My wife and I spent our Memorial Day holiday starting a project to fix up the stairs on the main floor. They were carpeted when we moved in. The basement steps were completely unfinished so we did those last year. We sanded and stained the steps, and put peel and stick wallpaper on the risers. We ended up really liking that so we are doing something similar with the main stairs.
Today we started by ripping up the carpet, tacks, nails, and staples. We filled the holes with wood filler, and then sanded down the stairs. Finally, we stained the steps with a dark brown wood stain. It takes two hours to dry and then we’ll do another coat. That will complete Phase One. Later this week or this weekend we’ll cut and stick the wallpaper to the risers, and put down the peel and stick floor tiles on the landing. The paint on the staircase will need to be touched up, and we’ll need to do floor trim on the landing.
Eventually, we will also replace the banisters and railing, but that’s a problem for Future Me.