stair railing....what style?

12 years ago

Well, now it's the stairs I'm unsure of! I know this is kitchen forum, but the stairs are right before you get to my kitchen ;-)...a little more activity here too.

Here's our plan...the stairs are right there when you come in the front door, just a few steps, then they turn left to go the rest of the way upstairs:

I've found 3 different styles in general so far.

Here the spindles go directly from the handrail into the step:

Here there is a wall next to the steps for an oak cap for the spindles to go on:

And here's theres the spindles go between 2 rails, so there is space between the steps and the bottom of the railing:

So here's our situation...we will have carpet on the stairs, and I guess I had just planned on the carpet wrapping around the edge of the step as in picture #1. Now that I have researched it and need to start deciding on what kind of railing I want, I'm realizing there are options. And I'm am the most indecisive person you will ever know.

After knowing what I know now...I would rather have similar to picture #2, with the oak cap on that extra little wall next to the steps. Problem is, if we build that little wall, then will I lose 4 to 6 inches on the right side of my foyer? OR, they would have to rebuild that first portion of the steps, so the 1st few inches was wall like that, then I lose a few inches on my steps.

I believe my foyer is a total of 8 feet wide..if I'm gonna give a few inches I think I'd rather it be on the steps. Gonna talk to my contractor, but thought I'd come here for opinions too!

FYI...we are not sheetrocked yet, electricians are there, but I don't believe there are any wires in this area. The railing will also be on the 2nd floor between the steps and the upstairs livingroom.

If you have pictures of your stairway/railing with carpet wrap around or with an oak cap like that or similar I'd love to see them! Most carpeted steps on Houzz have carpet just down the center of the step.

Also, the rest of the trim in our home will be white and our cabinets are stained alder...so I'm trying to figure out how to work some wood (probably oak) into the stairway railing. Iron spindles are a possibility too, but haven't seen any I really like.

Thanks in advance for your input!

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Comments (18)

badgergal
12 years ago
The two story homes I have lived in always had a wood cap that the spindles were fastened to. I would think that it would be difficult to install the carpeting around the spindles and risers as shown in your first picture.
If it were my house I would sacrifice a few inches from my foyer before I would make that portion of the stairway narrower
boxerpups
12 years ago
If it were me, I would not do carpet. I prefer carpet
only down the middle or not at all.
Sorry, that did not help.
~boxer

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nikkidan - I have carpeted stairs with wood ends. IIRC the spindles go down into the wood (similar to #1 but without the carpet wrap around). That may be what you were describing from houzz (I don't go there much so I'm not familiar with the prevalent style). I have straight iron ballusters. My cabinets also are stained alder. Knotty alder to be specific, and my trim is off white. In my case, the iron ballusters are topped with a stained wood handrail, and although the stair caps are maple, my stain guy stained them to be as close to the color on the alder as he could get it (he had a hard time and ended up having to tint the polyurethane to get it anywhere close). I don't know what you call them but the main stairrail supports (at the landings) are painted the same off white as my trim (and I had them built out in a craftman style, similar to the style I went with for my trim). This is not my house, but the stairs are trimmed out in a similar way. I have different carpet, different ballusters, and different wood. :) But it will give you an idea of how the wood/metal/paint can be pulled together.
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marcolo
12 years ago
Agree with boxer 100%.
writersblock (9b/10a)
12 years ago
If you want to carpet the stairs and use the banisters into each step, you can get what's called a false tread that's a wooden piece for the end of each tread for the banister post to go into. It will usually make your stairs a bit wider, though, to do it that way.
nini804
12 years ago
Our first house had carpet up the middle and those oak "ends" that the balusters attached directly to. The entire time we lived in that house I wished we had spent the extra money and had the entire tread oak. I really disliked having carpeting on the stairs. Very hard to keep pristine. Not sure if you had thought about oak treads...but if you can do it, I would. I really wouldn't have the carpet wrap around...get the oak ends at least. Here is our house, the balusters attach directly to the treads.
ILoveRed
12 years ago
In the first house we built, we could not afford to do the stairway with solid wood treads. We did what Writersblock suggested. Then the carpet is only down the center of the tread. Much easier to clean, affordable, and easy to change the carpet out when it's time.
ILoveRed
12 years ago
I like number one.
mary_lu_gw
12 years ago
Carpet on stairs will need replacing more often than a floor due to the foot traffic. Option #1 would be harder to clean as well as make replacing the carpet much more difficult. I would either do #2, or as suggested above, carpet down the middle with stain grade wood on the edges.
singingmicki
12 years ago
I'm not a fan of stair carpet at all, but if that is what you still want, I would vote to have the wood like in your second photo.
rocketmomkd
12 years ago
My entry hall steps are just like in pic 2. As others have said, it's always hard to keep the carpeted steps clean. It would be even harder with carpet wrapping around the step edges. If you want carpet, I think pic 2 would be best. Our entry hall goes strait into the kichen and we are putting in tile from the front door into the kitchen. If we have enough left after the kitchen, I want to redo the bannister and rip up the carpet. I've checked and it's oak under there!
Circus Peanut
12 years ago
The thing about #1 and #2 is that it's really quite hard to vacuum carpet around a spindle. If you're doing fully carpeted steps, I'd avoid that design if at all possible.
Debbi Branka
12 years ago
We have option no. 2 above. The carpet on the stairs is very hard to clean, but it was already stained when we moved in. We haven't replaced it yet, so I don't know if we started from new and took care of it, how it would be. I love the oak stairs with no carpet, but we have Chihuahuas and they won't walk on stairs with no carpet.

Sorry these pictures are all from Christmas, but you get the idea:
whallyden
12 years ago
@Nini: What is the width of your treads? The staircase is gorgeous.
nini804
12 years ago
Wallyden, the bottom tread is 53" and the rest are 45". Thanks so much!
deedles
12 years ago
I lived in a house with balusters going into carpet... got real sick of banging my knuckles trying to vacuum. Now I have fully carpeted steps with no balusters (handrail attached to wall) and I realize that vacuuming stairs at all really stinks. If I had to do it over again, I'd have just wood OR a runner up the center. We carpeted our stairs because they go right over half of our bedroom and the noise factor was a problem. Anyway, if you go with carpet, I don't think you'll like the balusters going right into it.
writersblock (9b/10a)
12 years ago
Just to help you in your planning, the name for the kind of stair rail that deb52899 has is a knee-wall stair.
babs711
12 years ago
We're building and doing no carpet. I've thought of putting a runner down the middle of the stairs eventually if we need the softness. But we're starting off bare. We're doing the balusters directly on the treads.

Our friends had carpet on their stairs for a few years and just spent a lot of money to have their staircase redone so it's all wood and no carpet. Their carpet had been wrapped around the entire tread and riser, etc. so the baluster was directly on the carpet. They grew to hate it because of the wear and a family member that developed allergies. It was not an easy process to have redone.
quirk
12 years ago
I hate carpet. I especially hate carpet on stairs. But even if you like carpet, and like carpeted stairs, I agree with circuspeanut that vacuuming carpet around stairs spindles is most especially noxious. :-)