I think your stairs could look just like your inspiration photo, but it's the rest of your house that wouldn't go with them. Your house is gorgeous, but it is completely different than the inspiration photo.

I'm not clear with what you are trying to decide between. Are you wanting to just strip and sand and stain and leave them more or less as they are? And your other option is to paint them?

Your house is very warm tones, so if you stain, I would do something warmer than in the insp. photo. something that would go with the tiles in the kitchen. Also, I'm not sure how the spindles will look with the rugged style stairs as they are a daintier style.

Just some things to think about.

Yes, you understood the question. Just strip, sand and stain, or the other option would be to paint with a lot of prep work. I'm worried that some of the gaps on the sides are too big for caulk. There are also knots on the treads. I have seen beautiful pics of painted stairs, but they were in much better shape to start with. Any suggestions? Thanks for your input.

Pretty house! :)

A vote to paint the whole staircase in white to match the rest of the trim -- and then add a very neutral runner.

Your home has a polished look. I can see where you were going with your original plan.

I also appreciate the rustic stairs. The inspiration stairs have a scrubbed look, perhaps achieved with TSP and a stiff brush.

Since you might have both black and white painted elements around your stairs, I think the pine would look good a little warmer in tone.

In either case, I don't think you'd have to fill all the knots, and I'd use a matte topcoat.

I agree, you have a great house! I can see why you love that inspiration photo - that is stunning. In my opinion, since the rest of your house is quite polished and not rustic, I think the stairs could end up looking "unfinished" - as opposed to "spare and dramatic" as in the more monochromatic inspiration photo.

I think you would be better off filling the holes and painting the treads, risers and bannister. That way the wood would not have to be perfect, but the paint would give the staircase a crisp and finished look.

For what it is worth, our stairs were a bit rough - we painted them and wallpapered the risers for some impact (the stairs are in the center of the house as you enter) - I have enjoyed it. I have had 2 types of paper on the risers - due to a giant coffee spill at the top (ugh!) - just another approach.

old -

Thanks you guys for the input. Laura, great stairs!

I guess my concern is that the gaps on the treads look really big to me. I don't know if caulking them will work. That is honestly my biggest concern.

I guess I will go with paint using dark brown/black on the treads, white on the risers and use the rustic nature of their current condition to obtain a part of what I liked in the inspiration photo.

Thank you to everyone for your input. It really is appreciated.

I like the idea of painting with a runner. Then you wouldn't have to do so much prep. What about doing a seagrass or sisal runner? That would give more of a natural look, but one that would go with the rest of the house.

Laura's stairs look wonderful in part because they are finished. Your stairs are just raw lumber, never meant to be seen. Maybe you can replace the treads--ripping up a staircase would be easier than tying to make that presentable, especially to the standards of the rest of your home. You don't want to end up with something that looks like it belongs in the basement when everything else in your home is so neat and "polished".

You can easily and cheaply cover them with wood stair treads. Just cut off the overhand with a jigsaw (that's the hardest part) buy the treads and risers at Lowes and have them cut to the correct width for you. I got pine treads bullnose for $9 each, and MDF primed risers for less. I stained the treads with Minwax one step stain/polyurethane - 3 coats. I painted the risers to match the walls, with leftover paint.

After the overhand is cut off the existing stairs, use wood glue and finishing nails to attach the risers to the existing steps. Then put the treads on, using lots of glue and a few finishing nails.

The entire project was about $250.

Before and after pics of our stairs

i will second tinan's suggestion....we're doing the exact same thing we replaced the stair treads with bull nose at very little cost....we have a 'pie shape' stair and that presented a problem...we installed a bullnose 'end' and we're using bondo to smooth out the transition...will be painting the treads black and the risers are white...we have to 'skin' the risers in a couple of stairs, and we're using 1/8 inch luan...your house is lovely!

Here is a third option.

We too have the same wood stairs. I was all excited that we would be able to salvage them, but they too are just not really usable. I was planning on painting the risers like you with black stairs. Our banister is glossy black, just so you know. I found out about this a few months ago. It's more or less an oak cap you put on top of the actual stair. They came into our lowes about six months ago. I've looked at them and the quality seems great.

BTW, we bought risers at Habitat for just a dollar per strip. I think it's just paintable luan like above. My husband quickly cut them down to fit. The luan covers the wide gaps on the sides. We did put small nails on the sides, which you can't see when they are punched in. The nails are painted. If you're worried, you could put some sort of trim on the sides. Maybe just a small flat trim as to not draw attention.

Like you, I tend to like a lot of black. Although, I really do love the rustic stair, I don't think that it meshes well with the rest of your home. Your taste seems a little too refined. Those stairs look like it might be in a rustic california or a rustic spanish home. If you want to look a little more rustic, maybe a seagrass runner down the middle (or a wool rug that mimics seagrass). That would give the more casual look you're looking for.

Unfortunately, we have put the stairs thing on hold. We are in the process of updating our kitchen. We will get the treads next year. We only did one riser to finish off the floors upstairs. :)

Good luck!
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Lowes- retro tred

Oh! I forgot to mention the ones I posted are for oak stairs. I'm figuring that is what you have and not pine. So, the cost is much more than the pine (9 vs. 28) planks.
:)
Kim

You might be surprised at what paint can hide. I found my stairs to be a fairly easy job.

Here is a link that might be useful: stairs project

Thanks, thanks, thanks, you guys for the feedback and pictures. I feel so much better about this project now.

We will probably be using the stair tread idea from Lowes.
That will really make this project much easier and with a better looking finished product.

Now, I just have to pick out paint.

I meant to type "overhang" not sure why it came out with a "d" on the end!