our stair transformation with L J Smith Stairs
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Since purchasing our home last fall, we knew one of the first things we wanted to tackle was the stairs. The dark basket style iron balusters, and red oak treads, handrail and posts were just a little too formal for me. Our goal was to lighten up and comfy up this house and if we want that vibe, the stairs have to go. You can see more of our design process and how we narrowed down our selections here and here.
Since the stairs are the first thing you see when you walk in our front door, I wanted them to be clean, fresh, classic, welcoming and represent our taste in home design and how we nest. I spent months researching and collecting inspo for how I wanted these stairs to transform. After the boys demoed the balusters, Tom started on the treads. We removed the red oak treads because we are installing 5” white oak select flooring in this home and going with a natural finish and wanted the treads to match perfectly.
We installed new stringer boards before installing the new treads. Since we only have time to work on our own home on nights and weekends, we became pros at walking up and down these narrow boards and our youngest’s parkour skills came in quite handy.
When we finally installed all of the treads and risers, we began to see a glimpse of what was to come.
Halfway there! I’m happy, Tom’s happy!
We painted all of the balusters on a sunny Sunday afternoon and made this makeshift drying station in the driveway.
After we painted all of our balusters and posts (well, almost all the posts) Tom measured and marked where they would go.
I started to see my vision come to life when three posts and a little handrail were installed.
After narrowing it down to four different options, we decided on post to post handrail, straight wooden balusters, and solid square newel posts with spheres on top. Our house is a complete disaster and materials delays are a real thing right now, although L J Smith Stairs delivered ALL of our stair parts super fast and were a breeze to work with (answering ALL my questions and having great suggestions). It’s all the other things like windows and doors that have been keeping us from sanding and finishing the treads and floors. We’ll get there, I know, at least I finally made a decision to go all black and I LOVE it!
We are getting there, slowly but surely, with this house. As we start to see a few pieces come together, it’s exciting to think about gathering friends and family in this space. Each day, we inch closer to that dream. More progress to come!
