REFINISHING BASEMENT STAIRS - PART 1

This past weekend was a busy weekend for us with wrapping up a few projects and it feels good to have things nearing the finish line!

Chris installed all of our quarter round on the first floor and I taped the baseboards and caulked to prep for painting them with a fresh coat of bright white paint. Bright white trim can make a house feel brand new!

Luckily, the only items left for the basement include paint - painting our office french doors white and painting the closet doors a bright white/installing the door knobs. The stairs were begging to be finished - they are the original builder grade stairs that led to our basement.

The above image was my inspiration photo for the project. 

The first thing we had to do was remove the top bull-nose from the stairs that was installed with the upstairs carpet. We had to add an extra piece of wood when installing our upstairs flooring and a new bull-nose transition that matches the new floor.

The next step was priming the risers and trim. I started this project backwards - all of the tutorials I have read say stain, then paint. So trust them! I didn't find a lot of trouble doing it backwards since I was super careful when staining, but I do have a few spots to touch up because of it!

You can see our new top transition in this photo. 

After priming, I sanded and taped off each of the steps so when painting I would get nice lines. Trust me, sanding paint on the edges of your steps is a pain!

After painting the risers and trim with two coats I was ready to call it a night!

The next day I removed the painters tape and started preconditioning the risers. I would condition every other step so I could easily work my way back down.

I did the same method when staining the stairs. I carefully stained the steps- trying not to get any on the risers or trim. After 15 minutes, I wiped the remaining stain off.

You can see after one coat the stairs match pretty perfectly with the new floors! I'll share the finished results later this week.