FOREWARNING: I am no professional. I have no idea if a professional carpet installer would cringe at my methods. I am pretty proud to have completed this project myself, with no help. For years I have wanted to carpet our stairs. They were always loud and the paint got chipped so easily. But I always wanted to spend my funds on more important, or prettier, things. But I ran across a blog post showing how a woman bought a few carpet runners and she put them on her stairs herself. (http://southernhospitalityblog.com/painted-stairs-and-adding-runners/) I thought "I can so do that!" I found a wool runner on Overstock.com that I loved and I ordered 3 of them. At first I wasn't happy with them because the runner didn't match the carpet perfectly that I ordered for the entryway, but with time I knew I wouldn't find anything I liked more. They were the "same" carpet, but there wasn't enough aqua in the runner for my liking.
Why can I never remember to take an actual "before" photo before I've actually begun the project?? I started by stapling one of the ends of the runner to the top stair. I didn't go onto the landing.
I kept putting double sided carpet tape on each tread -- this is important. I didn't have enough for the last few stairs and it made a huge difference in helping to keep the carpet in place. I bought more and redid those stairs. Make sure to also measure each side of the runner on each stair to make sure you are keeping it even.
Keep taping and stapling. I cut the end off the runner and the end off of the next runner and butted them up at where one stair met the back of the tread. I used a plush wool runner, so the wool pile on the carpet hid the staples well.
For the final runner I started at the bottom and taped and stapled my way up. I cut the runner to butt up at the seam where I left off.
It is holding up well and has made the stairs so much quieter.
Ignore the mess. Why did I have kids, again? I'm told that I will miss them when they are gone and to enjoy the mess while they are young. So I'm embracing it!
I also ordered a new rug for the dining room from rugsusa.com. The reviews for the site where all over the place, but I had great service and would definitely order from them again. Just be sure to print your order confirmation number. They do not email you confirmation and I couldn't check on my order without it.
All of my pictures seem to be taken mid-project. I hate that our house looks so chaotic, but generally it is. Tell me I should get my house "party ready" clean so I can take pretty pictures of finished projects!
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