STAIR TREAD TRANSFORMATION

I’m so excited to share the first transformation in our new home: our stair treads!

Refinishing the stairs were something I wanted to tackle quickly after getting the keys because I knew it would go a long way to making the house look more polished. It also made the most sense to do while we were not yet moved in because it would have been a big disruption otherwise. The house is a side-split, so these stairs are the only access point to all the living areas of our home! Even still, because we were working on projects in the house every day for the first week, at the end of each day we would set to work on the stairs without disruption. While this made for a longer refinishing process of over a week, it did allow us to tackle a step (ha ha) of the process each night and ensure everything was done right.

MATERIALS

• Drop Cloths

• Palm Sander

• Painter’s Tape

• 80-Grit Sandpaper (initial sanding)

• 220-Grit Sandpaper (between sealing coats)

• Minwax® Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner

• Minwax® Wood Finish™ Stain in Provincial 211

• Minwax® Fast-Drying Polyurethane

• Primer

• Small Artist’s Paintbrush

As we were still in the middle of painting when starting this project, we tarped the stairs off with drop cloths to keep the dust contained and sanded the stairs down with an 80-grit paper to clean up whatever finish was left behind. The house was built in the late 80's and we don’t believe the stairs had been refinished at all during that time. I taped the treads to keep as much stain off the stringers and risers as possible. We then tested some sample colours on one of the steps to decide which colour we wanted to go with. In hindsight, maaaaaybe shouldn’t have used the top step but it sanded out well in the end! We decided to go with the colour Provincial 211, a beautiful warm, medium-toned brown.

The treads are pine, which is characteristically a wood which absorbs stain very unevenly, and the samples really showed that. To get the final finish we did, we ended up using a coat of wood conditioner to prep the stairs before staining, then two coats of stain, followed by three coats of polyurethane to seal it all in. We applied one coat every evening before heading out which allowed it to cure until the next night when we returned to do some more work.

L: Stairs after a coat of Wood Conditioner | R: Stairs after 1 coat of Provincial 211

While the wood conditioner certainly helped with the absorption of the stain, I admit I was weary of how the stairs were going to turn out after I applied the first coat as they still looked quite splotchy, particularly the top two stairs which were the most visible. With this stain we were not supposed to sand between coats either. Then James went in with the second coat and WOW did it ever make a difference! Though, he probably did about two coats’ worth of stain in one because it was still tacky to the touch for another two days after. There were then some areas after the second coat dried that appeared glossier than others but by the time the first coat of polyurethane went on, it evened out the sheen on the treads and looked incredible. We did a light sanding with 220-grit paper between these coats and then they were good to go!

After taking the tape off, the edges of the risers looked a bit messy as stain had inevitably made its way under the tape and was splattered in some places. I went in with a light sanding and some primer to touch these areas up and, while it took forever, it finished everything off beautifully!

We are beyond impressed with how the stairs turned out, especially since we’ve never tackled anything like this before! Eventually we would love to spruce up or just replace the railing entirely, but we think this project already went a long way to making the house look more refreshed and polished. I love the grain which shows through the stain; it has a great rustic look to it and adds some much-needed character to the house.

Thanks for reading!