Carpentry and Woodworking - Stair End Dress-up

HI guys
I previously had carpet on my stairs and in basement.
I tore out the carpet in the basement, and off of the stairs.
I stained and sealed the treads, and painted the risers.
The side of the stairs are open and face the basement, so you can see the last 10 stairs as you are sitting in the basement.

My question is this.
I know people often put some type of decorative ends on the sides of the stairs to dress them up. some type of cut out design, and nailed to the side of the steps.
I'm not sure how these are suppopsed to be 'designed'...
Lets me see how do I ask this..??
I guess what I want to know is how the pieces "meet".
Does the upper decorative pince run vertical past the end of the next lower stair piece,.. or does the lower piece stick out, and the seem where they mee a horizontal cut...
I guess what I am trying to get at is how long is the piece overall.
Lets say the stair tread is 10" (not counting overhang).
Is the decorative piece also 10" long, or would it be 10 1/2 inches long (for example) and stick out so the pice coming down from above has a place to butt into the lower steps piece.

Maybe soemone has some pictures of theirs, or knows where I can see some samples.
Sorry so hard to ask..

WOW
No one knows anything..??
Maybe I got the group stumped

I never dressed any stringers. I guess no one else has either.

I've painted/stained a lot of those pieces. They might be called stair brackets. They come in a few different shapes, some are made of oak and some plywood [mostly oak] I've never installed any and don't exactly remember how they fit - only that it's best to do most of the finishing before installation :D

Heres one example...http://www.stairpart.com/_l/i/access_8029.jpg

First site in a search for "stair parts". Under accessories. Called tread brackets or skirting brackets....most all are stain grade wood...though I did see white pine I think. Range from about $14 to over $22 ea.

Almost all the supply places online have a help number.

If the price is too steep, you could make your own out of 1/4" plywood [oak if you want to match your treads] Most of the ones I've finished look like [or similiar] to the one Gunguy supplied a pic of. There are some that aren't near that fancy - basically just a set of curves from one end to the other.

The builders always get them locally, probably where they buy their doors and trim - but probably not a big box.

It sounds to me like you are referring to a return on the end of the tread. A return normally extends a couple of inches past the rear edge of the tread. To get a first class job, the return needs to be built into the tread when the tread is made and then finished as a unit.

Heres one example...http://www.stairpart.com/_l/i/access_8029.jpg

First site in a search for "stair parts". Under accessories. Called tread brackets or skirting brackets....most all are stain grade wood...though I did see white pine I think. Range from about $14 to over $22 ea.

Almost all the supply places online have a help number.

Thanks so far for the help guys
The pic above is what I was referring to..
I am making some, but run into a problem.
where do the sttach in relation ship to the treads...
I mean I know they go from the riser back to a certain point. DO the go back past the next higher riser (step above) or do the stop even with the beginning of the steps above's riser.
I need to know if one overlaps the next and the meet with a vertical or horizontal joint somewhere...
Or if they both end and sort of make a '90* angle' (for lack of a better term) so basically if there is no overlap??

I have stained my stair treads, and painted the risers white. I planned on making these and painting them white also to match the risers

How to Install Decorative Stair Brackets - Free Online Library (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/How+to+Install+Decorative+Stair+Brackets-a01073977349)

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/vintagewoodworks_2066_34615528

Hope this helps....no trim carpenter so I was having a problem understanding exactly what you were asking.

thanks for the link..
IMO it's really kinda difficult to ask what I was trying to ask without pics to represent it

Well after looking over the link,.. I see it has no better pics that the one you provided.
So I'm still kind of at a loss.
For one thing My stairs are built slightly different that the ones pictured.
The one I see (and any others) seem like the stair tread goes back up 'under' the riser on the step above it...
Mine are just butted up flat against the riser.. so I don't have that little 'lip' on the outside that sticks in further than the riser does...
I guess I'm trying to figure out which would be the correct way to install these. The two pieces WOULD butt against each other if the stair tread didn't seperate the.
So I don't know the 'correct' way to do it with what I have.
How do you post a pic... I have two examples of what I have in mind
It's not on any url or anything. It is as example I made to help with answers...

If you are getting them off another site...you can normally right click on the image, select copy image location, then copy that into the window that pops up when you select the "insert image" icon (looks like a postcard with a mountain) from the reply toolbar.

If they are pictures on your PC they would have to be uploaded to hosting site like Photobucket or flicker.

ok
lets try this
stairTreads picture by pickupguy07 - Photobucket (http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t93/pickupguy07/?action=view&current=New-1.jpg)

Well...I guess I see your problem...but I think either would prob look ok. W/o seeing you actual stairs, theres really no sure way for me to say.

Do it the way you like it (or the Boss of the house, if you have one...lol). You could always make some cardboard ones and set them in place...see which works better for you.