daisy~Love your blog! Very helpful, thanks so much for linking to it here. I noticed you mentioned something about low slip finish, please elaborate. skypathway~Thanks for starting this thread, please keep us posted on your progress. I got a verbal estimate of $300-$400 minimum for both berber and new cut-pile carpet, inc. padding and installation. Since you have to remove carpet to replace carpet, I guess I could decide what to do when that happens. It looks like (although looks can be deceiving) we might be able to just remove the carpet and padding, patch and paint the risers and polish the treads. As one option. I am still very concerned about slipping. I am not sure-footed anyway, and am presently suffering from a foot injury. I have a cat, and little ones always on my stairs (kids, not babies). I do remember my grandparent's had slippery wood steps. I am not fond of laundry baskets and stairs, have two sets of stairs to navigate in order to do the wash.

Here is a third option. We too have the same wood stairs. I was all excited that we would be able to salvage them, but they too are just not really usable. I was planning on painting the risers like you with black stairs. Our banister is glossy black, just so you know. I found out about this a few months ago. It's more or less an oak cap you put on top of the actual stair. They came into our lowes about six months ago. I've looked at them and the quality seems great. BTW, we bought risers at Habitat for just a dollar per strip. I think it's just paintable luan like above. My husband quickly cut them down to fit. The luan covers the wide gaps on the sides. We did put small nails on the sides, which you can't see when they are punched in. The nails are painted. If you're worried, you could put some sort of trim on the sides. Maybe just a small flat trim as to not draw attention. Like you, I tend to like a lot of black. Although, I really do love the rustic stair, I don't think that it meshes well with the rest of your home. Your taste seems a little too refined. Those stairs look like it might be in a rustic california or a rustic spanish home. If you want to look a little more rustic, maybe a seagrass runner down the middle (or a wool rug that mimics seagrass). That would give the more casual look you're looking for. Unfortunately, we have put the stairs thing on hold. We are in the process of updating our kitchen. We will get the treads next year. We only did one riser to finish off the floors upstairs. :) Good luck! Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Lowes- retro tred

Most economical = carpet. After that, a solid finish (wood, cork, vinyl, tile, stone, etc) will require all the extras. Painted stairs will work...with plenty of elbow grease and with the FULL UNDERSTANDING the paint will wear/chip/"patina" inside of a few years. There are ways to lay a runner on the stairs and then trim out the edges of the tread/riser with wood-looking stuff. This will cut the cost in half of what I mention above. The other option is to place the runner and PAINT out the edges....creating a faux-painted-wood look which could be very handsome yet extremely practical. Notice how carpet keeps on coming up again and again? Yah. There's a reason for that. Those are builder grades stairs made for carpet.

get a piece of wood to match the treads. most slate on stairs look like this this one looks like they used a bull nosed tile in a similar color to match the slate. if you don't do that, then butt up the slate on the riser and have it meet the landing tile, like this. polish and smooth the edges.