Thanks everybody! YES, I did this myself it took about 2 weeks, the longest part was staining the treads and I did 4 coats of poly urethane and never have I gottten even as much as a scratch on them! SO easy to clean! Yamini we did get tired of the orange- looked like halloween, do NOT know what I was thinking! It's light grey now. Even flooring and stair companies told me NOT to do this, saying "people would fall and slip" down my stairs, no one EVER has. LOL.
Nikki, that is not the basement and yes it is hardwood. I had to stain the treads to match it as the wood floors were already in and I was trying to unify the look. I put tile in the foyer upstairs and then 'unified the tile look with the wood downstairs in my entry foyer with the oak wood planks tread and tile risers.
Sheila G, I sued tile at the turn because in truth it was 'easier' for me to work with than the wood and also for cleaning purposes and scratching, I did not know how much the wood would scratch and was afraid it would wear down more in that turn corner area. I used so much polyurethane to protect it though that it has not scratched yet.
Arthur, I had carpet originally, so I removed the carpet and what was underneath was particle board stairs, I attached the new oak treads to the particle board with construction glue and nails and then only had to attach plywood to the riser to then apply the tile to the riser. It is very sturdy and has held up very well for 6 years.
Thanks for the Great Idea