New and Improved Step Down to Family Room

The family room renovation has been dragging on for nearly a year, but I am making progress. I need to hurry up and finish so I can tear apart my kitchen. And renovate the downstairs bathroom. I’ve also been doing a few side projects since I started the family room, the biggest one being the upstairs hallway. If you remember, demo started on the hallway and the family room the same day. Check out that post HERE. Would ya look at that? March 22, 2014 is when the demo started. No further comment.

Anyway, this is a quick post. Part of the family room demo included taking out the step leading from the kitchen. It’s one of those one thing led to another… If you recall, I took out a piece of the wall between the two rooms (which was a brilliant idea if I do say so myself!) which left a drop down into the family room.

I also took out the half wall between the two rooms. Actually, I let the rest of the family do most of the work on that one. Then the wall sat in my yard for a few weeks until bulk trash day rolled around. Yes, you know how my life revolves around bulk trash day! The half wall will be replaced with cabinets with a counter top and bar stools. I can’t wait!!

You can see the random wall is gone in this picture and the carpet is removed from the floor, but the carpeted step is still there.

So clearly I needed to make a wider step. Out came the old one. Here’s a quick (and silent – so you can watch it at work) video of me fumbling around trying to get the damn thing out.

I planned on tiling around the step, but I didn’t want to build the step first. Instead I built a temporary dam that worked to keep the self-leveler out (post HERE) and gave me an outline to tile around. By building the step after I tiled, I was able to hide the edges of the tile without having to use any type of molding. I hate unnecessary molding. But for about two months we had tile floor and NO STEP. Solution? Use boxes of tile as a temporary step. We hosted Thanksgiving like this… because, yep, that’s how we roll. My father-in-law was so not happy with this arrangement.There’s been a lot of review in the post. Moving on…

I used 2×6 around 3 edges and attached a 2×3 to the back wall. None of these pieces will be seen in the end. Those boards standing up on the left are to help me figure out where the new planked cabinet wall will come to.Then I added supports.I tried to stain the treads and riser to match the wood-look tile floor. Mah. It’s not so good. Next it was time for a test fit. I used one 2×8 and one 2×6 because I wanted something wider than 11″ but not quite as wide as 15″. It will look a little more balanced once the top riser is added. But that won’t be until I tile the kitchen floor. It fit together well, so it was time to make it permanent. I didn’t want to use screws because I don’t think it would be attractive, so I used nails instead. After a few months of use I’m thinking I might have to add some nails with bigger heads. I haven’t yet.

Clamps are a girls best friend.

Whereas nail sets are a necessary evil.Time for the last piece…And it’s finished. I purposely did not seal the step because I am reserving the right to add more stain at any time. It also adds to the rustic look. For instance, I added more of the driftwood stain this morning before I snapped these pictures. Dude, it’s cool I can walk on it almost instantly because I add such a small amount and rub it in with a rag. Boom.Yes it will look a bazillion times better when I do the kitchen floor too. I know. Here’s were the family room renovation stands: