I would make the skirtboard and the risers the same color.

The reveal of the painted corner next to the newel doesnt bother me, its just another level of detail.

You could also paint the newel post but keep the railing stained.

Thanks - but what color should the skirtboard and risers be? Clear or Honey Maple (oh no, I can't remember if I stained these a year ago, or just poly'd!) like I started to do on bottom riser and DR side? With darker rail and newels?

Or leave newels and rail the natural (golden/red) oak color, and paint the skirtboard and risers? With all stained trim in the house, would I paint the risers and skirt the same color as the walls? How would that look at the top where the baseboard meets the stringer?

This is finished side - I'd have to strip and restain or paint, or should I leave it alone and do the whole thing like this?

Finished bottom riser (with shoe that really didn't take stain at all)

The floor has darkened since I took these pics (right after install). I tried putting some leftover floor boards up under a tread and decided I don't like the dark stained risers, but dark stained cove under the tread may look interesting.

The only thing that bugs me about the thin (1/2") line of paint b/t the newels and the corners would be maintenance. I don't want to paint the newels.

My stained newel post has a thin strip of sheetrock on either side and it is no big deal to paint. Mine even has a round knob on top that has to be painted around, and it isn't hard. How many times will you be painting those walls anyway? I think it will actually look nice to have your stained post "framed" by your wall color.

It didn't take my last post - darn DSL is getting flaky again. Suggestions for color scheme anyone? Leave the skirt and risers natural since I already poly'd the DR side and bottom riser?

Suggestions for newel/rail color? I'd like them to be the same. Rosettes the same as rail or treads?

Thanks

Oh, and the idea is to turn this "contemporary" newel into a more traditional box newel by adding moulding - it was easier to buy the square contemporary newel and add molding on 3 sides after securing it to the wall than trying to cut a traditional newel to lie flat against the wall.

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We could have built our own, but I couldn't find 4s4 oak stock locally, and I found these newels with the flutes for only $66 each (well, more like $78 each after shipping).

What do you think about doing English Chestnut stain? I have a couple small cans from Thermatru door finishing kit that I got on sale at HD, I only bought the kits for the topcoat, sample panels, and brushes, I don't know if I want that dark a color on the front door and sidelights, though I may change my mind if I do the rails and newels in it. Just not sure how it would look on interior side of door with the Honey pine trim. Plus it will look different on fiberglas than wood.

Or is that too many stain colors all in pone area, if EC on red oak turns out to be a lot different from the BC floor? I also have a can of Minwax Cherrywood gel stain I used to get some oak in my kitchen and my mom's kitchen a little redder. But it doesn't turn the wood *really* dark mahogany red.

This is a 50-50 mix of Spanish Oak (almost black) and Red Mahogany gel on nondescript (birch?) butcherblock - just stain, no finish, so it's flat - I plan on shellacing it sometime when I have time.

Do I want something as dark as that (or EC) on the rail and newels (not rosettes), maybe the cove under the treads as well?

Ah...the convention around here is to paint the risers and stain the treads---pretty commonly. Also to paint the posts and stain the hand rail.

If they are going to be stained the convention is to have the tread and riser the same wood species. Since they aren't I would try to experiment with getting them all the color of the prefinished floor...do you think that is a possibility?

ajsmama, I've not replied here since, I'll admit, I'm a bit confused. I will say that we are going to stain our risers to match our woodwork and stain the treads to match the wood floors.
This is the best picture I have that shows both the wood floors and the wood trim. As you know we too are still working on our trim.
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I'll take a pic tomorrow of the extra floor boards propped up under the tread - I didn't like the way it looked, though at first I thought it would be neat to have the risers match the floor.

Oak risers/stringer was not an option from the builder, all I could get was oak treads or plan on carpet.

The only time I've seen painted risers was with painted trim (and I do love the look, but only on stairs, which is why the house has all stained trim). So what to do when baseboard is stained? I figured stain the risers same as the baseboard, so that's what I did on DR side and on bottom riser b4 the floor went in. Now I'm wondering if it's all too much golden-orange-brown, and pine risers will never look like oak treads. Staircase Eye Candy gallery and all the stairparts websites' galleries weren't any help.

I *do* like crazyhouse6's stairs, but she's got carpet on the treads so no ideas there. Do her tread ends look the same species as her stringer?

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I *love* this look but DH will kill me if I start painting trim that I've spent almost 2 years staining. Not to mention our treads don't go all the way to the corner of the wall, so can't do this neat "column" looking trim thing.

