I think you will be happiest with the dark handrail and newell post, white spindles, white risers, and dark treads.
The operating idea for such a scheme is that all the vertical bits (risers and spindles) match, and all the horizontal things (handrail and treads) also match, with the exception of the newel posts, which anchor the handrails visually to the floor.

Bronwynsmom - Oh I think I'll like it better too. I think it will really spiff up the entrance area. Ha I'm just scared to do it. What if the grain really shows through on the white spindles?

I like the idea of the treads being dark better than white.

I've been seeing a lot about this when searching..
BEHLEN Pore-O-Pac Paste Wood Grain Filler. Anyone have good results? Use something else? Do you still need to prime?

Hey Sheesharee, you and I have been drooling over the same stair remodel! LOL I was showing pics to my DH over the weekend. I have the same problem as you do, my spindles aren't white to start either, so it isn't just as simple as staining the bannister.

I agree with Bronwynsmom - the risers and spindles with paint, the treads should match the newels and bannister. That's the traditional way, at least.

Is your kitchen within eye shot of the stairway? I don't see it in the pics you put up.

Have you ever painted trim/mouldings around carpet like that? I'm struggling with how to do it w/o ripping back the carpet and getting it back on right. I would think you'd have to peel it back a smidge and relay when the paint dries? I'm also trying to wrap my brain around how difficult it would be to paint the spindles in place. Fear, basically is my biggest issue. hehe

Hey Sister Zen - We should be be brave and do it! Do you have a bunch of stairs?

You don't see my kitchen from that shot of the entry. Straight ahead from the foyer (in the pic above) leads to the DR which is dark wood. Kitchen is to the right of the DR but they're open. You can see the kitchen if you're walking down the hall with the stairs on the left. Other than my stairs the kitchen is the only other light wood in the house.

I have painted trim around carpet. I just use wide painters tape and try and get it as close as possible.

I'm don't think painting the spindles will be bad. I usually end up getting frustrated with ideas like this and end up bagging it. There so much stuff out there on staining and gel stains I find it overwhelming. I would do better if someone would tell me use this, this and that. Do this, this and that.

I'm not sure what stain to use now. Gel sounds easier to me. I don't have much ventilation there so I'd use water based I guess. Then I read how it dries quick etc and so forth. *sigh*

I have about the same amount of stairs that you do, but a lot more spindles. Mine are open at the bottom (spindles both sides) and then I have a little balconey thing at the top, with a bunch of spindles and an extra newel. All of my woodwork is this same light stain, which I despise, but is very common for this region. I'm trying to muster up enough courage and energy to tackle it all, room by room.

I also think gel stain would be the easiest solution. I think if centsational girl had used that instead of the regular minwax, she might not have had to do the additional layer of craft paint.

Hi sheesharee, you might want to search for my recent thread (help my stairs went from too busy to too boring) to see some of the photoshopping Squirrelheaven did for me - I am in the middle of staining my railing dark and painting my spindles white and then am going to evaluate whether to keep the treads as they are or stain them to match the railing. I love Centsational Girl's makeover too, found it just after I started my project and it motivated me to keep plugging away.

Sister Zen - The light oak railing is pretty common here too! I thought Centsational Girl used gel stain . . . I'll have to go back and check. Maybe I'm just thinking of Georgiagal's.

Metromom - Thanks for bumping that. I'm excited to see your stairs finished! I liked the moulding idea and both the gallery and staggered art. Ha I love the picture of Super Squirrel also. What stain products/color are you using? Are you using a filler to paint the spindles white?

Using craft paint over stain just sounds like a bad thing to do but I like how dark hers is.

I would do it exactly like the inspiration photo - railing dark and end post dark but make spindles and treads white.

I think the tread would look nice dark, but I have a friend with dark stair treads and she is dusting those treads daily. Rug dust, cat hair, lint whatever is in the air lands on her dark wood and makes her crazy!

I have light oak treads (just boiled linseed oil and beeswax, but I am going to try to Waterlox). Have been debating about putting in Brazilian cherry newel post and rail, but it's just really $$. I picked up oak rail at HD, just stained 4 rosettes and 11 ft of rail in Natural (red oak) to match the treads but can't poly them til tomorrow. If I can't match the BC in the DR, I thought it would be better to have them match the treads (and the DR furniture).

You may be best off keeping the light if the kitchen is light - at least for a while. I wouldn't want to mess with 1-yr old finish. Wait til it gets all worn and dirty. But I *would* replace those white brackets with something that doesn't jump out so much, and replace the white rosette (what's up with that?) with a light oak one to match at the end of the balcony rail.

