Hubby and I spent last weekend ripping the carpet off our stairs. (Read about it HERE) Then I spent the next few days painstakingly removing all the carpet staples. But don’t worry, I saved a few to show you.
I also tried to come up with a solution for our truly bizarre ledge, landing, platform, whatever. I don’t think landing is right because you don’t actually “land” on it, but whatever, it’s ugly! Check out the recessed carpet area, accentuated by a 6″ lip and overhang, all covered by more glorious blue carpet. What’s the first thing you want to see when you walk in your front door? Carpet on the wall, of course.
I’ve wanted this thing gone forever and today was the day! It took only a couple of minutes to pull out the carpet.
Hubby happened to come home from work just in time to take the old carpet out to the trash. Woohoo.
That lip you see overhangs about an inch. You know, just to piss me off. I couldn’t get a great picture, but trust me, it had to go because I want to put a piece of molding flush up against the wall.
So what’s a girl to do? So that thing right off. I used a jigsaw. First I tried to use my battery-powered Ryobi jigsaw, but that was like using a nail file to split a log. Luckily I found a plug-in version in the garage. The AC power was a ridiculously fantastic improvement!
This is how far I got with the battery powered Ryobi before I broke a blade and needed a new battery. 
But after I switch jigsaws I was able to cut the rest off no problem.
Removal was the easy part, but now I had no idea what to do with the rest of it. My first thought was to use leftover wood-look vinyl from our basement renovation on the recessed part, but I hated having the two levels. At one point I thought to stucco the lip, both the top and the back side, which you would see from the second floor. But that was starting to sound really complicated and I wasn’t convinced the outcome would look all that much better than the carpet. Ok, who am I kidding??? Anything would look better than that carpet! But still.
And then it hit me! I need to cover this ridiculous area up, once and for all. Hubby didn’t totally get my idea, but he agreed to drive to Lowe’s in his pickup truck and get me a NICE sheet of cabinet grade plywood. Honestly people, I might be kind of smart, but I have yet to figure out a way to lift a 3/4″ sheet of plywood by myself, nor can I fit one in my Honda Pilot. So thank goodness for hubby and his muscles. We usually argue about plywood because I always want cabinet-grade and he wants whatever’s cheap. But guess what he came home with this time? A $50 piece of plywood. Hot damn!
The plywood spent the night in the garage while I tried to figure out the best way to make a template of the platform area.
With no pressure to get it right the first time (wink) and no genius template ideas coming to mind. I insisted we lift the plywood into place so I could trace the curve directly onto it.
Then I got to work cutting it out.
I was able to carry it back in all by myself. And I must say I am THRILLED with the results. What do you think? 
Time to discuss that last missing chunk. Plywood is 48″ wide, bur I needed 62″, but no worries. I measured the missing section and cut a rectangle out of the remaining corner of the plywood with a circular saw. Then I brought the rectangle inside, put it in place, and traced the curve onto the underside of the wood. Then used the jigsaw to cut it out, just like I did on the bigger piece.
I plan on staining this section and adding trim. But that’s it for tonight! 🙂
To see how it all turned out, be sure to check out part 2 of this bizarre platform fix. (Post HERE)
WOW! How are you going to get trim on that curved section? Cant wait to read more on this project!
Jesse
Ventura, CA
This was fantastic!!! I have exactly the same issue and came across your site while searching for how I could do this whole stair project. Good for you, I’m impressed and inspired!!