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How would it look to paint the risers the same color as the walls, since I don't have painted baseboards? Or would that look like the stairs are "floating in space" and how would I transition to stained (actually beeswax finish but looks very similar to poly that on downstairs trim) baseboard in upstairs hall?

Around here the newel is usually the same color as the rail, and balusters are painted white along with the stringer, risers, and all the baseboards and trim in the house. Not too many people have stained trim (my uncle does but his stairs are all the same stain). Our old house had stained trim but carpeted stairs.

Becky - have you tried mocking up the color combo? It sounded like it would work to me but I didn't like it, esp. not after seeing my neighbors' stairs (light maple prefinished floors, dark walnut stained pine trim and risers, and golden oak treads. Plus cherry cabinets in the kitchen - single guy built it, new owner was telling me she didn't know what to do with it, I didn't have any suggestions except to replace the kitchen window trim with something stained redder like the cherry). Better mock it up before you start staining your risers.

I love your wing chairs - my mom is looking for a pair in green, I think she should just spend the $ and get her old pair reupholstered.

It's not set in stone that our stairs will be done that way. Heck we still have the construction stairs in place! What I'd really love to do is tile them, but have no clue what with or even how that would look.
I did a quick virtual of your risers painted to match your wall leaving the rest stained.
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Thanks - I never thought of painting *just* the risers, thought if I painted them I should paint the sides (stringer? skirtboard?) too. I think it would look like the treads are floating if I did that. Maybe not a good idea?

What do you think of painting (just) the risers? Or if the sides are going to be stained pine, should I just stain the risers too? Does it add anything to paint the risers? Stain would be easier to maintain, even though we don't wear shoes in the house I think paint might get dirty.

If it's not too much to ask, could you PS the rail and newel dark (like EC?) sometime? I think cousin is coming tomorrow (supposed to rain) to fit the newels, I can try to get a pic with newel in place at end of rail for you. I have to stain them this weekend and finish at least that one tread with something other than beeswax, otherwise I'll be varnishing the tread with the newels in place!

I think I have enough to keep him busy with doors for one day this week, then I think he has another job next week, if I'm lucky he won't be back to install the newels (and reinstall the rail if I have him take it down tomorrow for me to finish at same time) until the 17th or so.

Is there any way you can get a picture of the whole stairway? That is if there's a door at the bottom of the stairs that you can stand just outside of to get a better view? If not get the best view you can of the open stairway with as much of the walled in stairway. I think that will help with visualizing. I can only do opaque drawings though. I wish I could "stain" showing the grain through, but I'm just using MSPaint and it doesn't have that option. Oh do I wish it did.
What EC? English Chestnut like you mentioned above? If so do you have a sample I can use to grab the color? I can at least show you what that color would look like on the risers.

Forgot to mention earlier...thanks for the complement on my wing chairs. I bought these off Craigslist for only $40 for the pair. I'll be painting them. Probably in Ivory. If your Mom's chairs are still in good shape I'd recover them if I were her. Or better yet, have slipcovers made. I'm going to do that for the set of wings I have in the Library.

Thanks Becky - I have Paint too, never thought of using that (though my hand isn't too steady). I hope mom2reese dones't mind, here's a pic that has a good expanse of EC on red oak, which is what my rail and newels are. I don't think I'd try it on the pine risers. Maybe I should either leave them Honey, or paint them the wall color if paint won't be constant maintenance. I'd like to leave the treads golden oak to tie in with my DR furniture - I think that looks good with the cherry floor.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c113/mom2reese2/dining5.jpg

I'm still looking for 6" pieces of rail that were left over - can't find them in burn barrel in yard or trash box in basement, so maybe cousin took them (? for what?) or DH threw them in regular trash (gone already). I wanted to try the stain on the same pieces of railing rather than some other scraps of oak I have to make sure the color was accurate. But if I can't find them I'll take some pieces of crown we have left so you can see the color and maybe capture it. Can't do anything about risers since I only have white pine scraps, no yellow pine in house except for the stairs.

I can't believe you got those chairs for $20 each! I took my mom last week to town an hour away to see a pair of green ones that were $150, but they had been snagged a bit by dog's nails and cushions weren't comfy. Hers are OK structurally, one cushion could be replaced, but they *really* need to be reuphostered (dirty, worn, 20 yr old cigarette burn in one seat cover) and she's afraid it would cost too much. Of course, now she's talking about going to Macy's to buy a pair - I can see *that* costing $1000 the pair! I guess I could find fabric at Walmart and try to do it, but welting on arms and backs seems too hard. My aunt could easily make new cushions for seats.

ajsmama, MSPaint is what I use for pretty much all my virtuals. I have a couple other programs, they aren't as user friendly. The one that I can do transparent color with can only be done in "shapes" of color so that blows most my needs out of the running.

