When we moved into our house 4 years ago, the previous owners left behind gorgeous hardwood floors – accompanied by large areas of piss stains and a wonderful dog smell.We are total DIYers and thought it would be no problem to get the place looking awesome.

At first we tried sanding and refinishing the floors.

This worked for the front room and dining room. But the stairs and upstairs hallway were an absolute disaster. Sanding would not, could not, get those piss stains out of the wood.

So then we tried putting a laminate over the hallway and the stairs. This was an uber disaster. The stair noses started falling off in less than 3 months. You couldn’t sweep them because the dirt got trapped in the stair noses because they laid on top of the step like this:

They became downright dangerous because soon most of the noses were so loose they threw you off balance if you put your weight on them. The laminate is in the garbage, and now the stairs look awful. Worse than ever. Worse even than before we moved in.

So now we are on plan C.

Since we really don’t want to pay thousands of dollars for rebuilt all-new stairs, our only choice is to paint them. At first, I thought I couldn’t pull it off. I’m not a fan of painted floors. Then tons and tons of Googling turned up this gorgeous inspiration:

I don’t think I can get away with the very dark stain on the stairs – I really think I am going to have to go for true black paint. And figuring out how to transition to the hallway and bedrooms will be… well, interesting. But this project has been simmering in the back of my mind since November and I want this done before spring is here. The hard part is that because the stairs were previously varnished, I have to paint with oil-based paint. UGH. Hate that.

So here is my very ugly stairs and front entryway “before” shot:

And now that this post is up, I’m going to have to be accountable and get going on this project.

Found on the ever-wonderful U-Handbag blog, I bought this calendar on Etsy a few weeks ago. I certainly thought it was cute, but in real life this thing is freaking adorable. It’s printed on thick water color paper, the colors are super-saturated, and the little Kokeshi dolls are to die for. I’ve got one pegged up with some mini clothespins for now, but I think I am going to put up a magnetic strip on my shelves to put up more than one at a time!

Illustrated by Stephanie Fizer. YUM!