I have 2 separate sets of stairs in my house. One set is in the foyer and goes up to the kids rooms and one set is behind a door and goes down to the 'man cave' and my studio. When we moved in, the bottom floor was unfinished so the builder hadn't bothered to do nice stairs. They are pine with just a clear finish.

We finished the bottom floor and so the stairs have seen all kinds of use. The picture isn't showing how scuffed and gross they are. The builder didn't bother to caulk, fill in holes or even paint the trim. I did paint the risers and the trim several years ago. Which was a little like lipstick on a pig...  

I decided to finally tackle these monsters and to paint a runner on the steps. I started by sanding all the treads to open the grain for the primer. I then caulked every seam and used wood putty to fill 12 holes per tread and 12 holes per riser x 16!! Thats 384 holes, folks.

 I then primed it all and then painted the outside 12" with 3 coats of Dove white semi-gloss {the same color as the trim}. I sanded and vacuumed after each coat.  

My assistant alerted me when it was dry enough to add another coat. Nothing like watching paint dry..

Then I taped off the edge of the runner. I decided to make it 2'6" wide. Making sure to try to tuck the tape into the corners as tightly as possible to avoid paint leaks.

Then I used  2" and 1" tape to create the 'stripes' that would stay white.  

I failed to get a picture of the final step--painting 3 coats of Fernwood Green {BenMoore 2145-40} within the green taped area.

I removed the tape and voila! Fresh new stairs--so much better! {extra points if you noticed I also painted the door at the top--SW Black Fox 7020}. There were a few places that needed a little touch up which is easy to do with a little white paint and a small brush. I am now going to paint the walls a soft white and hang a new light {it's quite dark} and this little area will be complete!