At least that’s how I feel about them. I know some people hate stairs, but after seeing about a million gorgeous staircases on Pinterest and a whole bunch of awesome DIY stair upgrades, I was all “I waaaant stairs.” A la that girl in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory who sings about wanting a bean feast (?!). And then, as luck would have it, after seven years of owning one-level houses we fell in love with a house that has stairs. Half of me feared I’d live to regret the change, and half of me couldn’t wait to go on a blind spree, pinning ten million staircases per minute. I was like Ariel singing about being “part of that world” but instead of daydreaming about strolling around on that – what’s the word again? street! – I was daydreaming about stairs and runners with a shell bra on.
Well, after three and a half months of living in a house with stairs, I’m certain about two things:
- We actually like stairs! It’s nice to have some division between the living areas of the house and the private/sleeping/getting ready areas that are tucked away on the second floor. We’ll always have a soft spot for a cool mid-century ranch, but now when we have people over we don’t have to clean every last room – we just tend to the first floor and it’s all good if there’s a pair of underwear or seven million toe-murdering legos on the floor upstairs.
- We have woefully ignored our stairs this entire time – even after being intensely excited to make them over. Yup, between the blue baseboards and balusters to the old carpet, it’s looking pretty bleak.
Why is that stair runner still there? Well, we were going to pull it out before moving day, but John mentioned that it might be nice to keep it there to protect the wood stairs from any moving-day beatings they might have been subjected to as we dragged half of our worldly possessions up there. We also thought Burger and Clara might benefit from us keeping the stairs covered with some sort of a runner, so we didn’t want to rip it up until we had something new to put down. So we gave it a thorough cleaning, moved in, and figured we’d get to it within a few weeks.
A few weeks turned into a few months (oops) but I’m finally ready to pull the trigger on a new runner thanks to seeing a few pictures of black and white stair runners on (where else?) Pinterest.
- Let’s see, there’s this one (this runner was my favorite, but there’s no ebony rail with white balusters here, which I’d like to add)
- Then there’s this one (the rug pattern isn’t my favorite, but we’re aiming for a dark ebony railing with white balusters like this)
- There’s also this one (the rug’s a little boldly striped for me, but of course I love the dark rails with the white balusters)
- And this one (once again I fell for the high contrast striped runner, paired with a dark railing and white balusters)
*Spontaneous drinking game (the secret word is balusters).
Anyway, I showed John those links (he’s a visual creature, so it’s nearly impossible to get him on board with anything using words alone) and it was enough to spur both of us into “let’s really do this” action. So I did some googling in the hopes of finding a runner that was well rated to stand up to lots of wear and tear (no sense putting in something that’ll look terrible in six months) and also in the hopes of finding something that we liked when it came to the look of it (without spending 1K on a new stair update). My BFF swears by Dash & Albert (she has two crazy active kids who each have ten of their friends over and beat up on all of her rugs, but they still look great years later thanks to being well made) so it was nice to have that lead to pursue. And after clicking around over there, I found it. Almost the exact same (if not THE exact same) rug from my initial inspiration pic – the one I liked best of all:
It was nice to see it used on a staircase in the photo, since that suggested to me that they thought it would be good for that application (guess I’m a visual creature too) and even though the stairs were all white with a modern black & white railing, I had this original inspiration photo to remind me what it could look like on wood stairs, and this one to remind me what adding a dark railing and some white balusters might do to the whole shebang.
When I showed John what I had found, he was sold (I even earned a highly coveted hubby-high-five) but before entering our credit card number I searched for other Dash & Albert vendors, just in the off chance that someone was running a sale. Bingo.
A site called rugstudio.com came up, and I was psyched to score a discounted runner price (we’d need two 2’5′ x 12′ runners, so we saved $32 through this sale) along with free shipping. On top of that they were also offering 20% off every order with the code CLEARANCE20, so it sort of felt like stacking three coupons. In the end it was under $199 (instead of $280!) for two extra long runners that we hope will last a crazy long time once we tear up the old carpeting and install them ourselves. They’re back-ordered for another week or so, but we hope they’ll show up soon so I can work on my rug-pulling muscles and send the old runner packing in lieu of our swanky new striped one.
