Why wouldn't it look like a bullnose if you're going to round the edge? A round edge is a bullnose.

If your husband, or some other stair subcontractor can do all of these you will be fine...if you (and they) understand that the bullnose overhangs the riser...

If the flooring is laminated, the layers will show. You will need to add finish to the machined areas. If the finish is a recipe of ingredients, you will need the recipe from the manufacturer---those are usually in house mixes and proprietary.

Better effort would be to find a woodworker/shop that can make stair treads close to the flooring.

I will see if they are laminated. I don't know. The problem with buying a bullnose is that our flooring is distressed and bullnose from a regular place wouldn't be distressed in the same way.

There were 5 new houses built near me a few years ago and the flooring was a prefinished medium-dark grey stained maple. Nice enough, but not my taste. The stairs from the living room to the next floor were open, with a glass railing. But--no matching treads from the manufacturer. So, what did they do? Oak treads, painted black! It looked like absolute amateur, handyman ap-cray--that grainy oak covered in shiny black paint. Price? $880,000 each.

I guess the point is, look for a different material for the treads. You'll never match the factory finish exactly.

go to your local wood supply store - the kind that sells real hardwood, plywood, exotic species, etc. They'll sell nosing you can glue to the treads to make the nosing. For us, my husband wanted a wider nosing (he's always worried about tripping!) so we used the 'ready step' profile, which is a very tall bullnose. You could use a regular bullnose if you wanted to though. Glue your tread boards together, then glue the nosing on, then finish the nosing to a close color match.

Distressing is easy to do - stick the boards down on double sided tape, then grab chisels, sandpaper, files, chains, and beat up the nosings til they look similar to your treads. Distressing is fun! (Especially after a rough work day, or fight with your spouse about the Xth house decision you don't agree on ;P )

Many have experts in the color/stain department and can get you a very close match to the original flat boards. (I know, we stained our stair nosings to match our treads too!)

There's a few good articles on woodworking sites - the main tips are knowing that there are both dyes and stains (dyes are better for matching dark colors) . Matching stain is difficult, especially on older floors that may have changed color from their original. (Color on new pieces may shift to be different than a match done at time of install). Decide on whether you prefer oil based stains, or water based. Waterbased doesn't really stink like oil does, but we found it mutes the color difference in the grain, so isn't always preferred. (Again, depends on what you are trying to match)

You'll need a few tries to get the color correct - there are 4 basic stain bases, each with their own 'shade' of color. Practicing on scrap gives you options to test and get as close as possible.

Gloss/sheen will affect your perception of color, as will lighting. Match in the lighting that will most often be used in the area (eg, incandescent, led, fluorescent, or natural light). It WILL likely look off in different lighting unless a perfect match of the same species, of the same age.

Hope that helps!

You could skin the stairs with prefinished material, but it's not structural, there will have to be solid treads of some kind underneath. There will be lots of panel adhesive involved.

If no prefinished nosings are available for your texture/finish, that's really too bad. You'll have to hire a craftsman who can duplicate it and pay him his price, or accept a non-matching stair finish.

Casey

Another idea to consider if you get close, but not quite - add a decorative strip of a complimentary shade between the tread and the nosing - the slight difference will be less visible then.

But any good woodworker should be able to do a close color match. Its not rocket science, just takes patience.