Is there a way you can panel (picture molding?) to do something with that strange white piece of trim running horizontally? Even if you can't run it parallel to the railing, you have to do something to make it seem like less of an afterthought. Is it hiding a really bad crack or something?

Ajsmama- Ha the white rosette was me. My Dad tried to talk me out of it. For some reason I wanted white instead of oak. I don't know what I was thinking at the time.

The molding. . I thought picture molding might make it look even worse? Between that horizontal molding and the stupid handrail we had to install I'm not happy with my stairs. I don't believe it's hiding a crack. I'm not sure what what the issue was but if you look close it looks like the steps didn't line up at the top where the carpet starts right. I should've made a fuss about it at the time but there was so much other stuff going on and we were facing a time crunch with the construction loan.

I'm actually embarrassed to post these . . .
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Not sure if it's an option for you but have you thought about taking the bannister completely down to paint/stain.

We took ours completely down, sanded and re-painted. Still have one section to go!

It makes it easier than sticking your head around, hanging over the stairwell, while sticking your arm through the spindles to paint. TRUST ME! I tried it!

We actually took ours down, sanded, primed and painted with a handheld spray gun painter (hooked up to air compressor),
Then put a final coat of semi-gloss on top with a brush...comes out a nice factory looking finish if you use good paint and good brushes for the final coat.

One more thing...i had the same "Horizontal" molding.

It could be where two sheets of drywall do not meet up right, or just for decoration.

We replaced ours with molding that was thicker , and matched the crown and it turned out nice!

Dana - Do you have any pics of yours? I'd love to see how your molding is on the steps. We plan on adding crown to the foyer and hall area so maybe it will look a little better then. I'd like to add picture frame molding somewhere and I was thinking foyer since we don't have a formal DR. Maybe I could just wrap it around to that area? That's another thread.

Was yours painted before or oak? Did you use a filler? This filler thing is driving me nuts. I'm having a hard time finding out what to use. From what I'm reading it can be tricky to apply to an area with profiles and contoured surfaces. I don't want the spindles to look bad when painted.

The thought of taking it down completely crossed my mind but I don't really know how and it sounded like a mess. ?

I found this pic on the gardenweb and love it. I was going to go with stain but now I'm even considering black paint! Probably crazy since I'm always dusting the dark wood buffet in the foyer.

I really like how she has her railing along a white molding piece.

Jjam
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When you are talking about the molding are you talking about that horizontal white molding that butts up against your stair in the close up pic? Or the oak stringer?

We have a semi-open staircase, like the last pic you posted. We added a stringer since ours was carpet before and didn't have one!

I can show you a pic of our spindles, we only have two sections fully up and I have to spackle the ends where the screws were put back in! I hate seeing those little round things poking out!

I can post pics tonight! We are still working on the risers, got another coat of paint! We installed hardwood on our stairs, and nosing and new risers as well as re-doing the bannister.

Our Bannister was originally light oak, looked like a bad stain job, THEN painted white.

It had lots of dings, so for those we did use wood filler AFTER we sanded it down. Then went back and sanded those places by hand. We then painted ours handrail and all white.

Sometimes I wish we would have stained our handrail, but besides Furniture all our trim in the house is white so I thought it would look odd...and Our staircase bannister is just straight and not as pretty as yours!

Dana - Hmmm.. I was talking about the horizontal white molding that butts against my stair. Were you saying you had one of those? In the pic I posted I was just saying I liked how her was done from the paint to the way she had molding along her hand rail.

So you sanded, used wood filler on everything and sanded again? What wood filler did you use? Can you see the grain?

I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of yours. Please post some pics when you can!

Shee - if that very top of the stairs is the only thing that's funky, you can do something like this

and take down the rest of that moulding/bring it down at same angle as stairs/railing, and maybe do picture moulding under it.

I absolutely LOVE Centsational Girl's staircase. The wall treatment really "makes it."

WARNING about that wall treatment... first make sure your walls are straight and even. I had no idea mine weren't until I tried to do a wall treatment, then took that all down and tried to do a second one, then took that all down, and finally did the wainscot wallpaper. I was about ready to tear my hair out.

So get a very straight piece of trim and lay it in all the positions you're going to trim and check the wall for straightness. They have to do seams on stairs. Did your carpenter do a great job on the seams? Or did he just cover up a half-baked job with wall texture? It makes a huge difference when you nail down the top part of a trim piece and the bottom of it stands out from the wall. Nail the bottom in flat and the trim looks bent in the middle... which it is. :/

Ajsmama - When you say "take down the rest of that moulding/bring it down at the same angle as stairs/railing"..would you attach the brackets of the railing to the moulding? Do you have a full picture of your stairs you could show me. I'm having a hard time picturing this. My goofy wall moulding butts into my door trim. I think my stair area looks so chopped/busy with how the moulding and railing is done on the same wall.

