Staining Our Stair Banisters (part 1). It's a *!%#^

This is what our upstairs has looked like on and off for about 3 months:

 

This is not a joke people. It sucks.

We wedged painters tape, plastic and paper between the wood and the carpet: 

And started staining (we sanded before the carpet was put in). 

I'll let you know how this ends. Uh...