Finishing wood stairs, can be difficult, especially if they are not really in very good condition.
With the staircase in this house, the stairs were natural wood with varathane, and were worn down and dirty. We made the decision to get a carpet runner down the middle, so we had to sand and finish the 6 or 7 inches on either side, including painting the stair risers.
It took a lot of sanding, especially since you can't get power tools inbetween the railings, so sanded it the best I could, then used a tack cloth to get rid of debris, and varathaned it in a satin finish.
There are lots of dents and knicks and gouges, but they just looked "rustic" when I was finished. This left a opening in the center of the stairs where we could all still run up and down. I painted the riser, which was wood, the same off cream that all our trim was. I then lightly sanded the iron railing, and then painted it with tremclad black. Painting the railing took over 3 hours. It was also upstairs in the hallway.. Lots of it! But looks much better.
Still looks messy, with the center not refinished, but once that carpet runner is installed it will look great!
