WORKING FOR SOME FANCY WOOD STAIRS ~ Finally!

If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably read at least one of my ‘Project Goals’ for each New Year.

Here is an example if you want to read one from 2017.

Here is a before & after picture of the staircase when I painted the rails black after I got tired of the oak.

In each of my goal posts (not a football reference ;)), I wanted to change the carpet on the stairs to wood. It seems like I’ve been wanting to complete this project for FOREVER!!!!

Well, we FINALLY bought the treads and risers from Lumber Liquidators (our favorite place for wood flooring!).

Last weekend, we ripped up the old, gross, disgusting, worn, and stained carpet.

After we removed the carpet, we did the tedious job of removing the tack strips, nails, and staples. I couldn’t believe how much sand there was under the carpet. Yuck!! We had to vacuum the stairs after we swept to get it all.

Before we laid down the new stairs we had to remove the awful black paint from the stair railings that I painted a long time ago. I must have done a very poor job of preparing the wood beforehand because the paint chipped and oils starting seeping through the paint. It looked awful!!

Gross, right??!!

The LOML did all the research and found CitriStrip Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel to be rated among the highest for removing paint.

We covered everything that could possibly get the gel dripped on it in plastic wrap.

We followed the directions by brushing on a thick layer of the CitriStrip gel and then wrapping with Saran Wrap.

We came back 24 hours later, removed the Saran Wrap

and started scraping the soft paint then sanding whatever was left. It was a very messy job and my arms were aching!!

It took us three days and it was a lot of work. We had to add a little bit more of the gel in tough places but it came off really well.

We also cleaned the wood with acetone and denatured alcohol to remove any oil remnants.

Because my first hand rail paint job didn’t wear so well, the LOML went to an expert to ask what kind of paint is best for the traffic that the rails have to put up with. He told us to prime with Benjamin Moore Fresh Start High-Hiding All Purpose Interior/Exterior primer in dark gray because the final color would be black.

He then told us to use Benjamin Moore Advance Satin in black. We painted two coats then touched up light areas with a third coat.

 

I didn’t do a great job of keeping the black paint off the white spindles so the LOML painted all the spindles and skirts with bright white trim paint.

We love the new hand railings. They are so pretty, shiny and clean.

Next up I’ll share how the stair treads and risers project happened. It did not work out the way we planned!!

STAY TUNED!!!

Love y’all,

Linda