Sanding, depending on how vigorous, will either scuff the sealing top-coats or remove them to bare wood. If the floor guy only sanded, there is a reason it looked dingy. Seems to me the flooring guy was responsible for properly fixing his damage; it sounds as if he did not. Can you post a picture so we can see what you have to work with? You will definitely have to re-stain and apply coats to seal/top-coat (varnish, poly, etc.). The question is whether you can just stain and then apply sealing coats to repair what you have sanded. Do you have any idea what was used to seal/ttop-coat after the flooring guy stained? Different product will age differently and have different sheens. If you cannot figure out the original products used (including the original manufactror and formula for the stain), I would sand every tread or at least the part that will be exposed (once away from the spindles, you should be able to use an electric finish sander), stain again, and put on uniform sealing top-coats of something like water-based flooring poly to all the treads. Researching the best products to refinish stairs will provide name brands for the final, protective finish coats. I do not think that something like Rejuvinate will work since you have probably taken off the stain and protective top-coats.

One of the tutorials I used, from Thrifty Decor Chic, tackled a landing. Found the one that she gave specifics about it! This may help: http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-take-carpet-off-stairs.html Here are some of her other posts about the process. http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/03/stair-redo-how-to.html http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-fear.html http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-biggest-diy-project-stairs.html

;-P I know...The ONLY thing I can think of for this is the wood stove is too close to the stairs/landing to use a WOODEN railing. The wood being too close could be a fire hazard. Therefore the previous owner decided to forego the safety aspect of the stairs for the warmth factor of the stove. Insane but we've all seen what happens when people get what they want vs what is needed....which was to scooch the stove to the right by a few feet. The hearth and the stone wall certainly could handle it. As they say, "There's no fix for stupid." Congrats on your home. Let us know if there is anything else we can help with.

The stairs are nicely coordinated with the wood floors. Are you changing the floors as well? The 'parquet' bit isn't an issue. You can sand off the finish (yep....palm sander...while you sit and grind the orange off) and then prime it. You can then add white paint. I would then 'wait and see' if the painted risers do enough to reduce the 'orange' look of the stairs. You can leave the stringer (that's what that side bit is called). After you've lived with it for a few weeks (while giving your back and hands and forearms a rest) you can decide if you want to continue with the sanding/painting. The ideal situation would be to match the railing with the tread and match the spindles to the riser. But that's a lot of work sanding down spindles and painting. I think once you paint out the risers you will create a very different looking stair. The orange treads won't look quite so orange. They will look very handsome against the white riser and will look like a better match to the floors.