Most of the choices we’ve made for our attic addition have been pretty straightforward.  We saved and splurged for a couple of things, but we’ve done a lot of work ourselves and made choices that saved us…lots.  Plus, we’re filling the rooms with furniture and accessories that were thrifted or found free to revamp, on clearance, etc. 
But when it came time to choose how to finish our stairs, we were stuck.  We had our hearts set on stairs like these….
and these….
and these….
I love the contrast of the dark wood tread with the white riser.  The only problem is stair treads run about $17-28 a piece! 
Exit my dream of yummy cottage stairs.
But wait…
Haven’t a billion of you painted your stairs and floors?? 
So, making lemons and all…..
Now, I know it’s not fancy…it is an attic stairwell, after all.  Instead of spending $25 per tread we bought and cut 2×12’s…costing about $4.60 a step.  Total, these beauties only set us back about $75!  We literally saved hundreds.
I know I don’t have a before, but just imagine very rough.  The board was added along the side as a buffer for little feet and to fill the space between the boards and the wall.
We stained the boards with Minwax Ebony stain and haven’t poly’d them yet, but we don’t have anything else to do, so I don’t know why we haven’t gotten to that yet.
🙂
All in all, we’ve truly tried to only splurge a bit on items that are harder to replace.  And have cut corners in other places….like picking a laminate floor that we love and will be super durable for the little kiddos.  Matt’s theater chairs were bought from a scratch and dent section on clearance.  And of course, all furniture in my room was scoured for!
I think all of our bargains have turned out beautifully…but I know this one did!  What do you think??
What have you guys to save hundreds?  I’d love to know and share it with everyone.
Have a happy weekend…my great sis-in-law is the house with her two little girls….much fun to be had!