*Google images
Well, today is the day! About six weeks ago, Romeo was talking about some of the things he planned to do over his 2 week vacation...and one was about shampooing the carpet on the stairs. I just happened to be on pintrest (I only recently found that it's not just manicure designs and make up tips) and viewed a before and after of a couple that removed their carpeting and replaced it with wood. They did theirs in a weekend ~ well, that's what they said anyway ~ so we talked about it, and decided to go for it. We talked about how easy it will be to clean them, and how noisy they might be too. But in the end, we decided to do it.
That was on the Sunday before his vacation started.
On Monday when I arrived home after work, he had removed all of the carpeting and was prying the staples and strips. I was a little surprised, because I thought we were going to plan it more in advance.
The following weekend we took a trip to Lowes and Home Depot for stair treads and that sort of thing. We found them, and chose the pine treads (to keep the cost down) and discussed what to do with the raisers (which we decided to paint the same color as the walls), and finally found a stain that matches our laminate flooring.
2 weeks ago: measure, cut and try in each an every stair step, because all are slightly different. There are 14. Stack in the house, clean garage, and collapse in the living room for some boob tube time. Fall asleep.
1 weeks ago: Haul the treads out to the garage, belt sand, find sand, stain, and put on 3 coats of polyurethane ~ although that 3rd one was the next day. Unfortunately, the stain was not water based as we assumed, and by the time I was done wiping the excess stain off, I was feeling pretty sick. So I took a nap while Romeo did the coats of polyurethane, because he thought I would get sick from the smell of that too, which I didn't disagree with. Repeat the collapse/boob tube/fall asleep scenario from the week before.
Today: Yesterday we cut, primed and painted the raisers (I'm not sure I'm spelling that right). Again, we tried in each one, because again, all slightly different. It was not as tedious because the wood is thin and flexible, so it was easier to "make it fit"....with enough force behind it that is.
Romeo thought out loud that we could probably get it installed and finished yesterday, but I suggested we shower and have dinner, to start the installation today...hopefully with enthusiasm and patience. Something Romeo lacks when finishing up a project, lol.
I will post photos (mayber later today). Unfortunately I don't have the before photos, because of said carpet removal on his first day of vacation.
Hopefully I won't bang my toe again, which really did revert to it's normal color/appearance within 3 days.
Hope you have a great week!
Love, 365
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