DIY STAIRCASE MAKEOVER UNDER $100 | Updating Oak Banister

Everyone welcome back to my channel. My name is Kristen and today we are finally starting another big renovation of my parents' house. You've seen me transform room after room in this house and now I really want to focus on its '90s

staircase

, so this

staircase

it is. original to the house, it's the only orange Oakwood left here and I think it really needs an update so I really want to tie in the dark woods in the kitchen, the trim around the house and really accentuate the staircase and make it look beautiful , so I'm going to do this whole

makeover

on a budget, you know, I love doing DIY home improvement projects that are inexpensive and this one is going to save us thousands of dollars, so I'm repainting, staining and doing it all myself, and that will make There's a big difference, so if you guys have a ladder like this and you've really been looking to upgrade it.

I hope this video gives you inspiration and tips on how to do it. Do you enjoy watching it? Make sure you give this video a lot of importance. Give it a thumbs up and hit the like button and be sure to subscribe to my channel for more room

makeover

and home improvement videos. Let's go ahead and jump into it, so let me tell you the plan behind this staircase so we're all inside. on the same page here. I really like these images on Pinterest that I found that have a two tone look, so it's a white and a dark wood.

I think they will work perfectly here. I'm especially moving away from this image that I found out that I love that they have white spindles and a dark railing and it really has a good combination of the two, so I'm going to do a dark wood railing all the way up here. This will be a dark walnut color. This dark walnut, as well as these side rails, I choose to make them white to match this trim here and the white spindles and this little piece up here, I choose to make them dark, so I think it's going to be a really nice blend and come together.

All of this, the plan is to really tie the rest of the woods in the house together by matching that piece of dark wood trim right here, the dark woods throughout the kitchen and really making the whole house much more cohesive, this staircase could be a little bit more challenging because we're working with carpet and we're not going to remove it, so I'm going to have to get really close to the carpet without making a mess and making it look really crisp and clean, so those are just little details that I have. You have to think about doing all of this but I think it will create an incredible transformation and really bring out this 90's staircase, so the first day of this makeover is the preparation day and this day cannot be skipped, it is very important for the final results.

If you want a really nice finish, you're going to have to prep the staircase, so I'm going to remove all of this oil and grease that might be stuck here using a credd cutter. It is a very good degreaser and also sandpaper for removal. the varnish that's on top and really matte it so it doesn't have this shine anymore, so I'm going to leave all of these products down in the description box in case you're refinishing your staircase and you need to find these products. Now that the staircase is clean, I'm going to go in with my sanding block and sand the entire railing and all the spindles and get into all the wood details.

This will really ensure that the products we use to refinish the stairs are actually going to adhere and grip to the surface. I'm also using a damp microfiber cloth to wipe off all the dust so it doesn't go everywhere and we have a clean surface again, so the stairs are looking a little duller now that I've sanded and cleaned them, now I'll focus on taping, so I'm going to focus on taping the top of the spindles and the bottom of the spindles so I can really grab the railing without touching everything else. I'm going to use this frog ribbon.

I usually use this one I'm painting. I find it very strong and it is very wide, so it will cover more space without cutting multiple pieces of tape. All this prep work takes a while but I think it makes for a cleaner job, it's day two of this makeover and today I'm so excited because we can finally start with some staining. I'm going to use the gel stain in dark walnut color and I heard that the gel stain is kind of like the chalk paint of stains and it's easier to work with, I don't have to do as much prep as I know I had to prep, but I didn't have to totally strip the wood and sand to bare wood, so I'm using it more like paint instead of stain, so I won't clean it.

I'll let it dry and give it another coat for fuller coverage, so you'll probably need two. or three coats and there is a 24 hour drying time between them so this will take a while, it is a longer project but if you have the time and can make time to do this I think it is worth it so check it out as. It's more of a pudding-like consistency, it's a lot thicker than regular stain so it won't have that dripping and it'll really take hold, it's good to open a window because it smells quite a bit, let's get started, so to apply this gel stain.

I'm using a foam brush and I had to buy quite a few of these just because they don't really last that long so I probably used three a day but anyway this gel scene is very easy to use you just have to make sure you get one more even layer and you don't let big clumps of darkness dry up there, so it's easy to get around, really easy to get the railing down and it's actually pretty simple, so I went in, did everything above and then I went in and did the bottom and I really tried to make a smooth surface.

I took out my fan. The windows are open. I have all my stairs. I just finished applying the first coat of the gel stain where I want it, as you can see the first coat. The gel stain still shows through, you can see through it and it looks a little streaky, but when you apply a second coat and a third coat, it will look very smooth and clean. I'm going to start priming these stair stringer pieces, so On this side and that side I'm going to use this primer here and this is an oil based primer so it's really good at adhering to wood surfaces shiny and then you can use latex paint on top of it so I'm just going to do one or two coats of this on the stringer pieces here and then we can start painting tomorrow and apply more coats of the gel stain so I let the first one dry primer coat for two hours and then I applied a second coat with this primer. like glue, it's very strong but it really sticks and adheres to this wood, so it's day three of this whole process.

Today we're going to apply the second coat of the gel stain to get a more solid finish that will really cover up a lot of the orange tone and I'm hoping to finish that color before applying a top coat, so this is day three of staining. I just finished the third coat on the railing here and I really love how it looks, it has great coverage but I can also see the wood coming through it so it looks natural, it doesn't look too painted. I haven't done this yet so you can really see the difference between two and three coats, so I really love the three coat look.

I'm actually glad this piece of wood doesn't continue down the stairs because it's quite difficult to get between them. I would say this has been the hardest part, but the railing is super quick, very easy to do. The spindles are pretty easy below. What we'll have to worry about is painting, so I think it's already day four of this staircase makeover. I finally have it all dyed where I want it to look so good, it's such a crazy difference that I think it took three days total, so maybe we're on day five of this makeover. I don't even know right now, so now I can finally seal it.

I'm going to use this polyacrylic top coat and this will make it much more durable and last longer. I have it in semi-gloss right now, the stain finish is quite matte so it looks a little dull. I think the semi-gloss will really make it look amazing, so this will be the final step of the dyeing process and then we can finally move on to the shafts, so this polyacrylic has a milky consistency, it goes on and looks a little blue at first, but it dries like glass, it's really nice, you also have to be careful with this so you don't put too much on. a lot about where it starts to drip or bubble, so just smoothing it all out and trying to make an even layer is the best way to go.

I'm using a foam brush again to put all of this on like that. I don't have any brush lines and I have a nice even coat. If you're doing something similar on your staircase, just make sure you completely finish the railing and finish it on the top layer before moving on to the spindles. I ended up doing two coats of the top coat to make sure it's sealed well, so it's been about two days since I applied the top coat to all the stain and it looks really nice to have this really nice sheen, so it's nice, hard and sealed, and I can Now move on to the shaft, so I have to remove all of this tape here, flip it over so it's around the stain, so we have a nice crisp line underneath here and along the rail now that everything is perfectly glued. off, I'm going to go back to using the same primer that I used before, the cover stain primer, and I'm going to apply two coats along the shafts using this little angled brush.

It's really good to use an angled brush, a smaller brush to really get into all of these details. This takes quite a while because the shafts are very difficult to cover, you have to go back and forth from the front to the back, wrap around the railing to really get into all those spaces, just lay down that first layer. soft because we're going to do a second one and a little bit of pink on top, since this first coat took me like a whole day, I ended up letting it dry overnight, woke up in the morning and did a second coat so I could move on. and let it dry to start painting well, I'm back on the stairs.

I've been here for too long. I hope this is the last and final day of this makeover. Today we can finally start painting. I'm going to use This semi-gloss alkyd enamel paint is really good for high traffic areas like this, it has a good topcoat and it's like a hard topcoat paint so it will be durable, wipeable and good for vertical surfaces like moldings and doors, so Obviously, I'm going to use a white, so it's going to be bright and clean using a foam roller to get a really smooth finish on the wood so you don't see any scuffed brush lines as well as a foam brush so after letting the first coat dry I waited and did the second coat and it really helped because there were some spots around the stairs that needed to be recovered and you could still see the wood so it was definitely worth doing after the first coat. tired I want to go to bed but I tried really hard to finish this good morning we are back on the stairs again I really thought that yesterday would be the last day but I think it was hopeful to think that today we are all going to take off the tape and touch up all the areas that need to be touched up.

I knew going into this, you know some paint will bleed through some stain, so I just need to touch up everything to get it as perfect as possible. I can still see the lighter wood coming out from underneath here, so I'm going to use this to hold the carpet like this and get in there with a small brush. If you don't have something like this, you can use a ruler. or a piece of plastic just to hold things down and create a protection, but these are all the little details we're going to do around here, almost probably freehand, so it's not a big concern since we're doing all of these touch-ups. today, we could also touch up the paint.

There are some areas that are missing paint and look very messy and it drags my eyes every time I look at the stairs. Actually, I didn't know what color. In this painting we had nothing left, I think I got as close as possible. I think it's pretty good and will look a lot better, so today we'll also touch up some paint. I recommend it if you are trying to do it. Match some paint to the color, go behind this plate here and you'll find some leftover paint and you can remove some of it without ruining the whole wall.

I just finished all the little finishing touches to the staircase and I'm really happy with the way it looks especially when you take off all the paint that's been lying around for two weeks, it looks amazing so I'm really proud of myself and I can't wait to show my parents who have watched me work on this for the last two. I don't think you've seen her in weeks without the tape and everything cleaned and groomed, so I can't wait to show you her new and improved staircase. They will be very happy. Let's go ahead and show my parents. big reveal, okay, keep your eyes closed, remember howIt was before, yeah, okay, one, two, three, well, it's a lot better, yeah, and they really jumped, so just a jet described it, but it feels like someone else's house.

I know it's amazing. I have the vision and it is there and I know how difficult it is to do that. Why, of course, a new staircase. I know, congratulate us. What are you glad you did? I love it, yes, I'm very happy, yes, sit on the couch. It just looks good there, no, but look at that Wow, it was even orange before I knew it now it just makes sense elegant it looks very elegant it matches the forest floor the kitchen has the complete look it was supposed to be it's something like that It looks Mediterranean, does it?

It is not like this? Yeah, you think that's what the floor was always meant to be and now you have it. A ladder that goes up too well, doesn't it look more expensive? Oh sure, yeah, it draws a lot of attention when you walk in the door. Oh good thing I couldn't decide if we should paint this or not but you're right I think it makes it brighter by painting it you can do it both ways but I think it makes it look sharp and I knew you had to do it yeah it just takes it out of the 90s, you know well, you know how I fixed all the little marks to make it look cleaner, it's already a big difference, right, I fixed that corner, look at me color matching.

Oh, thank you guys, thank you, thank you for letting me work on it. I know many parents wouldn't let them do this. Oh, anything. time, okay guys, that's all for today's video. I hope you enjoyed seeing this huge staircase makeover. I hope this video encourages you to get started on your ladder. If they have something similar. I know that if I can do it, you surely can do it. Also, if you enjoyed watching and loved this great transformation, give this video a big thumbs up, hit the like button, and make sure to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss any more home improvement room makeover videos.

I have a lot more to do so make sure you're here to watch it, click the red subscribe button below and make sure you have my notifications on so you never miss any upcoming videos. I love you very much and I will do it. see you on my next goodbye