How to Makeover Your Stairs When You Can’t DIY Them – When to call a Good Pro, even if you are an experienced DIY’er! Tips to finding a good contractor, replace carpet and install hardwood with curved stairs.
Remember when I mentioned that we gave our stairs a makeover and removed out all of the ugly beige carpeting?
Well the renovation project is finished and I’m so thrilled with how great our staircase looks all beautified in hardwood!
I love the transformation!:
When we moved into our home 2 years ago the carpeting on the staircase was one of the main things that really bothered us. Don’t get me wrong – we love our house, all the room we have here, how bright our home is, the finished basement, our beautiful backyard and our fun hot tub…but the carpeting on the staircase was a total eyesore and hard to keep clean.
One of the first things we did after moving in was to repaint the walls on the main level. I’m not a fan of warm paint colors, that’s just my personal preference…this photo doesn’t really show it well, but this yellow was much more loud intense in real life!
I love the calm grey color we choose, it really compliments the hardwood color!
When you come into our home, the staircase is one of the first things you see….and the ugly beige carpeting along with it!
This carpet wasn’t even a nice berber type…it was some odd type of shag carpet…definitely not our style!
At first we thought we’d tackle this project on our own; rip out the carpeting and restain the treads – but then we realized the treads were not made out of wood that could be stained.
Also our stairway has a custom layout meant custom cuts of hardwood using a custom template had to be made due to the curves and angles:
Even though my hubby is an experienced DIYer and has every tool you can imagine and really wanted to tackle this project – we knew we didn’t have the DIY skills to do this and have it look beautiful….
Heather Luckhurst is the publisher and owner of the Design and Lifestyle website 
Beautiful Heather!!!
I’m so glad you like it too Katie! It’s so much easier to clean too!
Looks so much better, Heather! We have carpet and I really want to change it over to wood. Love the white risers- you made the right choice!
It looks great Heather, quite the transformation. And definitely not a DIY job!
WOW what a stunning makeover!
Thanks so much Virginia!! We are really happy with the results! What a huge improvement!
Hi Heather, it looks sooooooooo much better, you made the right choice, white risers really provide the perfect amount of contrast and pop of the beautiful hard wood! We have carpeted stairs going to the basement and I can NOT wait to get that ugo carpet out of there! Thanks for the tips!
Absolutely AMAZING!! My brother in law is a stair builder/designer and I’m certain he would approve the work that was done on the stairs!
Wow beautiful Heather! That would be a dream come true here! I absolutely adore hardwood on stairs – they’re something so nostalgic about it…I’ve got this project on our dream to-do list!
ohhh you are torturing me with this post…my dream to give my stairs a make over like this…..pinning
Wow – it turned out so great! Love how it flows better now from the floor to the stairs. Just makes for a harder landing though if you fall. Just beautiful and makes such a statement now.
Great job! It sounds like you found a gem of a contractor. I love the white risers – great colour choices.
Oh my! It looks SO MUCH BETTER! I’m jealous…our carpet is still in great shape but I would prefer wood on the stairs too.
Wow Heather, your staircase looks so much better without the carpet!! Nice job and well done!
Oh Heather! What a FANTASTIC transformation! Removing the carpet from our stairs and replace it with stairs in the next few months. Seeing transformations like yours makes me SO excited to do it.
– Tasha @ Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body {www.designertrapped.com}
Thanks Tasha!! I’m sure you’ll love your stairs once your makeover is complete! It really makes such an impact now and isn’t the eyesore it used to be!! Good luck with your stair reno!
This looks great! I think the main thing a lot of people wonder about is price. I know it is horrible etiquette to ask, but how much did this cost? I know you had many custom cuts and everyone’s staircase varies, but this would give a pretty good baseline to guestimate how much this project might cost for our home. Do you live in Ottawa Canada? I was trying to figure out if I need to convert the currency.
Grammy – I suggest you contact a couple of contractors that offer stair makeover services and have them come to your home to give you an estimate. They will do an estimate for free (at least they do it here for free). Each stair makeover is so different based on how it is laid out, how many turns it has, the type of railing, the type of hardwood you want installed ect. Good luck!
Your new stairs look grand. Did the contractor removed the spindles to install the new treads? We do have stairs that go straight up, and have been planning to give this a try.
Hi Scribbler! Yes our contractor removed all of the spindles, the railing and railing posts! I hope that helps! Good luck with your makeover and thanks for the visit and nice comments! It’s amazing what an improvement it is to the whole home and so much easier to clean than that carpet! ~ Heather
Those stairs look amazing! We are in the middle of doing ours. My husband is a contractor and ya know the old saying “a plumbers toilet is always clogged.” Well that is us. Still sitting mid project! I am going to have to show him this as some motivation!
LOL! You are so funny Erica!! I’m sure your hubby will do an amazing job on your stairs! Thanks for the lovely comments and for visiting! ~ Heather
Pinning! Pinning! Pinning! I have been wanting to tear the runner off our wood stairs since the day we moved in. My only hang up is I’m afraid my kiddos will be slipping down the stairs. Gonna wait and hopefully do this toward the end of this year. Thanks for the great tips! And your stairs look gorgeous! Melissa @ Two It Yourself
Wow fantastic job!! I totally love them + and your walls color!! 😉
Wow fantastic job!! I totally love them + and your walls color!! 😉
I love this idea! I was just discussing this same project idea the other day. Do you mind telling me the approximate cost for the project. I am a single/female homeowner and I will need some assistance as well as to save/budget for the project. I do have a straight staircase so that will help. I’d appreciate your ball park figure. Thank you!
This is my first time ever on your blog Heather and I just want to say “WOW!” You did a fantastic job of photographing the progression of the entire job. What kind of camera do you use? Also, I agree, the pop of the white riser against the hardwood is gorgeous! Great piece and I look forward to going through more of your blog site, which I bookmarked of course. Thanks so much for your work. Well done. Don’t forget to let me know what kind of camera you use-I need a new one so I may as well get a nice one at the same time.
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s
new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be
bookmarking and checking back often!
Hi Ronnie – my site has a new design so maybe that’s why it seems familiar!! Thanks so much for visiting!!!
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added”
checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several e-mails with
the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Thanks!
Hi Alisa – when you get the next email comment there should be a way in that email to remove yourself from continuing to get them! A checkbox or something you click. I hope that helps!
It looks so much better!!! I love the final result! Stunning makeover!
Thank you June – we love the makeover!
Hi,
Just wondering about how much it cost for the stairs make over? I know each project is different, but I would like an estimate as most prices quoted on forums are American Price. So glad someone posted in Ottawa.
Hi Betania – our stairs required several custom cuts due to the angle of them so it was more expensive than a set of straight stairs might cost. It was about $6,000 and included removal of the carpet, painting the risers and adding new trim, prepping with plastic protective sheets and cleanup.
I love it. Wondering if you are able to share the brand and name of the colour of the walls. That grey is so beautiful. Thanks.
Hi Mya – yay! So glad you like my post! That color is Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray – it’s a gorgeous color!
Hi Heather- We are moving and about to face a very similar problem. I’m afraid putting hardwood treads on the stairs will probably not be in our budget in the next few years, but can you tell me how much the stairs ended up costing you? I really hate our carpeting too.
Also- what did they do with the spindles? Did they pull them out and then put them back in? How did that work?
Thank you so, so much!
Oh look- you’ve listed the price. Thank you! I see it now!
Oh great – glad you found it Jennifer!! Our stair reno cost more because of the custom cuts that had to be made for it and because of those custom sizes and angles we decided not to DIY it ourselves. It certainly looks so much better than the nasty carpet we had – and is easier to keep clean!!
Hello, the stairs looks wonderful and really changes the look of your house.
I have a similar project and the stair company that I was speaking with, recommended to remove the entire staircase and start from fresh, so I am glad to see that there is another option.
One question, when your contractor was putting in the new treads, did he remove the old wood that was already there and replace with the new tread, or did he place the new tread on top of the old stair? Please let me know.
Thanks!
Bev
Hi Bev – He left the plywood and put in new hardwood on top with new trim. Hope that helps!
Love the new stairs..the older ones are just like mine…so I need to have this done..
I live in Nepean (Ottawa)and I can not do this big job..Is there anyone in Ottawa that
could do this kind of work?I would appreciate a reply..
Thank you.???
The person that did ours isn’t working anymore, so I don’t have anyone to recommend….but I would do a google search for ‘stair repair’ and ‘carpenter’ to find someone in your area. We often get Home renovation flyers that come to our house that has advertisements in it for home improvement companies so you may find someone that wall. Also check out your local Fall home show! They often have tradespeople there that have booths – so you can talk to someone or get recommendations that way too!
That’s a pretty good makeover for the stairs to make it a Signature Home.