mission impossible

It has been approximately five months since the great 'stair' undertaking. I was anxiously awaiting this project, ever since I casually tore up the carpet from the stairs and our upstairs landing. You could say I was motivated to get rid of the red. Anyways, Lane and I had discussed spending one weekend and tackling the stairs together- just him and me. Thankfully, Lane and my dad talked me down from the ledge and scheduled a date that my parents could come up to help. (That decision likely saved our marriage :) ).

To refresh your memory- this is what our foyer looked like when we moved in. We painted and removed the handrail and the mirror on the door. 

And for a closeup of the luxurious red carpet, Gus sure enjoyed it.

I can hardly remember the first step of this journey, and I know that I am going to glamorize this process, so I will come right out and say it- this was NOT an easy task, and this is NOT something I ever wish to do again. The funny thing was, I worked Friday night stripping and sanding, but woke up with a stomach bug that rendered me useless for the majority of the large work day on Saturday. Excellent timing. 

We were able to rent a heavy duty floor sander and an edger from a local rental shop in town, thankfully it was only a few minutes from our house, because Lane and my dad needed to run back and forth a number of times. First, the machine wasn't working properly and second, we ran out of sand paper.......(this should have been a sign)

We completed this project in April, so thankfully the weather allowed us to open the windows; however, dust still coated EVERYTHING in the first floor of our home. The floors required multiple grits of sandpaper in order to take all of the previous stain and paint off of them. 

Amazingly, we were able to put on one coat of stain and one coat of poly before my parents left us to finish the rest of the project. Over the next three or four days, Lane and I added three more coats of poly to the stairs to ensure that Gussie wouldn't destroy the days of hard work with his toes! We struggled to time our coats, and ended up sleeping in the living room because we couldn't risk footprints up to bed. 

In the end, our stairs are our FAVORITE part of our home thus far.

We need another coat of white, but that will come with the banister :)