Do what Bev said, you go girl!!! It will look stunning.

I think you may have been going for the look of a more modern, metal in selecting this dark gray, but unfortunately the balluster style is more colonial. I'm no pro but I don't think this works. I like the last picture that Maureen posted.

Maybe if the railing were a darker gray and the balusters white it would work better but It just doesn’t look right to my eye. Not a pro but I feel your house is being force to be something it isn’t.

To all the naysayers - it has been done very successfully in Europe and here is the stateside suburban take on it. The blog notes that this was a 50/50 split on comments so obviously that will happen here. What matters is if the OP is happy. If not, it's only paint.

https://www.chrislovesjulia.com/the-banister-is-painted/

Agree with Anna. You can certainly try to fix it by adding more gray, but I personally would bite the bullet and change it completely rather than add on more elements to try to make it better than it is now. I don't think it's ever going to be quite right painted that color, which is actually pretty bad with the floor. In the end, though, only you know what you're willing to live with. I'm sorry it's not as you envisioned. Things like this have happened to us all at some point!

ETA: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think it looks good in the blog link above, and apparently neither did many of the blog readers. But hey, YMMV. 🙂

Just paint the banister black, in a satin finish, and do the darn spindles in white. It needs to match...........nothing. It was "wheel reinvention " : )

In other words? Just as the comment above me. ( Maureen )

Well just arrived at the house and they are priming everything to repaint. was supposed to be just spindles.

so...... go with the same dark dining room Color for the railing and white spindles or go black on railing?

Well just arrived at the house and they are priming everything to repaint. was supposed to be just spindles.

so...... go with the same dark dining room Color for the railing and white spindles or go black on railing?

If you paint it black anywhere you will fall into the same trap and need to repeat the black to make it work. The best solution will be to paint it all white if you want to go safe. Stripping back to wood would be a huge chore. So, if the gray isn't floating your boat then white will make more sense in the scheme of what I see in the few photos. But, overall decor, furniture colors, art will all play a part in making the overall whole work.

@BeverlyFLADeziner if only it looked as dark

in person as in that pic you posted. It looks grayish green. IAnywho. Have to redo the whole thing now anyway. Do black like BM wrought iron or match the dining room SW gauntlet gray?

You didn't ask me :) But, I would do black banister, white spindles. It's classic and won't fight with the floors or the dining room. Every space can use a bit of black.

If you use gray and then paint the dining room in three years you'll have to paint the banister again.

What color is your front door?

Riffing on Beverley's mock-up and Lulu's comment about too many colors, I painted the stair risers to match the wall color.

A black bannister and white spindles goes with EVERYTHING. Why would you make such a simple thing, hard? It's a stair! Simple, elegant done. I don't understand the "it has to match" thing. Really, I do not.

I liked the before the best. However, understand why you dont want to strip all that. I would go with black for the hand rail. The dark gray is not right at all. Black should look good. No white handrail.

You probably don’t care what I think, but here’s my face when I saw the gray paint: 😳

Front door interior color of railing. exterior is black

Is there a go-to black color by name? I have seen BM wrought iron in pictures but does anyone have experience with with color is the right black For the classic look? Will have white dove trim.

We had the same staircase as you, basically. I painted it white, including the stairs. You have oak floors, oak staircase? Us too. You do not need to worry about painting over the oak. It is plentiful, it is not unusual, it was overdone in the 1990s, and it doesn't need to be all over your house unless you are going for rustic. Lots of people will flip out about painting it. Do not listen.

I like grey for your railings but agree the one you picked is the wrong hue.

Personally, I think stairs look much more chic if you paint the whole stair (including the part you step on, and the riser). I've attached before and after photos of what we did. We did semi gloss on the stairs and railing for durability - since it's white and my kids track in mulch constantly I vacuum twice a week. But so far I love it. You're welcome to ask me any specific questions.

Please ignore plastic on top of the runner. We have construction going on + 4 little kids.

