Stairway to....Upstairs

Our staircase/walk-way is one of my favorite features of our house and it hasn't made an appearance on the ol' blog yet. 

Ike wants to know how I have let this happen....



But today is the day!

Here's what we started with...



The railing needed about 1 million clamps to bend it into the proper shape. 
(We did most of the building ourselves but this we left to a professional so I don't really know how he did it....other than the 1 million clamps)

After some staining, the addition of spindels, and carpet we now have this...





The walk-way leads to our master.  It's handy for chucking things down onto the couch when we're too lazy to walk downstairs.

I want to rip the carpet up because I would love all wood stairs but that seems dangerous for the dog....and myself!!

What are your thoughts?