One of my husband's first house projects shortly after we moved into this house was to finish the basement. He had plenty of space to deal with. There was roughed-in plumbing for a bathroom down there, so he planned to build a bathroom. In the space immediately reached descending the steps he planned a medium-sized room, beside it the furnace room, under the stairs a storage cupboard and beyond the medium-sized room that we designated a study, a long rectangular room meant for all-purpose activities, and it is where he set up his easel when he began painting. And where now his exercise equipment is maintained.

Upper staircase

All that is decades ago, when the roughing-in of the wall partitions, the wallboard installed, the ceiling tiles, and of course re-building the rough staircase that was in place and replacing it with a finished-wood staircase and balustrade railings of my husband's own design and manufacture, as well as the completed bathroom, made for additional living space in an already-spacious home.

Door separating first floor from staircase leading to lower floor

Another project that was completed perhaps a dozen years ago was to change the staircase leading from the main floor to the second floor from its rough pine with carpeting overlaid, to oak runners. We loved the bare oak stair treads, but once little Riley fell down those stairs and we realized the imperative of covering the treads with carpeting, but leaving the risers without. Despite which, I managed somehow to fall down those stairs back in August.

Basement staircase from study to first floor

This time, it was the stairs leading to the lower level that caught our attention for remediation when my husband slipped down them late one evening last week. Although Button had no trouble with those stairs Riley would never venture down them. Jack and Jill see no challenge in them, though Jill prefers not to descend them unless there's a good reason to do so, while Jack leaps lightly up and down them with no trouble at all.

But it is evident now that they too require that the treads be covered for safety reasons. So we went out to several home supply stores to shop around and found the carpeting we liked at Rona. An older man, very large-bodied, exceedingly pleasant, grey-bearded, looked after us in the most helpful way. He is retired, works only on Saturdays, and confessed that after several hours of standing and walking around in the store on its bare concrete floors his feet complain bitterly.

Our choice for tread carpeting

Feet, balance, locomotion and a sense of safety and security are all acute concerns as we age. And we certainly have. So, given the events of the past few months, caution informs us that bare stair treads, while attractive to look at, pose risks, and those risks mitigate against just leaving them bare. So, as usual, my husband is doing something about it.

And I'm pleased with our aesthetic selection.