there are 2 ways to do it. first is to create it out of you hardwood product, using stair nosings and the manufacturer of your hardwood flooring should carry them for your product type and wood species. Ask them for prefinished or site finished depending what you have. if not, you can get them milled by a local wood supplier out of the same wood species, then stain and/or finish them to match. If you cant find any of those resources, you can try a search for Hardwood Stair Nosing for an online resource. Secondly, you can buy prefinished or site-finished hardwood stair treads and risers out of the wood species you desire. you can use their risers or your hardwood for the risers. I think the most important issue here is getting the look and finish you desire. Stairs can really be made out of any hardwood, although the harder wood the better in terms of durability and wear. Here is a wood hardness chart if you are open to different species. As to installation, you want to screw and glue the nosings so they dont turn when someone steps on the nosing overhang. Improperly installed stair nosings have caused problems in the past coming loose and could potentially cause injury, so follow all instructions to the letter.

Here's the final result with #3 (50% classic gray and 50% weathered oak). The pictures vary depending on the angle/lighting and may not do it justice, it looks great to us, nice neutral grey/brown color that isn't too dark (or too light). Some "pink" hues may just barely show from the red oak but it's only after I analyzed the pictures on my computer that this occurred to me, in real life it's not something we personally see. Thanks for everyone's input.

Quick question. As you know, we had our floors re-stained about 6 or 7 weeks ago, they stained and did one finish coat, and then came back once the project was done to buff out any imperfections and put the final coats on. They say to wait 30 days before you put down any area rugs...I know part of this is to protect their business, but if it was just the clear coats is that still applicable? I can't go an entire month with our dogs and no rugs, and we want to move back in!! How imperative is this, the rugs will always be in the same spots with our floorpan layout, so if it affects coloring it won't matter really....thoughts?

Have you looked at Hallmark’s lines? They have 3mm face thickness, wider plank and nice finish options. You couldn’t be convinced to do 5” wide white oak solid stained on site? That’s why I asked about thickness. Sometimes engineered is better because the overall product thickness is less than 3/4 solid and meets site goals (like door clearances and such)....but if you don’t have those restrictions then solid wood is always the better and gives you a lot more leeway with stain options - not to mention if you ever need to repair an area due to a flood or whatnot then you’d be happy you chose the site finish which can always be patched in. Engineered choice will most likely not be available so solid is always a better resale choice. But I understand about your wish for a wider plank. We also wanted that but had to do engineered and chose American Relics. This product is not 3mm thick unfortunately as our budget did not allow for that. But if we could have done solid we would have. Good luck!