staircase chronicles - part 1

Dave and I are about to embark on an exciting, long awaited project in our townhouse. We are finally getting all new floors! Cue the angels singing :)

Since we live in a townhouse our initial plan was to put hardwood on the 2nd level {kitchen, dining room and living room} and the rest of the house {media room, 2 sets of stairs, 1 small hallway and the bedrooms} was going to get new carpet. We have been living with old, dirty, nasty, worn carpet for a year now and there was not a day that went by that I was not "spot cleaning" the carpet. Combine our dog Miley plus the 11 years of different homeowners and these carpets need to go! Since Will is going to be crawling soon and we finally got our tax refund {baby + new house all in 2010 = nice 2011 refund} we decided to bite the bullet and spend the most money we have ever spent besides buying a house.

So on Sunday Dave and I began the process by ripping up the carpet on the stairs since we are going to try and do as much as we can ourselves to save money. As the carpet came out we discovered the most exciting thing... we have unfinished hardwood stairs! So now the plan is changing and I am so excited! I had initially wanted to do hardwood stairs but it was out of our price range to start from scratch but now that we don't have to the stairs are a go! We still need to rip up the carpet on the stairs to the bedrooms but if that looks as great as the other set of stairs then the new plan is for me to sand, paint and stain both staircases to match the hardwood we are installing on the 2nd level and the bedrooms/media room will still get carpet. Did you follow all of that?! Here are some pictures of the stairs as is. They need A LOT of sanding!

 {Can you tell how dirty the carpet was? Those are stains all next to Dave's arm!}

 {getting started}

{image looking down the stairs to the bottom level. The graffiti parts are the landings that will get hardwood.}

I am going to start a new series called the staircase chronicles where I can document all of the different steps {no pun intended} and tips I learn as I go. I am nervous about taking on this big of a project {the banisters will also need a new coat of white paint since they are currently oak} but I know the end result will be worth it!