located in the hallway through the passthrough. There is a thermostat on the outside of the closet wall beneath the outside stringer in the living room. The living room is about 21' x 14' and has a tall, asymmetrically vaulted ceiling. The stairs are on the tall 18' wall, the opposite wall of the room is 8' tall.
We would like to install risers (white) and hardwood treads and a handrail that will match the laminate flooring. We would also like to have the stringers painted white to match the trim in the room. As for the balusters, we would like to replace with individual metal balusters, some of which would have the twisted accent piece. We haven't decided whether we want to build a closet under the staircase or just insert a fitted bookshelf.
There are a number of issues with the staircase as it is which I'll need to fix if I proceed with the changes as described. However, I can't help wonder if it would be better to just replace the whole thing. We really like the look of true, white skirtboards against a taupe-colored wall...either with an open or closed staircase.
Any and all advice would be appreciated, and I'll probably have additional questions along the way. Thanks!
Now I need some help and advice regarding my open-riser staircase. We tore off all the carpeting and were trying to think of ways to change the look of the stairs. The wife got a little ahead of me and sanded and primed the stringers, but now I'm really not sure the best way to approach this.
The stairs are cheap treads mortised into the two stringers. A basic, one-piece metal baluster piece is screwed into the outside string with a handrail attached on top. The handrail and stringers are stained and don't look all that great. The space beneath the staircase is open with only a single wall outlet in the middle of the cove beneath. There is a closet located beneath the top three stairs with the door located in the hallway through the passthrough. There is a thermostat on the outside of the closet wall beneath the outside stringer in the living room. The living room is about 21' x 14' and has a tall, asymmetrically vaulted ceiling. The stairs are on the tall 18' wall, the opposite wall of the room is 8' tall.
We would like to install risers (white) and hardwood treads and a handrail that will match the laminate flooring. We would also like to have the stringers painted white to match the trim in the room. As for the balusters, we would like to replace with individual metal balusters, some of which would have the twisted accent piece. We haven't decided whether we want to build a closet under the staircase or just insert a fitted bookshelf.
There are a number of issues with the staircase as it is which I'll need to fix if I proceed with the changes as described. However, I can't help wonder if it would be better to just replace the whole thing. We really like the look of true, white skirtboards against a taupe-colored wall...either with an open or closed staircase.
Any and all advice would be appreciated, and I'll probably have additional questions along the way. Thanks!