They’re done! The last of the workmen finished up in the basement yesterday. That means…there’s still a bunch of work left to be done. Sir Monkeypants and I will be taking it from here – what’s left is painting the walls, installing the laminate flooring, and installing the baseboards and trim. Oh, and painting that stuff too. SIGH. Looks like we will continue to live the hoarder life for the short term.

In the meantime, some pictures! The biggest change is that the stairs are all done. Here’s what they look like now:

Pretty! We are happy with they way these turned out. I especially love the white risers. They look really sharp and modern and help lighten up a really dark space (there’s no specific stairs light, just ambient light from above and below). The new railing looks pretty good, too, and the wood is really nice quality.

It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. The major drawback is that adding the new stair covers raises the height of each step about a half inch. You don’t notice on the middle steps as they’re all relative, but the top step now is a little shorter than the rest. It’s not enough to trip you up but enough so you notice something is kind of weird when you’re coming up the steps.

At the other end, the bottom step would have been a little deeper than the rest, but the concrete pour we had to do raised the entire basement floor up several inches. So now the bottom step is actually the SHORTEST step, but that’s not the fault of the stair work. Still, it has taken some getting used to.

Also, another minor quibble: the stain on the stairs doesn’t quite match the laminate flooring colour. It’s in the right area but redder toned, while the floor is a greyer tone. But we’re still much, much happier than having to go carpet, and we’ll see how it all looks once the floor installed – perhaps it will be no big deal.

So would I do this again? I think so. It was seriously about 1/4 the price of having the entire staircase replaced and although half of me says, “You’re spending thousands of dollars, why not spend a couple more and get what you really want?”, the sane half says, “You’re spending thousands of dollars, for heaven’s sake, CUT IT OUT.” It’s a really nice solution and we like the look and it’s super fabulous on your feet, so I call it a win.

The only other big change (other than the installation of subfloor, I’m sure you are WOWED) is the completion of the lighting – adorable little pot lights, look!

Very happy with these.

Hopefully it doesn’t take us forever to get our part of the work done, now – keep me honest and if you don’t see any new pictures in a month, ask me what the HECK WE ARE THINKING. It’s got to happen!