A Stair Runner Tutorial...sort of

As promised, here is the stair runner tutorial.  The installers said it was fine for me to take pictures while they worked, but I was afraid of wearing out my welcome with questions.  So, I kept those to a minimum.  Hopefully this tutorial will give you at least a good overview of what they did. 

In our home, the stairs are the first thing you see when you enter the front door.  As you can see, they are always riddled with scuff marks no matter how I try to keep them clean.  I wanted this area to look more "finished" and decided to add a runner.  At first, my husband and I considered a diy project, but decided to leave this one to the professionals.  After watching the process, I think it would be pretty easy to do.  Notice the lovely "boob" light at the top of the stairs.  It will soon be replaced with something better - stay tuned.

I ordered three runners from Ballard to cover the stairs.  They were on sale for $35 each, bargain!

The first step was to nail this strip across the back of the tread.

Next came the padding cut to fit perfectly in front of the stripping and ending just shy of the width of the runner.  Normally a runner is one continuous piece, but in this case it was three separate pieces.  So, the installers started in the center of the stairs and worked there way up and down to hide the ends.

 Finally, the runner was secured with 3/8" staples starting at the back of each tread and then just under each tread at the top of the riser.  This job took just over an hour start to finish.

The vents on the stairs have always bothered me.  At one time we had pretty wooden ones there, but boys with big shoes accidentally kicked them and they broke.  So, we decided to go with something more durable.  Before the runner was installed, the vents were white.  To make them more seamless, I gave them a quick coat of black spray paint. 

If any of you live in the Greensboro/Winston Salem area, I highly recommend these guys.  Email me for the contact information if you are interested.

******Just a reminder that the Radiance From Ruins giveaway ends tonight.   Get the details here. ******