Main Floor Staircase

I have to be honest . . . I just about chucked the main floor staircase out the window last night.  Thank goodness for the pictures and good 'ol common sense or I wouldn't have been able to get the thing together.  I might as well have been reading Chinese . . . maybe it's just me but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the instructions were trying to tell me.

As if that didn't rattle my nerves enough, my patience wore thin with the hold fast glue I bought  that well, doesn't hold fast!  It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r for the glue to dry enough that I could move on to the next step.  And even then when I tried to place the next string, the other pieces would fall apart.  Grrrr . . .  Anyway, I eventually got the staircase together, glued the two trim pieces together and went to bed.  One can only take so much!!

The next step is to place the staircase in the house.  A few things have to happen first.  1. The first floor hall and parlor and the second floor hall and bedroom need to be primed.  2.  The staircase needs to be stained.  This has me concerned because the staircase is made up of several different kinds of wood.  The stain will likely take differently on those different woods.  I've done some research but can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for.  Anyone have suggestions?  3.  The left first and second floor walls need to be wallpapered.  4.  Insert staircase here.

And did I mention that the treads are not wide enough to leave the 1/8 inch overhang on the riser?  Well, they aren't!  I contemplated cutting my own treads but thought to hell with it.  Since the staircase isn't seen from the front or back of the house, I placed the treads with the 1/8 inch overhang leaving an 1/8 inch space between the tread and the riser.  Not pretty.  I'm thinking of placing a carpet runner on the stairs that will hide the worst of it . . . or I could fill with putty.  Might have to flip a coin on that . . .

Anyway, after a frustrating night I have to say that all in all the staircase looks pretty awesome and I can't wait to get it installed in the house.

Totally Unrelated Topic - have I mentioned that I live in a high traffic area?