"...wait, you mean the stairs should be updated...?"

New hardwood flooring? CHECK
Fully remodeled kitchen? CHECK
New lighting? CHECK
New paint? CHECK

New stairs? ​​​​------------

What about the stairs?  They are just stairs.  They function.  They take you from one level of your home to the next.  Why spend money on updating the stairs?

 
During a walkthrough with the homeowners of a traditional 1980's split level home, I asked about the stairs.  The homeowners said that they were going to put new carpet in to "freshen" them up.  While this is a perfectly acceptable solution, it wasn't the best option for their space.

​They just spent time and money updating their entire upper level.  Check out the space here.

With a split-entry home, the stairs are the first thing your guests see when they enter your home.  The stairs in split-entry homes also see a tremendous amount of foot-traffic due to the nature of the home-design.  While there is truth in the stairs being "just stairs", you also want them to be incorporated into the style of your home.  This particular home has new wood flooring in the entry way, and new wood flooring in the entire upper level.  Carpeted stairs did not fit with the rest of the home.

Oh.  The other thing?  They couldn't use the steps at night because they squeaked so loudly that their sleeping kids woke up!  New carpet definitely wouldn't fix that issue.

After finding a GREAT deal on treads and risers at Lumber Liquidators and a promise to reduce the squeakiness of the stairs, the homeowners decided to move forward with new hardwood stairs for two reasons: to match the style of their home, and to make them quieter to use.​

Each tread was sanded, stained, and sealed.  Each riser was painted white to match the newly painted trim. 

Squeaky stairs don't stand a chance against high-quality glue and carefully plotted nails... the stairs are so quiet that you can't hear when someone is using them.