Staircase Makeover Part II

I apologize that it has taken me this long to get part II up! The landing was more of a challenge than I anticipated. And I started to get lazy towards the end. If I am being totally honest. Knowing that I had to paint, caulk, and lay the flooring upstairs I wasn’t rushing it. However, I am finally done. Well, except for the very top of the wall. I mean, do you see how high the wall is??? I thought I was going to faint when I was on a step ladder and accidentally looked down. So basically it won’t get done until we decide to sell. 😬

Ok. Now back to the staircase. If you want to read part I of the staircase makeover CLICK HERE. In part I, I focused on the risers/stairs. Part II is all about the landing and the full reveal. 🙌🏼 Speaking of landing, isn’t she a beaut? I am in love. 😍 I don’t even care that I temporarily lost my sanity over this project. Not trying to deter you from tackling something like this, but I do want to keep it real friends. Some DIY’s are easy. This is not one of them. But it is SO worth it!

For the landing I used Oak wood. If you read part I, you know I used poplar for the risers. Why the different woods you ask? Oak is triple the price compared to poplar and since I opted to paint the risers and not stain, I went for a cheaper alternative. I chose Oak for the landing for two reasons. 1) Our banister and railing are both Oak. 2) Our staircase is a high traffic area so I wanted actual hard wood that would hold up. I mean just look at the before & after picture. It looks like a different staircase completely. Oh and the dark areas on the before pic…from our ever-shedding dog who loves to lay here.

Now that, that photo is forever embedded in your head, let’s move on.

I looked on Pinterest for herringbone wood floor tutorials and I only found THIS ONE that was really helpful. But I cound’t find any that was specific to a landing. So there’s that. Basically I was kinda on my own.

So let’s jump right in.

Before purchasing the wood, decide on the length for the herringbone pieces. I went with 11 14/16“. Why such an odd length you ask? Well because the planks I purchased were right at 4 feet and I wanted to get as many cuts out of each plank as I could, so I went with a length that I was able to get 4 cuts out of each plank. 🤗 Plus our landing is quiet small, so I was ok with a smaller length. If you have a bigger space, you might want to go with a longer length. Completely up to you.

Also measure the space and estimate how much wood you need before making a trip to the hardware store. Nothing kills your DIY groove like realizing you have to stop and make (yet another) trip to Lowe’s because you didn’t buy enough of something. The associates at Lowe’s know me by name. That is not even an exaggeration. One associate, I have become friends with. I cannot remember her name for the life of me, but every time I go there, she is working. She always starts the conversation with, “What are you working on now?” 😂 Anyway…

Materials:

28 – 2.5” x 3” x 4’ oak wood planks ($5.24 each)

Total cost for the Oak wood: $146.72

Tools/Supplies:

Orbital sander
120 grit sand paper
Heavy duty scraper
Finishing nails
Wood glue
Hammer
Tape measure
Miter saw
Caulk
Caulking gun
Minwax Early American stain
Sponge brush

Before you go out and buy all your materials, you should prep the area. In my case, our stairs and landing was carpeted. So you’ll need to remove the carpet, tact strips, debris, etc. You’ll also want to make sure the subfloor is level.

Mistake #1: Don’t assume that the floor is level. Use THIS heavy duty scraper to level any raised places on the subfloor before you start securing the flooring. Depending on the sand the subfloor to get to a semi smooth finish. I did not make sure that the floor was level and had to pull up a few pieces…again.

One tutorial I read said to create a template and screw to the floor to ensure placement accuracy. I bypassed this option. Instead I used the frame around the landing as my starting point. From there I measured out the distance from the side, to the wall and drew a line down the center. That’s where I started. If you don’t want a frame I recommend reading THIS tutorial to learn how to build a template.

Mistake #2: I partially installed the frame. This is why finishing the landing took so long. I had to rip up all the pieces I had secured to the subfloor and start over. 🙄 That was a painful day. If you plan to frame your herringbone pattern, secure the entire frame first.

Tip: I would not secure any of the wood unless you are 100% certain the lengths are all the same. If you are off by even a quarter-inch, you might as well burn your house to the ground and start over. Just kidding. But really, all the cuts have to be exactly the same for the pieces to lay right.

MEASURE, MEASURE, and MEASURE again! Having the lengths all the same is KEY to successfully installing a herringbone pattern. Side note, how amazing does my paint manicure look?!?! 😝

I secured the flooring with wood glue and finishing nails.

But alas, after 6 weeks I was finally done! And you know what? I would NOT do it again, but I am SO HAPPY I did it! After I had the flooring secured, I sanded it down and stained it with Minwax Early American.

Here’s another before and after in case you forgot how bad it looked before.

After the landing was done, I focused on finishing the second set of stairs. I had most of the steps done, except for the top and bottom steps. The top step still had carpet covering it, so it had to come up. But no complaints over here. It was gross. We’ve had SO MANY spills upstairs that no carpet cleaner would ever get all the stains out.

Ripping up carpet is quiet easy, just time-consuming to get all the nails and staples out of the subfloor without stabbing yourself a million times.

These tools are ESSENTIAL to remove carpet.

After I had the carpet removed, I finished the last two risers. For details on how I did the risers head over to PART I of the staircase makeover.

Before painting around the steps I caulked the trim going up the stairs because it was cracking.

It’s crazy how much better the trim looked just by adding caulk. After the caulk was dry, I painted over it.

I also painted the walls. I liked the gray, but when the sun wasn’t hitting this room, it looked blue. The wall color is SW Snowbound. That is basically what are entire house is in.

After the walls were painted, I hung my beautiful custom sign from Our Kindred Home they make amazing wooden signs and the delivery was crazy fast! You should totally check them out. Their Instagram name is @ourkindredhomellc ❤️ I thought I was pretty clever with this quote and placement.

Would I do this again? Right now, I would tell you no. But I am sure after time has passed, my answer would change. Similar to after you give birth. 😂 Right after the baby arrives, you’re like, nope. Not doing that again. But then a couple of years pass and you’re like, I want another baby. Ha!

We spent under $400 total to completely redo the stairs and landing. The oak wood was the biggest expense accounting for almost half of the $400. I bought the paint during one of SW 40% off sales, and the poplar wood was inexpensive. I had all the other tools/supplies already on hand. This project took me several weeks, so don’t expect to tackle this in a weekend. Especially of you have kids and a day job.

And that’s a wrap! Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you leave here feeling encouraged to tackle your next DIY project. DIY’ing is not only cost effective, it leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment.

If you have questions, please leave a comment and I will answer them as soon as I can.

Until next time. Xo

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