Couple Refinished Century-Old Stairs for $150 and They Look Brand New

We'll admit, these stairs weren't all that much to look at in the beginning, especially with that old, bland, and uninspired tan color. Clearly, they were in need of an update!

The first step was to prime the rinsers and prepare for painting. So they taped off everything and did a thorough cleaning of the stairs to start off.

Since they discovered the original color of the stairs was red, they tried a red color out in the beginning. But after letting it cure for a week, the paint kept flaking off. They later learned their mistake was putting latex paint over oil-based paint without proper prep.

Clearly, they learned their lesson. They promptly got themselves a paint stripper and put it to good work over the many layers of paint.

After they poured a thick layer on each step and gave it a few minutes, the paint began to bubble and lift from the surface like magic.

Donning gloves and a mask, they went to work at peeling back all the layers and slowly but surely revealing the beautiful wood found deep underneath them.

Though the paint stripper got about 80 percent of the paint off, the homeowners were still left with residual paint. So they put their sharp paint scraper to use to get rid of the excess.

Though the paint scraper did get off all the paint, the wood was unfortunately stained. No matter for this savvy duo, who whipped out a power file to get into those pesky tight spaces.

Then it was time to clean up under the treads. This called for more paint stripper, followed closely by a rasp to further clean the scrape marks and gouges. Next came the sanding.

They used a 5-minute epoxy, along with black powder, to fill in any additional holes and cracks in the stairs. Then, it was finally time to get to some serious sanding.

They began their sanding expedition with 40 grit on a belt sander and worked their way all the way up to 180 grit hand sanding.

After the process of sanding was complete, they stained the stairs with Minwax Puritan Pine.

When the staining was complete, they sealed and protected the sanded and stained wood with four whole layers of satin floor poly.

Then, they came to the realization that the handrail also needed to be redone, if they were going through with the complete refinishing of the stairs. So they gave the handrail a good sanding to start off with.

When they were done sanding, they cleaned up all the dust and wiped the surface with acetone before priming the handrail.

Then, they finished it off with two coats of interior semi-gloss white paint.

Finally, they were done. And if you think this is impressive, just wait until you see the next angle.

Wow! Not only does it look bright, cheery, and modern—it also looks brand-new! The before-and-after photo on the next slide really drives the point home.

Clearly, this couple came a long way to refinish their stairs. Was it worth it or was it worth it? Bravo to them!

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