DIY Farmhouse Staircase Renovation

Hey there!

We finally tracked down all the old parts for our DIY farmhouse staircase renovation and now we’ve officially kicked off the project! This is a renovation that’s going to both make a huge impact and be a huge challenge! Let me explain what I mean!

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Staircase Remodel, Renovation, Restoration

Technically we started the project a few months ago and then when all the things happened in our world we put it on hold. So I wanted to back track a bit to show you where we started, what the plan is, and then I’ll give updates along the way!

No matter how you do it, fixing up an old house is a challenge. I always say we’re not restoring to the farmhouse, but rather a combination restoring/renovating it. This particular project is a great example of that with a bit if remodeling thrown in there too! Why? Because if you look at the pictures below we started by removing the wall that enclosed the staircase.

Open Staircase Remodel

When you enter the farmhouse through the door that leads to the kitchen the staircase is directly in front of you. We talked about creating an open staircase from the from the first time we saw the farmhouse. It not only makes the room feel SO much bigger, but also gives us the opportunity to add some beautiful architectural details!

So we remodeled this space in the sense that we took down a wall, which changes the original visual floor plan.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that the previous owner had drywalled over this beautiful beadboard wall!

Staircase Renovation/Restoration

The staircase renovation/restoration comes into play next. I briefly shared in last week’s farm update that after months of looking we found a complete set of old staircase parts locally! They were pulled out of a nearby 1800s farmhouse! It was one of those times when I was grateful we waited or were made to wait 🙂

As I said fixing up an old house is already a challenge, but trying to make parts from another old house work in this one will be a major diy feat! Hopefully this this project will show how far we’ve come as DIYers! 😉

Staircase Challenges

Staircases have a lot of moving parts and this one has several other issues that will need to be addressed too. A couple things to note:

• There is electrical wiring coming out of the stairs that we’ll have to relocate/hide somehow
• We’ll have to remove several layers of flooring to make sure the newel post sits flush on the hardwood floor that we’ll eventually be refinishing
• The spindle spacing under the railing doesn’t align with our steps
• The wall behind the staircase will have to be figured out
• And the list goes on haha! Luckily Ed is a genius when it come to problem solving!

Staircase Risers and Treads

The steps themselves are in bad shape. Many are split and have giant holes. We’ll be salvaging what we can, but replacing most of them. The treads will all be replaced because they butted up to the wall that was removed, and now should overhang it to look right. The cool thing is we found the old wood we’ll be using to do this with in the barn loft!

Staircase Wood Tones

Last weekend we cut all the wood for the threads. They’re very dark and a close match to the newel post and railing! This made us consider having them be dark. However, I’ve always envisioned the stairs being a light wood that will closely match our wood floors once we refinish them. Also we have to sand them regardless of whether or not we chose to stain them dark later because we want them to have smooth surfaces and edges.

So we sanded a couple to get a better feel for how all the wood tones will come together in the space. And after a couple of days of living with the different options the decision, at least for now 😉 is to sand the treads to a natural tone, paint the risers white, and leave the newel post and railing dark. We’re still deciding on the spindles, which are currently dark like the post. I’m going to wait to make that decision once we get the steps done.

Mixing Wood Tones

I really love the collected look and feel of mixed wood tones! They are and/or will be mixed throughout the farmhouse. If you remember our kitchen island is dark, and again the floors throughout the first floor and upstairs will be a light natural wood once they’re refinished! So I’m really excited to see how the different tones will come together on the staircase! Also the good thing about DIY is if we get it wrong we can always change it! 😉

Flooring Wood Tone

Speaking of the flooring we’ll be refinishing! I went ahead and sanded a small section in the only place it’s visible on the first floor, which is under the steps. Again this gives us a better idea of how all the wood elements will come together. Also I can’t even tell you how excited I am to refinish the floors now!! Even though I know as soon as I start them they’ll become the bane of my existence! Lol!

They’re buried beneath many layers of flooring including glued down tile…yay :/ We did have samples of it sent off to check for asbestos and luckily we’re in the clear, but it’s definitely going to be a beast of a project! Aren’t they so pretty though?! 😉 More on the floors as we get closer to refinishing them!

Finding Old Treasures

I also had to share that when we popped a couple of the stars treads off we found old newspaper glued to the bottom! Finding old treasures like this is so fun! We’ll be framing some of them later too!

DIY Farmhouse Staircase Renovation

Okay, so I know that was a lot of information! But this is a big project and I really want you to be able to understand our thinking as we go into it! This weekend the plan is to start replacing the treads and risers, relocate the electrical wiring, and as always, what happens along the way will determine how far we get! So excited to share this DIY farmhouse staircase renovation with you!

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog!