Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I appreciate it!

Hey Deb, Thanks! The banister was attached by the basement fixer guys – they had to have a banister to have it pass inspection. It definitely seems like there would be some funny angles you’d have to cut. Angles always stump me.

Thanks, Keri!!!

Just like Bruce! Thanks!

Thanks, Susan!

Ha! Thanks and I’ll try ;) I’m actually pretty good at not doing anything on the weekends.

Oh, good questions. I guess I didn’t get too much into detail on that in the post, there was just so much other stuff to talk about ;)
I used these pre-made pine treads with a bullnose and then cut them down to size. You can check them out here. For the risers I used pine 8’x8″x1″ that I also chopped down to fit – link is here. The skirt was tricky! I used a 10′ x 12″x1″ board that I cut to fit around the stringers. You could also cut them to fit around the tread and riser once you have those in place, but doing it to the stringer seemed much easier and I could cover any flaws with the tread and riser (make sense?) – here’s the tutorial I used. I used some long 3″ nails to attach the treads and the risers, 6 per tread and 3 per riser and there are barely any squeaks – these are easily the least squeaky stairs in my house.
I used some trim between the bullnose and the riser to beef up the treads – link is here. There was no trim used between the tread/risers and the skirt. Everything fit pretty well together but I did finish it off with a thin bead of caulk around everything which I applied after staining and before the final coat of white paint.
I added a cap molding to the skirt to finish it off and fit the style of the rest of the baseboard in my house – similar to this link here.
Lots of info, hope that helps and sorry I didn’t cover it in the post.

Thanks so much! Let you know how it goes!

Hey Sam, Thanks! Okay, so the stairs are painted in a Behr Satin finish – the color is All White (a Farrow and Ball color). I don’t love this paint – it doesn’t settle nicely and it shows a lot of brush strokes even when I try and be meticulous about my sanding and painting. Once I can swallow paying up for a really nice can of paint I will probably go for the actual Farrow and Ball All White and repaint them. All of the other trim and kitchen cabinets in my home were painted in the All White, and when I ran out of the good stuff I subbed it for the not-as-great stuff. Big regret.

Thanks so much, Blair!

Hey Annmarie! The thing about stairs is that you can’t give up half way through – unless you just want to take a ladder ride in between levels. It’s kind of a do or die thing so I had to follow through!

Yes, I feel more and more confident everytime I tackle a big project. One of my first DIY home repair projects was replacing loose tile in our upstairs bath and I was so scared of doing it the right way. I think as I learn more about how houses are built and how to fix them through trial and error, there isn’t always an exact right way and every project (especially in old homes) will be handled differently. Every time I tackle a bigger and bigger project I feel so empowered. I think we all have the ability, it just takes the time to work up to those big skills.

I’m scared of saws too! I just picture my fingers getting chopped off every time I start using them. I guess that makes me cautious but def not confident when it comes to them. I’d like to learn how handle a miter saw like a pro. Jeff got me a my first miter saw for Christmas last year and I’ve used it so much this year – which I’m glad for – but yeah, still scared of it.

Thanks, Sally and I am most of the time. I still know that I’m not out of the woods, but I’m still trying to be really mindful of doing all the good things I can to make my body and mind happy.