Adding Value to your home ~ Guest Post by: Stairsupplies

Hey! Hope all of you are having a fantastic New Year so far.  I don't know about y'all but with the start of a New Year, I am sooo ready for a new house project.  In a world of a million DIY projects (thank you Pinterest) ;) it can be a little overwhelming to decide which to do first. My advice....consider what will add value to your home. Not just monetary value (although always a plus!) but what adds value to the quality and enjoyment of your life in your home. 

I'm so excited to have a guest blogger from Stairsupplies posting today to share a great project that will absolutely add value to your life and your home. (check out their completed projects)

www.stairsupplies.net

Hi! I'm Andrew with Stairsupplies. Stairsupplies manufacturers wood stair parts and wrought iron balusters, including standard and cusotm handrails, stair treads, newels, box newels, and all other stair accessories.

There are a few interior projects that can add more value to your home than redoing your stairway. However, this is often a project that many people, for one reason or another, put off doing.  There seems to always be more pressing needs, but a beautiful staircase can easily become the focal point of your home. Plus, this interior project is a great undertaking for winter time remodeling.

Recently, my sister and her husband tackled their stairway. It functioned well enough to escalate people to the second floor, but really showed its 20 year old style. When they built the house 20 years ago, they picked out the standard stair package. This included poplar handrails and newels, and painted white balusters- nothing very exciting, especially with the bland carpet on top. 

As you can see, the stairway was still in relatively good shape. The carpet was stained in a couple places and there were some nicks on the wood balusters, but it still functioned perfectly, just outdated in light of their other remodel projects in the home.  A new bamboo floor (which looks excellent) along with some additional smaller renovations served to bring their home into modern times, but the stairway still dated the house.   With interior decoration and remodeling, even one out of style element can bring the look of the house back 20 years.
They quickly realized that their stairway was in need of remodeling and after talking to the stair specialists, decided upon this stairway.

Carpeted stairs were replaced with full thickness hickory treads. Drywall was cut out to expose the ends of the treads. Plain, white balusters were replaced with beautiful, oil-rubbed bronze iron balusters. The standard, ho-hum poplar handrail and newels were substituted with handsome hickory pieces.

The hickory treads, newels and bronze iron balusters mix beautifully with the bamboo flooring that was recently installed. Each has a reddish tint to it, but there is enough variety in the wood to give the area a unique flavor. Clearly, there is nothing ordinary about this space and each part accents the other. This is key when remodeling your stairway. It is commonly known that each piece in the stairway will shine light on the other pieces, but people often try to match the stairway with the rest of the living space.  Which oftentimes leads to people using the same species of wood on their stairway as they do in their hardwood flooring and other furnishings.  My sister opted to use bamboo on the flooring and hickory on the stairway. The different species of wood are a stunning compliment.

The subtlest part of this gorgeous stairway is the oil-rubbed bronze iron balusters. As was said earlier, there is just enough red in the balusters to tie the whole stairway together. Iron balusters are a great way to add diversity to your stairway as they can add different colors and accents to the stairway without throwing off the color balance.  As an added bonus, iron balusters are heavy and durable and will keep their glow for years to come.  

Notice how much larger the stairs appear after the drywall was cut out to expose the ends of the treads? This functional staircase is now a work of art. Every piece was chosen with an exact purpose in mind. Each part not only compliments the other, but compliments the rest of the space around the stairway.   Not only has this added value to their home, but they now have a beautiful focal point in their living room.