Then, the next project was to tackle the stairs. We removed the slabs, but left the main banister since it was "modern looking" by itself. I patched all the holes from the gazillion screws that secured the slabs, sanded (what a pain), primed, 4 coats of matte black finish and 3 coats of polyurethane. I'm tired just of reading this. Bought all the hardware at homedepot, 150 Lbs 1/8" steel wire and 300 lbs turnbuckles. 4hrs later, we completed the task. Really nice and contemporary lofty look. We are very happy with the end result. Too bad I saw two days after I was done, the semi-tutorial of SplatGirl on flicker about wire stairs... Please enjoy the pics.