(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.)
Hello AT,
I'm a recent home owner and have decided to redo the staircase that the previous owner left me. He covered the treads and risers in linoleum and built a mini wall as a railing.
We tore down the wall, decided to open up the space underneath the stairs to open the room up a bit. We are also redoing the floors on the first level and were thinking of a blonde color since the floors upstairs are that color.
Now we have to finish the stairs... here's my question: Should we stain them or just poly them leaving the natural wood color? I like the idea of adding contrast by staining them but am having trouble deciding.
Thanks! Eve
Dear Eve, Since this is a pure style question we're going to tell you what we would do. We'd go for color, contrast and some FUN.
The natural color is nice in a Vermont country way, but since we're moving into a period of high color and fabulousness, we say go for it. We would do a dark color/stain on the stairs and also consider stain/paint on the rails and spindles.
Despite the fact that your floors upstairs are light, we would go for it and even consider following with your upstairs floors later in time.
We have linked to some pics that we like to give you an idea:
A painted floor shows contrast in general
Painted Shaker stairs create visual energy and are classic
BDDW shows what happens when you contrast the floor dark against lighter and natural colors
MGR
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
i say leave well enough alone. you only paint floors and stairs that aren't nice enough to be left natural. I like blond floors but staining lighter is a hassle. Poly them and let them acquire the patina of age is my vote!
Another way to go...
Paint the risers and leave the treads the same color as the railings/upstairs floors.
Then bring your color in with a stair runner.
Or, if these stairs let out into rooms with dark wood furniture, consider a mix of stains... light for the treads, dark for the railing or vice versa.
I agree with Patrick (as usual)--paint just the risers.
I recommend doing everything--downstairs floor, stairs, risers, railing in the same color and finish. The whole place will look bigger.
Just copy whatever is on the upstairs to all those other floors and surfaces.
Now that Curtis is back, I expect him to weigh in on transforming your stairs with paint...
A few possibilities:
Georgian Style Protestant Church Interior Look:
Darker stain on hand rails (pecan or darker) and treads and dinosaur-jaw-support thing, and white paint on the vertical spindles.
Vaguely Modern Twist on Georgian Style Protestant Church Interior Look:
Ebony stain or Black Paint on hand rails and treads and dinosaur-jaw-support thing, and white paint on the vertical spindles.
Renovated Rental Manhattan Brownstone With Lofty Look:
Darker stain on hand rails (pecan or darker), marine grey paint on treads, and dark metallic grey on the vertical spindles and risers and dinosaur-jaw-support thing.
Airy Look Maw No Staircase Look:
Darker stain on hand rails (pecan or darker) and treads, and wall color (in a satin sheen) vertical spindles and risers and dinosaur-jaw-support thing.
Emily Dickenson Dreamy Look:
Paint the whole blooming thing white.
Whimsical Colonial Itenerant Muralist Look:
Stain the whole thing some stain or combination of stains that you like, but paint the railing something like a historic red or green, and paint the treads AND the the stair to look like there's a runner going down the entirety of it (treads AND risers), perhaps with a VERY simple stencil at very regular intervals, and then, before your final coat of polyurethane, sand some of the paint off it.
Here's another idea that is insane, yet subtle:
First off, find a stain to match exactly the color of the floor on one level, and another stain to match exactly match the floor of the other level.
Now ... buy a LOT of both of them, so you can experiment. Use those exact stain matches on the risers AND the treads nearest the floors that they match. Mix them 50/50 for the riser and tread that are half way up, mix THAT 50/50 with each of those other ones for the riser and treads that split that are 1/4-of-the-way up and 1/4-of-the-way-down AND, and then continue, until their is such a perfectly subtle gradation from the bottom of the stair to the top that you're never even aware that there is a difference in the stain -- you only think that the lighting is different.
Do the spindles under the railing exactly that same way as you go, if desired, but for the hand rail, itself do a color, or black, because since it goes continually down, it will really not work out very well to do that funny little stain gradation dance with it.
A really good document for step by step on how to finish the stairs and railing is found here
http://www.ftstairs.com/wood_stairs_railings/staircase-stair-railings-pages/page-finishing-stairs.htm
And the Staircase picture gallery can give you some good ideas for either full stain or a paint stain combination
http://www.ftstairs.com/banner-staircase-hand-railings-pictures.htm