Remember this?

This staircase has so much potential. Especially this lovely newel. Yes, newel. That’s a new word in my vocabulary. Did you know these central poles on a staircase are called newels?

We believe this staircase and the lovely newels are original to the house. They just happen to have about 50 layers of paint on them. But a heat gun should do the trick. As for the stairs, they are not salvageable. We knew pretty early on we’d have to replace every tread. But after that, we hope to have a grand staircase with dark wood treads and banisters and bright white risers and NEWELS!

Something like…