Last week we had our floors refinished, after 15 years! No more pets or children around and it looks like we'll be staying here for a long time, so we decided to take the plunge, battle with the dust and refinish the floors. I decided to paint the stair handrails white to match the trim. I like that. But, I wasn't sure if we should paint or stain the stair treads. The estimate to stain was $230.00. Painting was looking pretty good. Then I remembered several years ago when I worked for a faux painting company we would actually faux paint the stair treads to match the floor. Below you can see the lighter stair I still need to stain. If you try this, first tape off the area and press down the edge of the tape next to the area being stained or painted to keep the stain from seeping under the tape.
Next, get a comfortable pillow to sit on..............because those hardwood floors get REALLY hard!
This is the stain I used. Remember when you used to polish your shoes for school? This has the same consistency as shoe polish. It first goes on pretty thin.
I used old rags to wipe the stain onto the wood. An old t-shirt works really well because it is smooth. I used up all of the old t-shirts on the other stairs, so I'm using an old piece of terry cloth.
The trick is to go with the grain. Let the first coat dry a few minutes and add another coat, depending on how dark you want your finish. The stain does come in several shades. I bought Dark Walnut. My floors are a little darker because we mixed 2 parts Dark Walnut and 1 part Ebony. I kept adding layers until I liked the shade.
And............here is the finished product. When the stairs are completely dry, you can polish with a cloth and then varnish. The stain cost me $17.00 with tax. I bought mine at a local faux painting store called Paintin' the Town Faux but I'm sure most faux stores would have a comparable product. I think it looks pretty good and I didn't have to take apart the banister and sand the stairs!
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