You're going in the right direction and your house looks beautiful!

Before:

After:

We used Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams on our inside doors and it's beautiful. People also love Black Magic (also by SW) for interior walls etc. I'm less familiar with Benjamin Moore blacks. The one black everyone seems to go nuts for is Farrow & Ball Railings. It's a more expensive paint but since you aren't doing a huge area I assume you wouldn't need much.

Would this work? semi gloss

Wrought iron looks like a very dark gray - almost like a darker version of what you have now. Is there any reason not to do a true black? I worry with another dark gray you might run into the same issue you have now. I would reccommend a much lighter gray or a real black.

My daughter in law was stuck on what BM black to use and considered Onyz from on line examples. We headed to BM and due to Covid, had to ask them to bring out black paint chips with both brown and grey undertones. Once we could compare colors side by side it really helped. (ended up with Onyz, but was more confident in her choice). I really recommend comparing chips to be sure you are confident and happy with the shade as there are so many variations

Take a look at BM Black Jack, that’s what we used on our bannisters which were originally a pickled pink. It’s a really soft black, we love it!

Frosty - I meant to add that we painted inside of front door the same black color to coordinate.

Definitely not Wrought Iron - it will look gray. Beautiful color but not for this. SW Tricorn Black will be great.

If you go with a black handrail make sure you add art with some black in it (frame/art itself) or some furniture piece like in Jules lovely foyer. It’s not about matching it’s about balance. If the black hand rail is the only black in sight (especially with those marble floors) it will stick out and look unbalanced.

I think the designer was focused on the marble floor when choosing the grizzle gray. excellent suggestions about the art.

Thank you all. Sincerely thankful for your opinions. Will do the Tricorn in satin finish with white dove trim.

@JAN MOYER thank you for calling out satin finish. The designer called for semi gloss. The painter told me they typically do satin. I wouldn’t have known to ask except for your specific suggestion.

@BeverlyFLADeziner thank you for rendering that image. The back wall art and color are going to need attention.

Yes, the off undertone is killing it. You can fix this either repainting true black or white. Relatively easy fix :)

@Jules M I love your beautiful antelope stair runner!

Thank you Iccb12 ! Definitely a splurge item in our remodel, but once I saw it i couldn’t pass it up.

Not to go too off topic, but what brand is the antelope stair runner? I love a good animal print and you nailed it!

Thank you Rachel - it’s Prestige antelope carpet.

Sincerest thanks to all for your advice. We went with tricorn black handrail & newel posts and dove white spindles and stringers.

Looks awesome. So much better! Are you happy with the results?

It looks great! Classic and appropriate for the style of the staircase.

Oh, SO much better! It's really beautiful now, and I'll bet you are very pleased.

So nice!

That looks great!!

Thanks for posting your update...it looks great, and so much better than before.

Very nice decision in the end. I like your Tricorn black front door , as well. Frosty, is this the same house in which you created the stunningly beautiful kitchen remodel ? I recall something about that having been a second home ( ? ), but not quite sure my memory serves .

that looks much better!

Hi @niccidhg this is our house in Nashville we moved to this past Friday. You've got an excellent memory about the kitchen remodel being our place in Florida.

@deegw yes, very happy. I hate that I turned white spindles dark gray with numerous coats of paint and then reverted them back to white....what a waste of time and materials for our painters. I felt awful.

Trust me, @jillybean103, the painters don't mind, they've been through paint color remorse before. Your new stairs look just beautiful. Enjoy!

I think it looks fabulous! You need something to tie the gray in though. Maybe a gray and white lattice stair rug or stencil a grey and white pattern on the white front of each stair. Ans some art work on wall that enhances the gray. Get creative when tying the colors together!!!

@Tera Gwaldis there is a painting at the top of the stairs tying all colors. That said I’m not finished. :)

the staircase looks so much better and the foyer looks wonderful. congratulations