Finishing Touch to the Staircase

We've definitely learned over the years that home improvement projects are made up of more than supplies and skills.  They're also composed of countless decisions, from refinish or replace to polished nickel or oil-rubbed bronze.

What trim, if any, to put along the outside walls of our staircase was one decision Mike and I decided to feel out a bit.  I tend to enjoy simple finishes, and seeing our staircase without the fluff of carpet coming out the sides made me happy enough at first to just leave the outer walls as they were and move on.  

BEFORE/DURING:

Cat-Proof Furniture (We hope!)

The four chairs we bought for our living room two years ago have finally fulfilled their destiny.  By that I mean our cat has essentially destroyed them.

The Humane Society successfully guilted us into not having kitty declawed sixteen years ago when we adopted him, and we have been unsuccesssfully shooing him from furniture to his scratching post and trimming threads from numerous chairs and couches ever since.  Mike also trims the cat's claws regularly, but it's really no use.

Staircase Update

I recall looking at the photo below several years ago when it was just of a staircase in a house on the market.  Like the fireplace surround, the kitchen counter tops, and so many other parts of this house we now live in, I disliked this staircase before it was even ours, but I felt inspired by it.

Years of Living in During

It's funny to think back.

We bought this house in the fall of 2013.  The kids were three and a half with another couple years of preschool/child care ahead of them.  Mike had over an hour commute to and from work each day.  My dad was the only one of our kids' grandparents who had retired at that point.  I started this blog that winter.

So little has changed, and yet so much.