Staircase Restoration: The Beginning

I’m warning you from the get-go that this post is word and picture-heavy. Big projects require thorough explanations. The staircase restoration is part of the more extensive foyer overhaul. Included in the entire project is the front door, refinishing the floors, painting all of the woodwork, and the staircase.

The good news is that we are not at the beginning. After six years, the front door is almost finished. I was >this close< to sharing a big fat front door reveal when a wind storm blew one of the screen doors right off its hinges. Two steps forward, blah blah blah. In fact, it snapped a cast iron hinge right in half! Once the weather warms up consistently, I need to complete some door jamb repairs so I can rehang them.

The picture below is a crummy phone photo from three years ago, but it’s worth a thousand words and Millie looks cute.

Last year, we refinished the floors and sealed them with Rubio Monocoat. My back hurts just thinking about that job. However, I still feel a little Marie Kondo-style joy when I see the floors now.

With those two jobs mostly behind us, I started thinking about restoring the staircase.

The Way Back Machine

Even though there is a ton of work to do, this foyer has already been through a partial metamorphosis. Let’s take a ride in the way back machine.

Here is the original real estate listing photo.

Once we moved in, we pared back the decor and settled on this look:

Eventually, the green rugs went bye-bye, but we kept the runner to protect the stairs.

Let’s zip forward five years. While Andy and I were sanding the floors, I couldn’t spend one more day with that green runner. I unceremoniously tore it off, rolled it up, and tossed it the garbage without even thanking it for its service.

The treads were trashed, and the paint on the risers had seen better days, but it looked so much better without that filthy carpet.

That brings us back to the present minus three days.

The First Step (pun intended)

Before all of this COVID nonsense began, we (I) decided to have the stair treads professionally sanded rather than do it as a DIY. The entire foyer project is so labor-intensive that it seemed like a better use of my time. I hired my friend, Brendan, who owns a floor refinishing company, to sand the treads. The start date was March 30. Well, we all know what happened. Suddenly we were all living like shut-ins and planning life post-toilet paper.

Our start date loomed, and I couldn’t decide what to do. Finally, Brendan texted me. He still planned to do the work, but he understood if we wanted to cancel. After some thought, I decided that going to the grocery store was more dangerous than having two people we know and trust in our house.

We are lucky because BHH has two staircases and a lot of doors. We closed off the side of the house where they were working to protect everyone.

Now, our beautiful heart pine treads and landings are ready to be sealed, and I just love them. It took Brendan and Nate about twelve hours over two days to sand everything. It would have taken me a month. Oh, who am I kidding? It would have been a year-long project.

Just look at that gorgeous grain!

I love every nail hole and imperfection. Those flaws represent over 135 years of people walking up and down this beauty.

I can’t get over the landings. I had been so fixated on the state of the stair treads that I never thought about how beautiful the landings would look freshly sanded.

The Big Picture

The next few photos have a funhouse or horror movie quality about them because I used the wide-angle lens, and the camera placement is a little unsettling. However, I wanted to share how the staircase fits in with the second floor.

The Details

I am so pleased with this clean slate. Our staircase is a single stringer, which means it has balusters on one side. A double stringer has balusters on both sides.

They pulled off the return casings and sanded those separately. (More on that below)

Then, they hand-scraped the trim on the Juliet balcony. I die. Juliet balconies allow for that level of drama.

My Work Begins

I am so excited to dig into the rest of this project. My goodness, there is so much left to do, though.

Unfortunately, about six or seven of the balusters are cracked or broken entirely.

Take a look at those hand-cut dovetails! The return casings hide the dovetails, keep the balusters in place, and allow for expansion and contraction.

I’m going to channel the heart of Kirsten Ramsey from The Repair Shop to restore them lovingly.

Included in my work is resolving the latex over oil paint incompatibility. What a nightmare!

We think that before BHH went on the market, the executors of the estate may have hired someone to wallpaper the foyer, slap a coat of paint on the woodwork, and spread a layer of polyurethane on the high traffic areas of the first floor.

The latex over oil paint is now cracking and flaking, and we addressed the polyurethane mess when we refinished the floors. Fortunately, the wallpaper was an inspired choice, and we are keeping it.

The risers need a good scrub, and there are plenty of nail and staple holes to fill.

Of course, before any of that, I need to seal the treads and landings. Although I love and fully endorse Rubio Monocoat, on the recommendation of Brendan, I’m going with LOBA Impact Oil this time. I’ll share more about that soon, but the short of it is that LOBA is a penetrating product with a matte finish just like Rubio. It’s low-VOC too. You can count on me to share the long version once I’ve applied it. The LOBA is on order, and I expect it to arrive this week, barring any shipping hitches due to COVID-19.

Buckle up. This is going to be a slow ride. On second thought, no need to buckle up. No one is in danger of falling off this kiddie ride. If you like snail speed tasks, uncompromised restoration, and annoyingly detailed blog posts, you’ve come to the right place. The foyer rehab will have it all.

There is no one other than Brendan and his crew that I would trust with our heart pine floors. I’ve recommended his company to so many people, but as hardcore DIYers, we had never hired him for a job here. Worth. every. penny. If you are local to me, shoot me a message, and I’ll give the details.

Don’t tell Andy, but I am already dreaming about how the second floor will look when it matches the rest of the house. Shh. You’re sworn to secrecy.