The Stairs Are Done!

Steps 

• Remove the old ugly carpet and padding. I used a utility knife to cut the carpet and then just pulled it all up. You may need to scrape some of the old padding off. Some of mine was stuck to the wood. I was lucky in that the treads had rounded edges so I could just prep and refinish them. If you have a square edge, then it might be better to buy new treads and install them.  
• You will be left with a ton of staples and some nails that need to be removed. I used pliers, a hammer and a small chisel to remove these. It was a pain but a necessary evil.  
• Now it’s time to get each step ready for paint. That involves filling in cracks and holes with wood putty, scraping as much old paint off as you can and sanding. I know that some people use paint stripper chemicals, but I didn’t want to deal with that.  I used a scraper and sanded until it was pretty even.  
• I painted the treads first. I love the Rust-Oleum paint that I found. Not only is it a great deep brown color, but it has a nice sturdy finish that isn’t so slippery. The finish is so nice that I did not put a protective coat of poly on top. So far, it’s holding up very well! I go up and down the stairs with heels on often! I painted a little over the edges as I used a technique described later to get clean lines at the ends of the treads. I put 2-3 coats on each tread.  
• Next, I measured the risers and cut out pieces of wallpaper based on those measurements. I used a utility knife to get nice clean lines.  
• I laid out all of the pieces of wallpaper on a plastic drop cloth in the garage and used the spray paint to very quickly put a layer of white gloss paint on them.  
• When that had dried, I then rolled another coat of white trim paint over the wallpaper and let that dry.  
• I used wallpaper glue and a sponge brush to install the painted wallpaper on each riser. As soon as I placed the paper over the glue, I used a small wet sponge to press out any air bubbles and to make sure it adhered nice and flat.
• Now it’s time for some finishing touches!  
• I used white trim paint and filled in any small lines and gaps at the edges and corners of the wallpaper after it had dried.  
• I used narrow peel and stick caulk at the top of each riser. The caulk comes with a crease down the center lengthwise. I used a utility knife and cut the caulk strip in half and then applied it.  
• I used white caulk in a tube to finish and seal the bottom of each step where the wallpaper met the tread. Click here to learn how to create clean caulk lines. Tutorial
• I used this technique to create clean lines between the brown and white paint at the ends of each tread. Tutorial 
• I applied a coat of poly on each riser as the final step to harden the wallpaper and provide a final protective layer that I will be able to clean easily.  
• I cut, painted and nailed a small piece of quarter round at the bottom step.