PROJECT STORY · DOORWAY WIDENING, STAIRCASE RECONSTRUCTION & INTERIOR RENOVATION · KING CITY
Opening Up a King City Home Around Its Staircase
The homeowners wanted the dining room, sitting room and foyer to feel like one gathering space. We widened the openings between them, rebuilt the lower staircase where it met the new doorway and restored the surrounding woodwork. Popcorn removal and fresh paint throughout the house completed the change.
Plenty of room, but everyone felt separate
The house had space for guests. The problem was how that space worked.
People at the dining table felt separated from those sitting by the fireplace. The foyer sat between the rooms, but its narrow openings made it feel more like a passage than part of the gathering.
The homeowner wanted to keep those different places to sit, eat and talk while making them feel connected. Our plan was to open up the doorways on either side of the foyer, allowing the main floor to work more like one large hall.
The wider openings connect the foyer with the rooms on either side.
From 41 inches to almost seven feet
One of the openings grew from 41 inches wide to almost seven feet. That changed how much of the adjoining room could be seen and how easily people could move between the spaces.
Because the enlargement affected a supporting wall, permits and structural alterations were part of the work. This was not simply a matter of taking off the casing and cutting away some drywall.
On the staircase side of the foyer, there was another complication. Widening that opening to correspond with the one opposite would expose the existing stair stringer. The doorway could not be finished properly without changing the stairs beside it.
A wider opening replaced the narrow doorway, bringing the adjoining room into view.
Rebuilding the first three steps
We rebuilt the framing beneath the first three steps and replaced the first and second treads. That allowed the bottom of the staircase to work with the enlarged opening rather than leaving an exposed edge where the wall had been.
A custom handrail was made to match the existing right-hand-side handrail. The new work needed to follow the staircase, not look like a separate rail added after the doorway was cut.
The opening and the lower stairs were therefore handled together. Changing one without the other would have left the job unfinished.
Repairing the floor where the walls had been
The wider doorways also exposed gaps in the hardwood. Areas that had been covered by the old wall and doorway edges were now part of the visible floor, with only subfloor underneath.
We fitted hardwood into those gaps and stained it to match the surrounding boards.
Keeping the existing floor meant paying attention to these smaller repairs. The new openings needed finished flooring beneath them, not conspicuous strips marking where the old walls had stood.
What the runner had been hiding
Removing the stair runner uncovered a laborious part of the job: thousands of staples, old nails and pieces of carpet still caught in the wood.
The layers of fastenings suggested that the runner had been replaced more than once. Some could be pulled out; others broke off or were already embedded in the treads.
We removed what could be extracted, set the remaining broken fragments below the surface and filled the damaged areas. Only then could the stairs be sanded, stained and varnished.
The finished wood looked new again, but most of the staircase had been restored rather than replaced. The first two treads changed as part of the reconstruction; the remaining tread surfaces were brought back through refinishing.
The remaining treads were repaired and refinished after the runner and old fastenings were removed.
Custom posts without the caps
The owner wanted a clean finish to the posts, without a separate cap sitting on top.
We custom machined the posts with chamfered edges along the sides and at the top. Those bevelled edges give the posts their shape without adding another decorative piece.
The spindles carry the finer detail. We used 5/8-inch round spindles with round shoes, mixing plain spindles with a round-knuckle, double-leaf design.
The decorative detail repeats every fourth spindle along the stairs and every third spindle on the horizontal landing rails. That gives each part of the railing its own spacing while keeping the same design throughout.
Double-leaf accents repeat every third spindle along the horizontal landing railing.
Smooth ceilings and fresh paint throughout
The work extended beyond the stairs and openings. We also removed the popcorn texture and painted the entire house.
The wider doorways changed how the rooms connected. The ceiling and painting work changed how those rooms felt once they were seen together.
Rather than leaving a newly opened foyer between otherwise unfinished spaces, we carried the renovation through the surrounding interior.
One gathering, not three separate rooms
The main floor still has a dining room, a sitting room and a foyer. What changed is the connection between them.
The larger openings make the fireplace seating feel less removed from the dining table, while the hall becomes part of the shared space. Beside it, the rebuilt lower stairs, refinished wood and custom railing finish the edges of the new layout.
This was not about making the house bigger. It was about making better use of the space it already had.
Planning answers
What homeowners can learn from this project
Can an older home feel more open without removing every dividing wall?
Yes. In this King City home, the main change was widening the openings around the foyer. The dining room and sitting room remained distinct spaces, but they became much better connected through the hall. The structural work and the staircase beside one opening were planned as part of the same renovation.
Why did widening the doorway require staircase reconstruction?
The larger opening would have exposed the existing stair stringer. We rebuilt the framing of the first three steps, replaced the first two treads and made a matching handrail so the staircase could meet the new opening properly.
Was this stair capping or stair refinishing ?
This was primarily staircase refinishing, with reconstruction at the bottom. The first two treads were replaced because of the doorway changes. The remaining tread surfaces were repaired, sanded, stained and varnished rather than covered with new caps.
Can a staircase be refinished after a runner leaves staple and nail damage?
It was possible here. We removed the old fastenings, set the broken embedded fragments below the surface and filled the affected areas before sanding and refinishing. The condition of the wood determines what can be restored; the runner alone does not tell the whole story.
What happens to the flooring when a doorway is widened?
Widening these openings exposed subfloor where there had been no finished hardwood. We fitted hardwood into the gaps and stained it to match the existing floor, so the repairs became part of the finished openings.
Can new staircase posts be made without decorative caps?
Yes. For this project, we custom machined the posts with chamfered sides and tops instead of adding separate caps. That gave the owner the cleaner shape they wanted while keeping some detail in the bevelled edges.
CONTINUE EXPLORING
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Want your rooms to feel more connected?
Send us photographs of your foyer, adjoining rooms and staircase. We’ll review the layout with you and explain how doorway changes, stair work and interior finishing could fit together.