My wing chairs aren't in as good of shape as they look in the picture. The polished finish is a mess and there are a couple very small tears and one good sized one. The smaller ones I'll just use Fray-Check on and then trim off the extra threads before painting. I'll have a carefully stitch of the larger tear before painting though. The other two wings I have are more expensive chairs and we'll most likely have them recovered in leather for the library.
The EC is a very pretty stain. I do agree it would be best to have the treads tie in with the dining room floor though.

I don't know if I can get the treads to match the floor since I've put boiled linseed oil and beeswax on them. I may not be able to get anything to stick. Even if I could stain them darker (and not sure how gel would hold up on stairs), I'm afraid it would make the gouges from builder show up even more (esp on the half tread where newels are going - the protective plywood came loose and trapped dirt under it, they just duct-taped the plywood back and when we took the plastic and plywood off to finish the treads they were gouged. I sanded as best I could but didn't want to go too far down).

But here is railing with 2 coats of Cherrywood gel (again, will look a little darker after poly).

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Against floor

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With clear poly on riser

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But when I tried it on (radiata, not yellow) pin, it came out really blotchy even with conditioner

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Here is the Honey Maple (these were originally bay window sills), so if I could get the yellow pine to take that stain evenly it would look like this (you can see the gouges in the tread here)

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Or else I'd have to leave them with just poly like I did on the bottom riser.

Don't know what kind of pine this is - from Mexico so may be radiata, but I don't think it'll work to stain the cove they have under the treads since I'll probably never get it nice and clear and even and dark

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The stain I had for the front door kit was English Walnut, not Chestnut so it'll probably be too dark though maybe I can try it on this cove since it can't get worse.

What do you think of dark (Cherrywood) stained oak rail and newels though?

You know I think I'm as confused as you are about just what to do to make it all work. What does your hubby and cousin think?
Personally for the risers, I think I'd be tempted to paint them. I'd ask the folks at the paint store what they'd recommend for best wear.
I wish I were there, it could be easier to figure this out face to face.

Sorry, I've been throwing a lot of things out there. DH doesn't have an opinion at all, cousin said he'd never seen anything but white risers, thinks green to match walls could be interesting. But the real sticky point is the stringer/skirtboard. Every staircase I've ever seen has the skirtboard match the baseboard (if not species, at least color).

Went to help my folks demo their sunroom tonight - I noticed they have pine risers and oak treads, but they're all stained a maple color (they have oak floors). Maybe I should do the same thing. I'll have to take a look at my uncle's stairs tomorrow - he has oak floors too, I know he has oak balusters he made himself after he decided he didn't like the turned oak ones he bought (he offered them all to me). Oak railing - I think the curved staircase in the addition has oak risers and skirt, but the original staircase b/t the LR and DR might be pine. All his doors are dark stained pine, his trim is oak, and it works.

Our wood floors are oak and our wood trim is all clear pine. All other built-ins are maple. We matched stain for trim to the built-ins/kitchen cabinets which is cinamon toast in Minwax waterbase stain. Our oak floors are umber. the darkest tone in the floors is pretty close to the trim stain.
Will you be doing a carpet runner at all?

Wow, all that trim is pine? It looks like mahogany in the LR pic with the wing chairs! Can I see pics of the kitchen? I;ve never seen Cinnamon Toast in a Minwax brochure or display. Is that a custom color?

DH doesn't really want painted risers (though I love peachiepie's), he thinks they'll be too much maintenance. Other than that, he really has no opinion - says for me to do what I want. That's pretty much his whole attitude toward decorating. He's even OK with paint, b/c he knows that *I'm* the one who will repainting it whenever it gets scuffed. Wasn't planning on a runner.

BTW, how is Alex and what is he doing for a car now? My dad thought we had a wheel bearing going a week ago, he took the truck home and replaced the brake pads (paper thin at 67600 miles), still wasn't right, it did turn out to be left front bearing so he and DH replaced that last night. Dad thought it was bad Dec 07, I had just gotten new tires but I had dealer check out wheel bearing (so I thought - they only charged $50 so maybe they didn't), they said it was cupped tire so I went back to tire dealer and got tire replaced. So we could have been driving the past 18 months and 13000 miles with a bad bearing!