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Home » Fix and Flip Houses » Third House » 1990s Outdated Oak Staircase Makeover

Third House

1990s Outdated Oak Staircase Makeover

The stair renovation was by far the most difficult project we did in our house. In hindsight, we maybe should have gotten a contractor to sand and stain our upstairs floors and the stairs, but I guess our attitude is “why would we hire someone when we can do it ourselves?”.

oak staircase makeover

The stairs were all clear oak and were very orangey, and they were scratched and very dirty. Also, there were only two newel posts on the whole staircase – one at the very top and one at the very bottom. As a result the railing was very shaky and we could almost pull the whole thing off. The picture below is the stairs going down into the basement.
oak staircase makeover

And this picture is looking up into the hallway where the bedrooms are. See how there is no newel post on the corner?

1990s outdated oak staircase makeover

We decided to redo the stairs in several stages. First I lightly sanded all the spindles, did a coat of primer and then a coat of paint. The paint I used was Benjamin Moore Simply White in semi-gloss.  This is the same paint I used for all the trim and doors in the house.

oak stair makeover

The we took down the handrail so Tony could sand the stair treads. We moved out of our house at this point and moved into my in-laws house for a week. We didn’t want any of the kids falling down the stairs, and we also didn’t want to live in the house while it was so dusty and smelly.

Tony  rented a sander from Home Depot and used three different sandpaper grits. He sanded everything in one day, but it was a very long day for him. After everything was sanded, he used Minwax stain in Jacobean to stain everything.

minwax jacobean stain

Meanwhile, I worked on sanding the handrail in the garage. Once the stairs were stained and Tony did three coats of polyurethane, we were able to put everything back together. Once the handrail was installed we were able to move back into our house. Tony installed a new newel post on the corner and made this banister super solid.

oak stair makeover1900s outdated oak stair before and after

Then I did a coat of primer and three coats of paint on the risers and stringers, and did a final coat of paint on the spindles. Tony still has attach a wood molding under every stair tread, and there’s a few spots I need to touch-up the white paint, but this is what the stairs look like right now.

minxwax jacobean stain on stairs

1990s oak stair makeover

staircase makeover

staircase makeover

We also replaced the light that was hanging in the stairwell. Before it was a gold chandelier with plastic crystals. The only thing going for it was that it was really bright. Tony replaced it with this one.  This is the Allen and Roth Vallymede 3 light pendant in aged bronze from Lowes. I really love it so far, it’s nice and bright for this space and I love the look of the simple pendants.

jar pendant lightjar pendant light

 


8 Comments

Previous Post: « 90’s Oak Painted Kitchen
Next Post: Front Hall Painted Wood Trim »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katie Jones says

    August 17, 2017 at 3:50 am

    Hey,

    My name is Katie. I was wondering, do you accept guest posts on https://thevanderveenhouse.com/? It’s about home improvement and stuff, so it would be a perfect fit for your blog and would greatly increase the traffic on your site. I’ll gladly send you over some sample articles if you like.
    Will be waiting for your response.

    All the Best,

    Katie

    Reply
    • jessvanderveen@gmail.com says

      August 17, 2017 at 3:29 pm

      Hi Katie. Can you please email me at thevanderveenhouse@gmail.com, and we can discuss further? Thanks!

      Reply
  2. Kenyatta | My Design Rules says

    December 19, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    Beautiful job. Looks like a ton of work, but the results were worth it!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The to-do list | The Vanderveen House says:
    February 23, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    […] Stairs […]

    Reply
  2. Colourful Kid Bedroom | The Vanderveen House says:
    March 12, 2016 at 1:28 am

    […] stained the floors using Minwax Jacobean stain. This is the same stain he used for the stairs. It was the closest colour match to the prefinished hardwood we installed in the living […]

    Reply
  3. Moving Day! | The Vanderveen House says:
    August 20, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    […] there were the stairs. It was so messy while we did this. Then we all ended up with strep throat too. That wasn’t a […]

    Reply
  4. Colourful Kid Bedroom – The Vanderveen House says:
    January 13, 2017 at 2:32 am

    […] stained the floors using Minwax Jacobean stain. This is the same stain he used for the stairs. It was the closest colour match to the prefinished hardwood we installed in the living […]

    Reply
  5. Moving Day! • The Vanderveen House says:
    April 12, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    […] there were the stairs. It was so messy while we did this. Then we all ended up with strep throat around the same time that […]

    Reply

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Welcome! We are Tony and Jessica Vanderveen, and are accidental real estate investors in Ontario. Find out how you too can create long term wealth, while maintaining your work life balance. Find out more...

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