Decades ago we had a two story house built. It includes a beautiful wood staircase that was covered with individual pieces of carpeting tacked over each step in what the builder called a "waterfall" fashion at the time when I complained about it.

What it really was, as I realized at the time, was a cheap way out of offering what should have been good worksmanship to make a staircase as beautiful as it could have been.

I really expected the shape of the step to be showcased through that carpeting. As it was, I was happy to have been provided a flat type non patterned carpet (at my own expense of course) rather than the prevailing theme of the time (in the 70s) which was horrendously patterned shag style carpeting.

The floor and the staircase all match but the staircase has been hidden all these years under the pieces of carpet that do not conform to the shape of the stairs but are simply tacked where the risers meet the horizontal parts of the steps. Not only that, but the steps rise to the second floor above an unfinished basement.

When you are in the basement you can look up and see the bottom of the wooden staircase. It is not insulated and I am sure that the house would be lots warmer if that staircase was somehow protected on the bottom from the cold.

What can I do so that I might enjoy the look of the stairs without having to rip out all of the carpeting in the main part of the house which includes the livingroom downstairs, the staircase and a 4X20ft. balcony that runs across the house at the top of the stairs on the second level. Also, how do I insulate the bottom of the stairs?