Custom Walnut and Steel Contemporary Stair Project

To start the project, to protect the expansive, open-concept home, we installed dust protection. We laid down low-residue protection mats onto the existing walnut flooring. Then, we saved the lower section of the existing stairs for the children to get back to their bedrooms by allowing them to slide in and out of place. This project started during the COVID lockdown, so virtual learning was going on past the other side of the dust protection.

The prefabricate stair railing assembly came in precisely as we anticipated after hours spent on templating and drawing before placing the material order. In order to blend the new prefab stairs with the more standard stairs on the upper run, we ordered matching walnut stair treads to fit between the existing skirt boards and sit on the old treads after cutting the nosing back. The steps were originally covered in carpet, which hid many imperfections from the past carpenters. The carpenter for the project had to custom cut three sides of each tread to fit. Many contemporary stairs have no nosing, but the client wanted a more industrial look to blend with other steel in the home, so we added the square, raw steel to the front treads.