Tips to Refresh Basement Steps

With a few products in hand, and a couple of days with low traffic, here are the tips to refresh basement steps…

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now…

But it seems there’s always something else calling my name, and I’d successfully put it out of my mind, until I had to go downstairs and then was reminded again how awful the basement steps looked in our 100 year old house.

For an old house, our basement is really pretty nice… nice white walls, nice grey interlocking tile floor exactly like these… but the steps were just looking tired and scruffy looking.

I finally took the plunge when my husband was going to be gone a few days… I could control the traffic on the steps that way.

The first step I did, (after I ripped off the stick-down non-slip tape across the treads) was to prime the one tread that had been replaced years ago, and touch up any bad spots of bare wood on the other steps.

Once the primer was dry, it was time to paint the treads…

But…

I had to think about that a second… or two.

The easiest way to paint steps is to start at the top and carefully walk backwards, one step at a time, as you finish the step in front of you. This method works great if you have another way out. But in this basement I only have this one stairway out.

Therefore, I opted to go with an every-other approach.

After the first coat was thoroughly dry, I did a second coat on those same steps. Once that was dry, I could do the other steps of the ‘every-other’ pattern.

(The paint I used on the steps was the grey floor enamel leftover from the 2nd story 3 season porch floor project.)

But after slipping on painted steps before  and because these are basement steps, we wanted a non-slip durable tread:

These rubber stair treads seemed more durable and less slippery than the thinner ones available. This carpet tape is super strong and just like the rubber treads can be used indoors or out!

The treads didn’t request to be attached to the steps, but I didn’t want them to slip off at all, so I figured better safe than sorry.

I selected these particular treads because the old stairs were just a little rough on the front nosing and these treads have a nice durable front nosing on them.

I just cut 2 strips of the fiberglass carpet tape to stick across the front and back of the bottom of each tread. (you can see there is a waxed paper covering on the tape that helps in applying it, then just pull off the covering and carefully position the tread to the step.

The steps are done, and they look soooo much better!

I actually love the vintage industrial look of them… works perfect with this vintage house! 🙂

If you’re wanting to refresh some steps, here are the source links:

These heavy duty indoor/outdoor treads.

This super strong indoor/outdoor carpet tape.

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This post is linked at: Between Naps on the Porch, Thrifty Decor Chick