From stenciled, striped or wallpapered risers to the chromatically painted banisters to hot pink through and through, here is a range of unexpectedly colorful ways to decorate stairs.
1 Chromatic green banisters via Ceiling Explorer
2 Chromatic blue banisters in Martha Stewart Living via Bright Bazaar
3 Orla Kiely wallpaper on risers, via Happily Nested
4 Cute quotation stairs from justbesplendid via Pinterest
5 & 6 Risers patterned with stencils from the Royal Design Studio, via the Style Files
7 Stenciled risers from French By Design via Pinterest
8 Multi-colored stripes from the neotraditionalist via Pinterest
9 Charlotte Gueniau's home photographed by Christophe Dugied via French By Design
10 Pink spiral staircase photographed by Bruno Suet, via myadventureisyouradvantage.com
Images as linked above.











Sprout Side Table
I love stairs with stencils or wallpaper on the risers! Too bad I live in a one-story house!
these are amazing! I especially love #'s 1, 8, and 9.
This is why I love Apartment Therapy. What a great opportunity to do something creative with a small space I would've otherwise ignored. Thanks for the inspiration!
Off-topic but: Can anyone ID that wooden bench in pic #1 (next to the green banisters)?
I like the colored balusters
hot pink spiral stairs? yes, please!
Most of these are brilliant. We're considering doing a vinagaroon stain on our still unfinished red oak stairs.
love the look and idea of wallpapered or stenciled stairs, but won't they get dingy/dirty quickly?
Wow, I'm surprised at myself but I LOVE the all-white stairs with the green-painted banisters.
1-2-8-9-10 YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this post. Last night, I was talking to my Mom about how I don't have enough stairs in my day, and I really need to live somewhere with a staircase again.
I *LOVE* this post, though, because you're starting to repost from Pinterest!
Wow- these are so much fun! What a great way to add a pop of color!
I recently painted my stair rods too - good idea to paint them different colors. I used some stair brackets from Look In The Attic - the brass against the white looks great. Maybe I will repaint them different colors!
Maybe a little off topic, but does anyone have a not-heinous way to paint those balusters? I always hate the way mine turn out - I'll scratch the wet paint with the brush or miss spots or have drips...I just can't win! (Love them all, though - yay, creative stairs!)
Stairs are a great place to add a little personality! I wrote a great post about it last month:
http://thedecorologist.com/wp/take-a-chance-on-your-stairs
I painted my stairs in our home white with chalkboard risers... adorable for the first day and within the first week i realized how dirty white stairs get with pets and people! keep it in mind!
however i would never go back to having normal stairs again, i'm just trying to find a cute way to hide how dirty the runner gets with daily use.
I love them all! Especially 1, 2, 9 & 10!