As our basement remodel creeps to its exhausting end, I keep thinking the remodeling arguments will end too. I mean, what’s left to fight about? My husband and I have fought about whether to add a powder room (he won – no!), whether to distress the wood bar top (I won – yes!), and where to put the fireplace (we compromised). We’ve blamed each other for contractors who didn’t show, jobs over budget, power outages, the dogs getting loose, sawdust in the vegetable bin and drywall dust on the toilet seat. What’s left?
I’ll tell you what’s left: the stairs.
Our basement stairs prove that no matter how long you’re married (17 years, 42 days and nine hours) you don’t know your spouse until you build a house together. I never knew Dan had such a blind spot. From the beginning, I wanted to redesign the basement stairway so it didn’t feel like a laundry shoot. I wanted to replace the door at the top with an archway, flute the stairs at the bottom, and build the stairs of solid wood. Dan wanted to carpet the existing stairs. Period.
“Why spend a lot of money on a space you spend no time in?” he reasoned, if you call that reason.
“Maybe you don’t spend a lot of time,” I countered, “but it’s important time, a time of passage and transition.”
“Stairs are just access ramps to get you from Point A to Point B.”
“But the journey is the destination.”
“This is getting too philosophical.”
“Besides, regular old carpet stairs won’t entice you into the basement.”
“But if the stairs are too nice, you’ll falsely build people’s expectations.”
“But the stairs don’t flow from the main level. I want flow.”
“The only thing flowing around here is cash.”
“And they start from behind a door that looks like the pantry door. We need to change out the door for something architectural, like an arch.”
“We need to leave what works alone.”
“Geesh! You’d be happy with a ladder and a fire pole.”
“Yeah!” The kids yell. They’ve been eavesdropping from – where else – the stairwell. “A fire pole!”
“Now there’s an idea,” Dan says, to make me madder.
“But stairs have symbolism,” I say, in my last desperate appeal. “All the great movies have symbolic stairs. Think of staircase scene in ‘Gone With the Wind.’ You know, when Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler separate forever.” I wipe a tear.
“Frankly, my dear, you’ve seen too many movies.”
When we’d both reached our thresholds, Dan said what he always says to stop me from hounding him. “Get some bids.”
And that, my friends, is what we call a step – carpeted or not.
Joe Johnson, owner of Artistic Stairs & Cabinetry of Denver, has heard plenty of couples argue during his 20 years of making and installing custom wood stairs. At our home, Johnson put in solid oak stairs, with an arch where the door was.
“It was the right move,” he said, as if he could say anything else. “Carpet stairs would have cheapened the whole trip down here.”
Which is exactly what I was trying to tell Dan, who gets to win the next argument.
Marni Jameson is a nationally syndicated columnist who lives in the Denver area. You may contact her through marnijameson.com.
Take these steps to finished stairs
Here’s what Joe Johnson, owner of Artistic Stairs & Cabinetry, says homeowners need to consider before deciding how to finish their stairs:
Look. Wood stairs are beautiful but definitely more expensive than carpeted stairs. People who opt for wood often want a classic style with Old World craftsmanship.
Craft. Before hiring an installer, ask for pictures of the person’s work. A nice portfolio shows the installer has experience, talent, pride in his work and a degree of organization.
Materials. Most wood stairs are hardwood, usually oak or maple. White ash, hickory and Brazilian cherry also make good choices. Avoid softwoods like pine or American cherry, which is considered a hardwood but isn’t hard enough.
Cost. In general, stairs made of carpet-covered particleboard are about one-third the cost of solid wood stairs. One compromise is to install wood treads or end caps on stair edges and run carpet down the middle. This costs about two-thirds the price of solid wood stairs, says Johnson. Caution: This treatment should give the illusion of a carpet runner going over real wood stairs. Be sure your installer doesn’t put the carpet in so it is flush with or lower than the treads.
Wear. Though less expensive, carpet will need replacing every 5-10 years, while wood should last a lifetime, with only periodic refinishing.
Finish. Installers should coat stained stairs with polyurethane and handrails with lacquer. “Many installers use the same product on both, which is a mistake,” Johnson says. “Polyurethane is more durable; lacquer doesn’t tolerate footwear well but is smoother to the touch.”
