Completed staircase makeover

Yesterday I completed my staircase project. Here are some photos of the process. First I primed the stairs, and let it dry for 24 hours. Then I put masking tape over the stained trim to save it from splatters of...

"Chocolate pudding" color paint.

Here is the finished paint-job, you can see the woodgrain showing through. It looks kind of nice that way, but there isn't much traction.

So I wanted to add some traction. At the hardware store I looked at adhesive sand-type strips, and rubber stair covers (treads? protectors?). I decided to go with the rubber covers, mainly because I could attach them with a couple of small carpet tacks instead of having them permanently attached, as adhesive strips would be.

I had briefly considered little individual carpet rectangles that are made specifically for stairs. Rather cute, they are like mini-rugs. However, it seemed that they would be very difficult to keep clean, and I wasn't sure how I could cut them to fit on the angled stairs (without them looking awful), so I decided against them.

Ta-da, all done!

Finally, an update from Tasha's agility trial which occurred the weekend before the stair-painting. Although she did not "qualify" in her first class, she qualified AND got first place in her other three. I suspect the reason for the trouble in the first class was the very unusual-looking jumps which somewhat confused both of us (and it was a Jumps class, of course). The end result is that she can now enter Standard classes at the "excellent" level - but she needs to complete one more Jumps class at the open level.

I don't know if you can tell, Mom, but the "new title" ribbon at the top is mainly MINT GREEN in color.

...

Okay, okay, it's aqua.