So while we waited I thought it was time to start painting all of that blue baseboard and those blue balusters on the bottom half of the staircase.
Oh but we can’t forget about the two up here in the hallway now, can we?
First I broke out some primer and did two coats (I know the drill with this blue trim by now, it takes four coats – two of primer and two of paint).
This is it after two coats of primer and one of white paint. We chose BM Simply White paint (in semi-gloss) to match the rest of our trim, but here are some other designers’ favorite white paints you could choose instead. See those blue lines peeking through? Infuriating, I tell you.
No sirree, third time’s just not the charm in this case.
But something magical happens after coat #4 and everything dries and it’s white! Glorious not-blue-peeking-through white! So even though it took about five hours over two days to have at it with a short handled brush (that’s my secret to not having to tape off – it gives me a lot more control) it was WORTH IT.
There might have even been a mic drop in the middle of the foyer. And by mic drop I mean paintbrush drop. After it was clean and dry. Because $herdog’s no fool.
Boom. We’re one step closer to the whole striped runner + white balusters + dark railing equation than we were back when these stairs were blue city.
In fact I had a little fun with Photoshop on the railing. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
Oh man, I still can’t believe we have stairs.
Sarah A says
Inspiring! I am very curious how you will attach the runner to the stairs. We hired a handyman who did a HORRENDOUS job – used 3-inch long nails from his nail gun which (a) don’t hold the rug down because there is no head on the nail, and (b) are VERY hard to pull out of our wooden stairs once the runner slides off. The runner is loose, it looks bad, we have slipped. I tried fixing it using my little staple gun, but the staples aren’t long enough and don’t hold well. I tried a tack strip but it didn’t leave enough room for a foot on the step. I tried nails with big heads. Total runner fail.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! That sounds rough. We aren’t sure on the install details yet but we’re hoping to google around and read a bunch of tutorials since it seems like others have DIYed it with some success! Here’s hoping….
xo
s
Krista says
So jealous of your open staircase with balusters (gulp), mine has this weird half wall that just seems like a nightmare to alter in any way. The blue removal makes an amazing difference and is inspiring me to get out my paint brushes for some rooms in my house that have been bugging me. I have a far too dark living room for the amount of natural light that gets in that is begging for a soft grey coat… debating your old living room colour actually!
Oh and I am on the “not so sure team” about going darker with the railings… I love it as is!!
Lisa in Seattle says
Krista, ours has the same weird half wall, and although I want to alter it like you do, I can’t quite figure it out either! Is there anything behind/inside that half wall? And it’s not quite baluster/rail height, it’s a little shorter than that. Certainly not something I can DIY but I don’t want to throw a bunch of money at it either. Still, changing it to a rail would let more light through to the lower part of the stairway. What was the builder thinking???
Sassy Apple says
Always so impressed with your painting skills. My dad cuts in like a pro without tape, and I’m ALMOST as good as he and you are at it. 4 coats = no fun. You have my utmost sympathy and admiration for tackling it!
On an unrelated note, when I saw the Ariel/Sherry hybrid, I immediately saw Clara! It’s amazing how much she looks like you without the distraction of different hair coloring. Lucky girl :)
Curious, would you have been as eager to have stairs if the laundry room had been on a different floor?
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that’s a good question! I think we’re so glad we’re not lugging lots of laundry up and down, so you’re right that it might have colored our feelings for stairs…
xo
s
Bonnie says
Be sure to research what to put under the runner. When we installed ours years ago, I sort of remember very specific instructions regarding wear, non-slippiness, & not ruining your stairs. Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Bonnie!
xo
s
Heidi S. says
I’m so excited that you are doing this project! It has been on my list to add a runner for years, but I for some reason have been intimidated to try it. Good luck!
Caroline says
What made you choose to install a new runner instead of keeping just the hardwood stairs? Was it mostly aesthetic or safety? We have a 15 month old and stairs that are just hardwood and I’ve wondered if he will be slipping all over them when we let him actually go up and down them…
YoungHouseLove says
We just thought for Clara and Burger it might be nice to have something to soften the blow if they slipped down them, and the texture of a rug actually helps Burger’s little paw grip better, so we thought for functional reasons it was probably a good choice for now. Maybe in 10 years we’ll go naked with them though!
xo
s
Theresa M says
We have wooden stairs. While our house was being built, we told the carpet people we wanted bound carpet on the stairs. They were all for it, the builder thought we were nuts. Of all the families we know in the neighborhood, no one else has a carpet runner. And of all those families, ours is the only one never to have a kid slide/fall down the stairs. If you don’t have carpet or a runner, never go down in socks.
And to you, S&J, I’m sooo glad that blue is gone. Had you waited much longer, I was going to come and do it myself!
Kismet says
I can TOTALLY picture it!
We have lived in our 3 story house for 32 years and the only time I’ve regretted was laundry day :)
Can’t wait to see the end result.
Thanushka says
I love what you are planing to with the railings. I bet the stairs will be gorgeous when it’s done. We ‘KNEW’ we wanted a ranch and lived in 2 ranches, until we fell in love with a Ryan homes model with stairs and started building it. We love our stairs too.
We choose model with laundry room in the top floor with bedrooms because I never liked walking down to the basement with dirty laundry and back.
Brittany D says
Between the Sherry/Ariel photo and the toe-murdering Legos comment….you have made my day. And, I thank you.
YoungHouseLove says
I love that we can bond over mermaids and lego pain.
xo
s
Lauren (in PA) says
For me…it wasn’t the toes so much as it was the Lego in the arch of the foot that killed me. That and Matchbox cars. Parenthood torture!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah you’re right. It’s all about the arch.
xo
s
Michele says
Is is sad and weird that seeing all that blue disappear on the staircase makes me SO happy — especially since it’s not my house? LOVE! And I’ve been looking for new Rottie-and-hubby-proof runners for my back hallway. So thanks for the pointers to this Dash+Albert rug deal.
Amy E. says
i LOVE stairs. i MISS stairs. my parents’ house has them going to their basement. unfortunately, Florida is the land of no basements and super high insurance if you have more than one floor in your home. so needless to say they’ve been rather scarce in my lfe since i moved south.
enjoy them for the rest of us! i’ll have to live vicarously through you and your automatic workout glory.
Sarah says
I just cant get past the little Sheri mermaid picture. Its just so creepy/hilarious. Oh yeah, and something about stairs too..
Marita says
Love it!! Do you plan to paint or stain the railing? This project is in my future and I can’t decide!! I was thinking painting would require less sanding, but still not sure…can’t wait to see!
YoungHouseLove says
I think I’m leaning towards stain!
xo
s
Alyssa says
I’ve followed you guys for years now but rarely comment and just wanted to say how fabulous your house is looking! You’ve inspired me so much to add more personality in my own home with color and neat project ideas. When I get stuck, I often think to myself ‘What would Sherry do?’ Haha! It’s amazing what little touches of personality can do to make your house feel special! I think the runner you chose will look awesome, I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the stairs! Thanks for being such great inspiration, reading your blog everyday is one of the highlights of my day :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Alyssa! You’re so sweet!
xo
s
Tanya says
Paint the railing black! Do it! I did the same in my last home and it looks awesome. I did figure out after six months or so to put a coat of poly over the black because it gets dinged up easily, but it looks so sharp. Happy painting!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome!
xo
s
Laura says
I love where you are going with the stairs. I also just painted our spindles white and it makes such a difference to the look of the home! Slow and steady wins the race, right!
http://www.oomphlove.blogspot.ca
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds really pretty Laura!
xo
s
Kaileigh says
I love my bungalow, but sometimes I do with that we had separation from our personal living space and the main floor of our house. Especially when it comes to the bathroom. Our main bathroom is the entire house’s main bathroom and it’s hard to keep it clean enough for company sometimes.
Karen C. says
I can’t wait to see what the stairs look like with the new runner and the ebony railings. What a difference painting the
balusters makes right!
Have you thought about painting the rise of the steps white?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, I’m on the fence about that so I think we’ll lay out the runner and eye it and then maybe even take a picture and photoshop them white to see how we like that (since we’d want to do the painting before installing the runners, but wouldn’t want to regret it if we did it and then didn’t like it with the runner over it).
xo
s
Maria says
Oooo – don’t do that! I had white painted risers with wood steps in my last house and those risers were constantly dinged up and dirty from shoes hitting them! Of course I didn’t have a runner on the stairs, so that would probably have helped, but I was re-painting those risers every few months and I don’t recommend it to anyone else! Now I have all wood stairs and they never look dirty!
BTW I have medium toned wood floors/stairs, with white railings and dark ebony stained banisters & post – love the look & the contrast! We sanded, did several coats of stain to get it nice and dark, and then did a few coats of a high gloss poly or varathane I think. You’re gonna love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds so pretty Maria!
xo
s
Pamela says
I was hoping someone would ask this question. We have beautiful heart pine floors and the stairs to match. It never occurred to me to paint the risers white until Nate Berkus said something about it on his (now defunct) show. I did it almost two years ago and I love it! So much airier feeling! Used a good primer and two coats of BM Aura in White Dove semigloss. We have never had a scuffing or dinging problem, but we mostly go around barefoot in the house.
YoungHouseLove says
So glad you haven’t had any scuffing or dinging! That sounds great!
xo
s
Kim says
My goodness, your house is already well on its way to becoming magazine-worthy! I’ve been reading your blog for years, but your vision and ability to transform a room STILL catches me by surprise :) I’m hoping to peace out of the renting world within the next couple of years and buy my own place, and you guys are inspiring me to look for fixer uppers rather than turn key houses. Thanks for the continued inspiration and motivation!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Kim!
xo
s
Tanya says
OMG, you have stairs! ^_^
I mean – YAY for the no-blue-peeking-through-white balusters and trim!
Also, that PS pic of Sherry as Ariel – words cannot describe the glee that I feel about it. OMGsofunny! Totally made my day (ok, I do have some words to describe it, after all).
Also, completely incidentally (only made me think of it because I LOVE $herdog-speak), will you guys be celebrating the International Talk Like A Pirate Day tomorrow? Because it’s tomorrow. And nothing improves a home-improvement post like some pirate talk, IMHO.
YoungHouseLove says
YARRRRR! It’s tomorrow? Shiver me timbers. Methinks John is about to be very excited about that, indeed.
xo
s
Lori says
Beautiful. I can’t wait to see the runner installed! Until then, the debluification has made a huge difference. Can we get an upstairs view?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, I’ll have to include some more upstairs pics for you guys in a future post!
xo
s
Jennifer I. says
Silently taking stair and baluster notes and getting ready to be a copy cat on those white balusters!!!
Erin says
Good call on the runner. The only way to not wipe out on the wooden stairs at my parents is to wear shoes with good tread. I’ve done it barefoot, in socks, in flip-flops, etc.
The black and white looks amazing!
Ryan says
It’s amazing how just painting those couple areas completely updates the space. It looks great!
I can’t wait to see how the foyer looks with the new runners on the stairs.
Ashesela says
Your home is looking gorgeous!!! :D
I must say, the child in me seeing that plush carpet in the first photos thinks about how comfy it would be to slide down those stairs! XD
Carly says
Love it! So amazing what a difference some paint can make! Loving your guys’ new house :)
Tiffany says
this was the funniest post!! I am cracking up over here and really want to photoshop my face on Ariel…hahaha
Ashley says
Love it! We have a similar situation happening with our stairs, thanks so much for the tips!
amyksa says
Crazy what a coat(or 4) of white paint can do…so clean and fresh. Love it! Speaking of stairs, I live in a 1840’s single family in Boston and we have nine flights of stairs(one set goes to our roof & 4 have only 4 steps) in our home, I think we have something like 71 steps from our garage to our roof!!!
I sometimes envy my friends that have only one floor , but it is short lived and I wouldn’t change a thing!
YoungHouseLove says
Woah! My dad lived in a house growing up that had four flights of steps and we loved having a “basement” and a “basement basement” (the one under that one).
xo
s
Desiree C. says
This is quite exciting! I’m interested to see how you go about the process as I was hoping to do this same thing to our stairs leading down to the basement (here’s my inspiration: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/31736372346764801/). I think I got a husband-high-five when I showed him the inspiration, as well. Your stairs are going to turn out great–I love the dark railing with the white (do you have your tea ready?) balusters. Your light fixture in the foyer will really compliment it well.
Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh yeah, I loved Jenny’s stair makeover. Such a fan of her blog!
xo
s
Sommer says
Looks so much better already! I was all set to paint or stain our stairs but our inspector said that they were hand grain (the wood grain detail was painting on by hand back in 1900) and then he called it precious so not I don’t think I’ll mess with the stairs (the chipped doors and trim are another story).
Jenn says
That photoshop of The Little Mermaid is truly a thing of beauty. Lol, love it! In all seriousness, I can’t wait to see that runner on your stairs. Love that you went bold with it! I’ve always liked jute, too, but my stairs are fully carpeted, so that project is on the back burner.
Eilene says
I am so picking up what you put down. Yesterday I was standing at the bottom of my painted stairs thinking… black and white… Carpet to keep the kids safe. I’m copying you. Trying to copy you… The clearance code doesn’t seem to working on this item? I applied it to the order. The code is there, but the dollar ammount hasn’t changed. Not even on the next page. Maybe I’m too excited and forgot how to order.
YoungHouseLove says
I think the code has run out or something strange. I ordered it about a week ago and it was working then, but maybe it goes on and off for certain items? So sorry! My friend ordered a kitchen rug (also D&A) and got the discount too, so my only guess is that it isn’t always constant but maybe try checking back?
xo
s
Lauren (in PA) says
Always such an improvement to get rid of the blue!
Makes me feel so sad, looking at the snippet of dining room with all that blue!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Ay-ya-yay! That room is going to kill me.
xo
s
Rose-Blonde in this City says
SO much better without the blue paint!!! Can’t wait to see it continue to develop :)
Vanessa says
Woah! I’ve never realized just HOW MUCH Clara looks like you until that Ariel photo! #twinsies ;)
Jeanna says
I think it’s going to be stunning! Classic rail and spindles with a gorg rug. Really like the way the foyer is shaping up. I do wish you would do a post on how the cleaning methods have worked out on the tile. I would love to see a professional cleaning team come in and tackle that grout (hint, hint :) ) with a lovely post about it all.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that tile is DIFFICULT! We still haven’t figured out how to clean the grout so it doesn’t look stained/discolored so we might have to refinish it or regrout it. Such a bummer! Will keep you posted though.
xo
s
Debbie says
I wonder if you could stain the grout, with a little foam brush, a dark color without totally regrouting it?!?! That way the darkness is uniform throughout the space? Love all of the personality your foyer is taking on!!! It’s clearly saying,”Heeeellllloooo, I am here and you will not use me just to get to the other parts…”
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Debbie! They actually sell kits that do that (essentially they stain the grout and then you wipe it off of the tile) so we’ll have to see what we find!
xo
s
Sarah says
For grout, using a heavy duty steamer like this McCulloch one: http://www.amazon.com/McCulloch-MC-1275-Heavy-Duty-Steam-Cleaner/dp/B0000DF0RB/ref=pd_sim_hg_1 and scrubbing tough areas with a magic eraser is my favorite combo. The steamer is also really versatile and sanitizes without the use of chemicals!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome! Haven’t tried that yet!
xo
s
Michelle @ A Healthy Mrs says
Looking good! Can’t wait to see it with the new runner! And with the railing painted!
Cate says
Nice! I see that your inspiration pictures show two different methods: newel post painted the same as the balusters, and newel post painted the same as the handrail. From your photoshopped image, it looks like you are in the handrail camp. Have you considered painting the newels white, too?
YoungHouseLove says
I thought about that but wondered if most of the time that’s only done when it’s a swoopy handle (like it curves at the top and that part is dark and the only white part are the posts under the rail). Since our posts go over the rail and poke up, I wondered if that would look weird on ours. Could play around in Photoshop though!
xo
s
Naomi says
Wow, those stairs are going to be perfect! I just love the ebony railing with the white balusters look :) And that rug you picked out… fabulous! I even liked the bold black and white striped one in your second pinspiration photo.
p.s. love your blog!!!!
Karyl says
It’s going to look fabulous when done! I love the rug choice & white spindles…just one random thought–what about going a shade or two less than absolute black on the railing and use a color like Farrow & Ball “downpipe”? or perhaps even SW “Black Fox”? For some reason with those awesome slate floors those colors are calling to me…..
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds really pretty too! I love how the bathroom vanity looks against the slate with Silhouette on it (sort of a charcoal/gray/mocha) so I thought about that too. Will have to see where we end up!
xo
s
Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says
Wow, it’s amazing the difference when you get rid of that blue. YOu should totally photshop out the opening to the dining room so you can’t see that blue stalking the foyer…
I like the ideas you guys have. I love that you guys don’t ggo with the fads, but find your own look. It may not please everyone…but you guys are living with it!
Britt says
I grew up with stairs (21 of them to be exact) and every time I would run up them for something (because you obviously run up stairs as a kid) and then get to the bottom having forgotten what I went up for I would curse them. Then I would just sadly look at the top and run up again to retrieve my forgotten object. Hopefully this hasn’t been happening in the Petersik house.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh there have been some back and forths, but we’re learning to put things on the top or bottom that are meant to go up or down the next time someone goes (so you don’t have to run back and forth right away unless you really need something). I’m in it for the bun workout so far. Haha!
xo
s
Sara @ The Fat Hydrangea says
So excited to see this post! I’ve been debating getting a Dash & Albert rug and doing the exact same thing but have been a little nervous about HOW to attach it to the stairs and what it would ultimately look like.
Our yorkie-pooo refuses to go down the wood stairs so it gets really annoyoing to carry him down 12x a day when he gets “stuck” upstairs. Plus, we have a baby coming soon and I will feel more comfortable knowing I won’t be slipping wearing socks on the wooden stairs while carrying my precious bundle!
Can’t wait to see the finished result!
Lindsey says
I’m dying to see it with the wall painted!!! Can’t wait, this looks great, guys!
Isabel says
Whoa, it’s not until seeing the balustrades painted white that you realize how much of an eyesore that blue was. Looks fantastic! I too have a runner I inherited from the previous owner – thankfully, every other flooring surface is original refinished hardwood, except for the kitchen which has 300+ year-old wood floors (they came from a very old barn house that had been in the previous owner/builder’s family since it was first built in the 1600s; needless to say, that is our house’s biggest treasure). We’ve talked about changing it quite a few times so it definitely will be fun to see how yours comes out, right along with the sunroom… not to mention the kitchen… :)
Cristina says
We just did the ripping up of carpet and painting stairs too! It is VERY time consuming, but oh so worth it. We go up and down our stairs tons of times everyday and it just makes me smile repeatedly.
On a totally different note, I just wanted to let you know that there is now a home in Arkansas with a Blue Lake colored door as well (ok, you got me, it’s mine). But you know how it goes … started with the door and ended up being a total outside transformation! :)
http://laceyfieldsinc.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-exterior-makeover-from-blah-to-yay.html
AND to make things even neater, I’ve noticed about 3 new doors being painted in the neighborhood. I love how DIY is contagious! Thank you times a million for the inspiration!
YoungHouseLove says
No way, I LOVE IT! What a charming porch you have!
xo
s
Annie says
That’s going to be gorgeous!
As a long time Dash and Albert fan, I always go for their outdoor rugs for high traffic areas inside. They look great and clean up beautifully! Though if you guys are fastidious about keeping your shoes off inside then I bet the cotton one will be great.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Annie!
xo
s
Vanessa says
I want to live in your house! :)
That’s not creepy right. Seriously- I love the look of this house. It just feels like “home”. Cannot wait too see how everything turns out!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Vanessa!
xo
s
Sayward says
All I can picture is Katie Bower leaning in and shouting “One shell bra! ONE SHELL BRA!!!”
Also, I am in love with your stairs, runner, and coupons. This weekend I bought new dress pants at The Limited and jeans at AE and I stacked coupons, sales, club memberships, and teacher discounts to pull off the mother of all savings. I wanted to make a video of me rolling around in a pile of the 167 dollars I saved.
YoungHouseLove says
Niiiiice. Fist bump for stacked coupons.
xo
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