the gift of stairs

While I was gone for a week and a half to PA Rusty decided to surprise me with a "project" that we have been wanting to do... REPLACE OUR STAIRS! I know to some this may seem silly or even stupid BUT to me it was the best gift! For 6.5 years our stairs have been quite an eye sore when you walk in our front door. Due to a heavy oil based stain they have never held paint and the carpet was simply gross! So, below you will see the best before pic I could find and then 2 finished products at the end... still have to paint the wall but the stairs were fantastic! There are now not as many stairs exposed on the downstairs wall, this looks better AND should help regulate our central unit more efficiently! Anyway, I am blessed to have a "handy" (he hates that word) husband and way excited about my stairs! Oh yea, he added some bead board on the wall going up the stairs as well. Also, I forgot to mention that most of the material was saved from various jobs he and his trim guy have done! I believe he had to buy the posts, spindles and the stain for the steps- the rest was salvage!