Oceanna - OH I highly doubt my walls are straight and even. The drywall in this house is horrendous. I used flat paint for a reason in the foyer/stair area. Where would the seams be on the stairs? I don't see any texture anywhere on the walls.

So you were originally going to do the picture frame moulding but didn't because the walls weren't straight?

I didn't forget about you! Yes I do have Horizontal molding that butts up against the stair/skirtboard.

I don't have a door there and all of it will need a final coat of paint! Unfortunately I couldn't post you pics last night...stupid internet was down due to lots of rain last night.

I hate wireless internet through our cable company...but I live in the middle of nowhere so it's that or dial up!

I'll load some tonight if the weather holds...

When we used wood filler we did not use the elmer's kind...

We had some of it and it just didn't work out good on other areas of the molding..

Our spindles are already pretty smooth so not alot of wood grain to see...i was more worried about any dings or bruises since it is a pretty old bannister!

Since you don't want to see any grain, have you looked at the brushing putty? There was someone on the kitchen forum that used that on her oak cabinets before staining so you could not see the grain much once she stained them dark. I think it was celticmoon!

Shee - these aren't my stairs, they were pics a custom stair builder (in SC?) emailed me when I happened across his website last year looking for ideas. I wish I could credit him but I'd have to dig for email, these were in My Pictures folder.

If the problem is just at the very top of the stairs butting into door trim you could do something like that pic and make it higher to cover problem spot and still butt into door trim, but then follow the skirtboard of the stairs. If problem is higher up (couldn't tell from your pics) and you need the molding above the skirtboard, then you could do the wainscoting between.

I'll dig out more pics if I have them and put them on PB but now I'm looking for showtimes - taking DS to Harry Potter.

Here - quick gotta leave

If your stair looks like this

{{!gwi}}

You can do this (I don't care for white base and oak shoe, but it's an idea), though I'm not sure these were the same stairs

{{!gwi}}

Here, per your request, are the only other pics I have of the stairs I posted above - I love the angles and the "columns" and the white trim but all my trim is stained and also my wall to left of stairs is weird so this won't work for me. Won't work for you either from what I see but don't you love this?

{{!gwi}}

Here's what my stairs look like (fluted oak newel on order, cedar block is temporary support for next 3 weeks!)

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I don't know how I missed this!!!

Dana - I live out in the stix too so I know all about internet through the cable co. or dial up! I'll check over on the kitchen forum. Thanks! My spindles are smooth feeling...so I guess that means the grain won't show?
Any pics yet?

Ajsmama - Thanks for posting those! I'll have to check them out more later tonight. I do love the pic you posted but you're right it probably won't work for me either. Gotta love those weird walls!

I posted this on the woodworking forum and was suggested to use a stripper instead of sanding. *Sigh* He's probably right but I just don't know what I'm doing. The stairs aren't stained just clear coated. This isn't a project I can start and screw up or decide I don't feel like finishing it because it's a pain.

Vent/Whine- I really, really need to and would love to take a refinishing class, upholstery class, and basic carpentry skills class! Hands on. Last time I took a "class" it was on sewing and was a joke. We read through a book for two hours and didn't touch a sewing machine. My Dad knows all about the carpentry stuff but in the past he's always just done the stuff for me. He has problems with his back and is busy with other things so I don't like to bother him with it anymore.

Anyhow. .

Will someone please take a stab at some PS?

I'm even now considering painting a dark brown or black instead of the stain. I can't handle painting. DH still knows nothing. shhh :)

I vote for simply painting everything white. Get a good primer and a semi-gloss or even high-logss white paint -- and go for it!

Jan

Jan - Hmm maybe all one color would look better since it's a small area.

sheesh! I should proof read my posts -- of course I meant to type high-GLOSS ...... LOL!

Yes -- that was my thought too -- a small area -- so keep the look simple and fresh ....

Jan

Just to clairify. I wrote the above message in an email and posted it here incase others could use the info.

Alisha - why don't you just ask your dad what he used for clear coat, then you can determine whether you can paint over it (scuff sand - I know nothing about LS but would use 100 or 150 grit paper - your dad should be able to give you some guidance). If it would have to be stripped to be painted, then consider a gel stain like Casey and Bob were telling you since gel stain can be used over a previously finished surface, though you would then have to put a clear coat on top of the gel. But if you want to go darker a gel stain is the easiest way to go.

ajsmama is right about gelstain. I didn't even think about them. Duh! Wish they came in waterbased.