The Stairs are Clad!

There was quite a bit of back and forth over whether my parents would come this weekend or not, but in the end they decided to come on Saturday. Terral and I rushed to get the protective coat on the stringers before they came because the coat that goes on the stringers is different from what goes on the steps, and the two can't overlap at all. Luckily it all worked out and we were able to get it done just in time.

Terral had a race in St. George, so he wasn't here for the first half of the day. Things went much slower this time because dad needed breaks and mom and I weren't skilled enough to do the precise measuring and cutting. But that was totally fine, because of course I wanted dad to take his needed breaks, and there was less that needed to be done.

Here's a picture of the stairs with the newly-cut risers and a few treads put on. You can kind of see the color difference between the risers and the railings. Once the railings (that we love!) were up, we felt that the stain turned out a little too orangey-red and it made the other wood tones in our house look. . .different. . . so I tested out a couple scrap pieces and we decided to put a coat of walnut stain on top. It didn't make a stark difference, but it tones down the red and I think fits our house better now.

 And here's the view from the top with just a couple treads put in.

 As dad cut the treads, mom and I glued and nailed them in. Mom was thoughtful enough to make sure there was photographic evidence of me working on our stairs. :)

 Ethan spent the morning with Terral's parents, and I met them in Cedar to watch the storybook parade when Terral came back from his race. Ethan really enjoyed the parade, and I did too. The floats were way better than what you see in the 4th of July parade. But mostly I just had fun watching Ethan.

 He was so tuckered out afterward that he fell asleep in the car within 2 minutes!

When we got home,  mom helped me put some wood filler on our cabinet fronts, and dad installed an outlet and switched out a broken one to make our kitchen more functional. Terral and dad finished off the drywall and some more trim on the stairs. Dad was pretty darn beat by the end. He is such a trooper. I'm very lucky to have the parents I do.

There is still plenty of work to do (sanding, staining, filling, topcoat, etc.) but we love our new stairs! I think they are beautiful. Even covered in construction dust. :)