Kitchen staircase progress

I jump around from project to project, as you might be able to see.  Ask my wife, she'll agree.

The kitchen staircase is showing some progress.  I've removed 1/4" plywood "risers" that covered up the original white paint.  I have begun stripping the maroon floor paint from the treads and sanding off the old dark (almost opaque black) stain/varnish, down to the original wood.  I have put down a test area of stain.  I had some Minwax dark walnut on hand so I rubbed a small area.  I let that dry for 24 hours then put one coat of oil based poly on top.  I wanted to see how dark it would be with that combo.  In the picture below you can see the small stain swatch on the top tread, front right corner.

Bare wood treads and stain test patch

My goal is for all of the stairs to have the same stained treads and white risers.  It's fun uncovering the old coverings.  I didn't get a picture, but when I was pulling off the quarter round molding under the tread lip, I found some vinyl woodgrain flooring that someone in the past applied to the stair RISERS.  Pretty 70's I think.  Here is another shot of the the stairs as they stand now.

Lastly, here is my proof that the stair risers were painted white from inception.

In this pic, the white is the original white paint.  Above it is a small area of bare, unfinished wood where quarter round was mounted under the tread nose.  I've pulled the moulding and it's being stripped via chemicals in the garage.  It was too small to use the sander.

I'll post again soon with more progress on these projects.

Discovering old wood flooring

I've always wondered what was underneath the 1/4" painted plywood on the attic landing.  I ripped it up a few weeks ago and discovered original hardwood tounge and groove flooring.  The wood appears to be of less quality than the rest of the house, probably since this was on the attic staircase.  It was pretty dirty and had the original stain on it.  Here is a shot of it after doing some sanding.

The floor appears to be oak and the nosing (painted in picture still) appears to be fir or pine.  I used a random orbit sander and 60 grit paper to sand the floor and nosing to bare wood.  I set all old nails and drove some new nails.  After everything was cleaned, I proceeded to lay down my coats of poly.  I used Varethane semigloss oil based poly.  It gives the wood an amber finish.  Here is a shot of half of the floor bare and half with one coat of poly. All of the stairs in the house had been painted with a porch and floor paint in a maroon color. Another ongoing project of mine is taking the main staircase back to the wood treads and white risers (also original).  Lucky for me, the prior owners decided to lay plywood over this floor and painted it.

I love the rustic look of the floor and can only hope that this will last another century.  Our house is built as a colonial revival/arts and crafts style. Most of the woodwork is painted (as it was since it's inception) but the floors are all oak strip.  I really enjoy bringing back original features to the house.