When I bought my house in September 2007, the stairway up to the second floor was a hideous mess. The stairs were covered with worn out, filthy green carpeting and the wood paneling surrounding it made everything feel claustrophobic. The fact that a small wall mounted hurricane style light was the only illumination didn't help anything either. Not only did it look bad, but it was also not up to code with no hand rail and a head clearance issue.

After moving in, the whole stairway was gutted. The wood paneling was saved and cut down for trim in the back bedrooms, but everything else ended up in the dumpster. There were wood treads under the carpet, but they had been notched when the wood paneling was installed so they needed to be replaced. The plaster behind wood paneling was crumbling so that was torn out and new drywall was installed. Read Full Post