Our new addition has steps directly off the small entry landing to the mudroom. We plan to use porcelain tile in the mudroom but I'm unsure what to put on the steps. The material will have to to endure whatever comes in from the outside on the kids shoes/boots (e.g. snow/salt, rain, mud, etc). Options: 1) WOOD> I'm concerned that wood (we're using t/g Oak in the rest of the addition) won't wear well. I'd consider a runner on oak if it could be removed easily for periodic cleaning. 2) TILE> I've seen tile on stairs - but not very often and have been told it is subject to cracking. To keep my options open, I'm having the stairs built with extra reinforcement (3rd Stringer) and plywood treads (plywood doesn't expand/contract as much as regular wood). I've also heard of metal (Schluter) strips that can be installed at the outer edge of the tread for traction and to prevent chipping. 3) Other Options? All suggestions would be greatly appreciated - especially if you've had to deal with a similar situation. Thanks! Ed

A plan view is like a bird's-eye view except that it is not perspective. One is looking straight down on the paper at every point ... much like a road map. While a road map is usually at a scale like 1" linear of paper = 50 miles of driving distance, a residential plan usually has a scale like 1 linear inch of paper equals something like 4', 5', 8', 10' or 20' actual earth distance, depending on what you are trying to show, the paper size and the scale one has available. For just this portion of your plan, we' looking at an area that is something like 20' x 30'. It would be easy to map it out on a piece of copy paper at a scale of 1`" = 4', which is the same as 1/4" = 1'. For this project, You would only be concern about plotting the house, deck, driveway, major tree location and the extension to the patio ... just the parts around the area where the new walk goes. To draw it, you would go outside to the area and freehand those elements on single piece of paper, as if you are looking down on it from the sky. Then, with a measuring tape, measure all of the edges or points of those things you have just drawn: length of wall from corner of house to garage door opening; projection of deck edges; driveway edges & distance from corner, etc. You are usually using the house as the basis to measure from since it is the largest fixed and dominant object. After you've marked all the measurements on the drawing, sit down with a new piece of paper and re-draw it, using a straight edge and measuring out all the elements that you've shown on the rough sketch. Then you have a PLAN. I'm just telling you this for future reference. With the new photos, collectively, I'm able to see enough to suggest how you might layout the walk. As per usual, it is up to you to refine the idea when laying out in order to make it as perfect as you can for your needs and for site conditions. Also, I'm modifying the drawing I did earlier based on the new photos you submitted. The light blue line is the current suggestion. The overall goal is to make the walkway as simple and straightforward as possible. You said the walk will be "paver stone." Do you mean concrete pavers or something else? Making curves will be troublesome with a straight sided material. You can revise a plan to a 45* turn on the minor walk section and make other connections at 90* so there would be very little cutting. Or consider a difference material, like concrete, for which it is easier to make curves (especially since it's a material already present in the scene.) Or you could commit to cutting pavers for a curved finish. It depends on what you're up for. (Personally, I find small concrete flat-work jobs fun and satisfying. Then, that's true for pavers, too!)

A runner is the fastest, easiest, cheapest option. Sadly you have 4 different finishes inside of one stairway. You have dark stained hardwood at the top. You have natural oak for the stairs, you have outdated tile on the landing and then more oak going down and then you have brown laminate at the bottom. Without changing ALL the surfaces in the stair well (and don't forget banister and trim...and all the horrible fiddly stuff surrounding this area) you will still have +++ mismatch no matter what you do. If refinishing the treads are out of your budget, then pretty much every other option is out as well. A colour matched runner (either a nice brown that matches the two "wood" surfaces or something like sisal with a brown binding on the edges) on both sets of stairs AND a MATCHING AREA RUG on the LANDING (the carpet company can custom cut and bind the same carpet used on the stairs to create a custom area rug). Done and done. In essence you will be camouflaging the "mismatch" as much as possible. The actual surfaces won't change, you will just cover them up as much as possible. Personally I would work with a natural sisal runner with brown trim. This will tie in the gold tones of the wood work (banister, stringers, etc) with brown stain of the hardwood/laminate. Or you change out EVERYTHING to get a match to the hardwood upstairs (you won't find a match to the laminate unless you have 15 boxes left over). And that is already out of your budget.

We've been in the stair runner business for about 22 years. We've found that newel posts, particularly in a very old home may be so wide in relation to the staircase that they complicate the placement of the stair runner. That is, centering it - in a case like that, we often just hug the post with the runner allowing it to be centered on the remaining stairs. In some cases we have cut the runner material around the post - had we not the runner would be completely off-center on the remaining stairs. StairRunnerStore