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Flooring Design Dilemma

Staircase help please!

Jacquelyn Bainbridge

10 months ago

We are still in the process of adding new hardwood floors to the entire first floor of our house. Just a couple years ago we had the stairs stained but now it does not match at all! I was thinking of painting them black but looking for suggestions. I really wish I would have thought about this at the time we did the stairs!! Thanks in advance.

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Comments (10)

PRO
None
10 months ago
Black with a runner?
Jacquelyn Bainbridge
Original Author
10 months ago
Thanks.

That’s mostly where I’m landing too.
0
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you will see from the pics we have a metal beam where you assume there is a wall stud I'm referring to the wall, which will at some point be framed with studs (vertical). You might want to run the railing right to the top of the stairs, whether you use dimensional lumber (2x 4 etc) or a handrail on brackets. This house looks like it was built before codes required railings. You'll know their importance once you've taken a spill! Or age. (My first home had 10 foot ceilings and stairs to the second floor along a wall. No railings. No half wall. I lived there seven years in my sure-footed 20s and thought it looked cool. I always wondered why houseguests walked up hugging the wall.)
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Wow, that is quite a difference. I would think you'd want something wider than 4' at the bottom, so then yes, custom would be nice. You can go to a carpet store and buy a remnant you like. The store near me wouldn't even charge to cut it to my specs, and then they would bind it for $2.00 per foot on each side. If you would like them bare, what do you have to lose by trying them that way? If they get marked up, then you'll know you have to keep them covered and you can buy a runner after the fact! Pine is pretty darned soft, but regular shoes shouldn't bother it. People don't drop things very often on stairways and that is how most damage occurs to hardwood floors.
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The stair looks great as is, painting it would be a mistake IMO. I think it would look great with w light floor. Put the floor in and then assess. You can always paint later.
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Like @grapefruit1_ar I pulled the carpet off my stairs myself. That was about a year ago. Removing the carpet was very easy. The staples took some time. After that, I sanded the wood and painted. Then I looked at some YT videos and figured out how to attach a runner. While it did cost elbow grease, the actual cost was dirt cheap and the stairs look great. On a diy scale of 1-10, the difficulty in doing this project was about a 4 but my stairs curved around to switch directions and that made it more difficult with the runner. Yours do not. You would be a 2/10. So a very easy project if you are into DIY.
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eld6161
10 months ago
Why not stain them to match?
PRO
None
10 months ago
For a proper bond everything would need to be stripped and sanded back to raw, at that point you compare time to just tearing out and starting fresh. Even when painting black proper prep is top priority for good adhesion.
susan49417
10 months ago
Personally , I would leave them as is and add a runner to the stairs. That way you only have a small amount of wood showing on each side of the runner.
millworkman
10 months ago
What is the flooring upstairs? I would leave them alone as well and just install the runner.
0
PRO
None
10 months ago
Leave them? Nothing looks better than a dark stain mixed with a golden oak. Maybe paint tread ends white add a runner and strip sand and stain the handrail to match? Minimizes the stripping process. Of course strip and stain first.
0
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
10 months ago
IMO strip and stain to match the new floors is really the right answer but next to that would be a runner in a patternt to blend the 2 colors .
0
PRO
Diana Bier Interiors, LLC
10 months ago
Sorry but I agree with Patricia, the best and most attractive option is to stain the steps and the handrail to match the new floors. You don't need to tear out the staircase.

Are your new floors site finished or pre-finished? If site finished and your contractor did a good job, he should have no problem sanding the re-staining the stairs.
0
PRO
Norwood Architects
10 months ago
I like the suggestion of staining the treads to match the flooring. That should give your room a more cohesive look.
0

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