When we bought our house, there was only carpet in one place – the stairs.
As one of the most heavily-trafficked areas of the house, the stairs had taken a beating, and the carpet was nasty. And after a few months of us tracking our own moving/construction/everyday dirt through the house, the carpet had to go.
Andy and I worked together to rip up the carpet, pull all the staples out, and vacuum up the amount of dirt that had been sitting underneath.
We were surprised with what we found underneath — the stairs had good great bones. The tops were beveled, and though this picture makes them look kind of crooked, they were in really good shape.
The downstairs level also needed flooring, so visited a couple stores for quotes for carpet – 11 stairs, plus a bedroom. When the quotes came back at $800+, we went back to the drawing board.
After lots of number crunching and looking at the situation from the perspective of (future) landlords, we decided that carpet was not our most economical option. There is no way to know whether it will last through one year of renters, or five, and that was a risk that we were not willing to take. So, we painted them.
Using white paint that we had leftover from touch-ups, we painted the risers and touched up the sides. Then, we painted the treads using a $30 can of Behr Porch & Floor paint in black. The result was a sleek, clean, modern look.
Not too shabby for $30.
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