apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Paint the railing a bright color!

Strip those nasty pieces of carpet off the treads, clean them up and paint the rails white, silver or gold.

ohhhh the pebble would be really nice if it was cleaned and sealed! the railing is actually not bad. i think if you keep your furnishings with clean lines, you wont have to change it ...

You can wrap the sides and tops with thin wood that can be glued to the surface. Then use a matt sealer.

Take off the carpet!

I think I'd put wood on the treads (using some sort of wooden parquet flooring boards) and trim the edges with wood too.

If you have small children, then closing them in might be a good safety measure. If not, then maybe do the cleanup first and see what the concrete looks like. Then decide how much revision is needed. The steps look pretty nasty now.

How about some of that rubberized paint aggregate meant for fancy garage floors?

I like the railing. Either clean up the concrete or replace/cover the treads in wood.

I like the shape of the treads and don't mind the railing. I'd remove carpet, clean them and paint all one color. They've got a nice clean shape.

how are the treads attached to the stringer? could you remove them entirely and replace with something else?

I agree with the previous comments that getting rid of the carpet and some tlc to the terrazo would make a huge difference. Any of the suggested finishes would be great, it just depends on what kind of look you're going for. Regardless, I guess I would try and keep it somewhat consistent with the other floor finishes in your house if you have a lot of other non-carpet.
Or, you could try some kind of concrete veneer, thinset or stucco coating on them.


The railing: cheapest and easiest: paint a cool color
more effort, still cheap: strip down to the bare aluminium and seal
most effort/expense: replace with diy cablerail (DIY how to on my blog) or, if you have kids, something with a panel infill like frosted plexi or metal mesh.

In the Domino decorating book, there's a photo of floating stairs covered in an animal print carpet that looks super cool. If you explore your options and find you must recarpet, just find something interesting and know it'll still look good.

And I think your railing's fine as-is for now. Get the stairs, walls, surroundings, etc. in shape, then re-examine the railing; you might find it not so dated when everything else is done.

I think just ripping the carpet off and cleaning up the treads would look cool but If that doesn't work with your decor you could paint the treads with a high traffic paint or veneer them on the top and sides then paint the underside a dark color. You may run into trouble with this because the noses are round. But you could build it up to square them off or cut the noses square and replace it with a squared of wood nose to keep the same tread depth.

As far as the railing paint those black or charcoal.

I'd figure out a way to replace the treads with glass.

i'd just get the concrete refinished. sanded, sealed, etc. i love the look of concrete.

I think the slate tile is a good idea. I don't know if they need to be pebble size, but larger tiles might crack.

I would give the stringer a fresh coat of paint, but keep it black. And then I would paint the white concrete black as well. As splatgirl suggested, I would then strip and seal the railings.

I too would take the carpet off....find a way to really clean the steps...strip them of the white paint underneath or paint over that with a matte grey to look like bare concrete.
If the pebbled surface can vbe cleaned and it looks good, seal it.
I think if you do those things your iron railing will look perfect. If you still hate it though, you could easily paint it any color you like.
Good Luck!

It looks like cleaning them might be tough. Is that adhesive all over the steps?

If you can get them cleaned up enough, and you want to 'soften' the concrete, maybe try FLOR tiles cut to fit (just on the contact area like a stair runner). You'd probably have to glue them in place, but the tiles don't have any ragged edges (which looks like a problem with the current ones).

I love the steps and do agree, repaint the area around the staircase and then strip the carpeting off the steps which were not done well to begin with, clean them good and then re-assess them.

Once you do that they may look quite good. I'd say if you are into the modern look, work with it and with a little clean up and such and with the proper prints/pictures on the stairwall and furnishings and other accessories and with good color on the walls, the stairs may well look much less dated than they kind of do now.

Some fun colors, furnishings and get rid of any light fixtures that were replaced to "update" the space and go with stuff that might've been in there to begin with, but perhaps a notch or two above that in style and your house could come very much alive and perhaps be retro, yet up to date.

But first clean up and re-assess the stairs before you go about doing anything drastic to them for you may find they are just fine as is but freshly painted.

Good luck.

Recycled rubber tile.

Paint the treads and rails the same color and make it complimentary with the wall behind.

Once you figure out what to do with the top of the steps and railing, be sure to paint the underside something that coordinates - the white is just too glaring.

If these were my steps, I'd paint them a bright color and throw an interesting narrow runner down the entire set... but that's just me.

I would leave the sculptural concrete underside of the tread alone, no paint (brightly colored or otherwise), possibly a clear sealant at most. Box the top and sides in a modern wood (not knotty pine) such as walnut or a oak in warm to ash color. Leave the support intact or go with another color but keep it industrial high gloss. If possible completely remove the banister and move it to the wall, make it simple and also industrial or steel. If worried about safety and must have a support on the outside at the very least you must change it out from that awful hollow painted aluminum. The stairs themselves are fantastic, so dress em' up!

My house came with the same stairs, without any carpet. I first painted the treads an industrial grey, with black stringer and rail. Looked OK but the treads were pretty slippery and still looked like they should be outdoors.

Last year hired a guy to remove the treads and build wood replacements. He used thick oak planks, gave them streamlined frames to finish and stained all a rosewood tone.

Still haven't replaced the bannister so it really looks like a floating staircase, but for practical purposes I'll put one in soon. Found some good looking steel components at CR Laurence in Vernon, CA.

Terrazzo is so expensive to put it, I suggest you restore it to its former glory. Its such a rarity.

It doesn't look like terrazzo to me. Looks like little pebbles

restore it to the original or paint it all black. I would add some lighting on the under rail on the wall side to give a glow.

I vote take off the existing steps and use beautiful wood in its place.

Clean it with glue/mastic remover and/or a grinder, seal it and and leave it alone. Don't touch the railing, except perhaps to 'oil the iron to refresh the metal. It is not 'dated,' rather a classic design feature that should be highlighted.

Whoever added the carpet in the first place should be arrested. Don't compound the crime by painting or further mangling such a classic architectural icon.

if the steps are too damaged, and you absolutely must 'update' the floor, use something like pebbletec on the treads. (or at the least make sure that any thing else you do is easily reversed).

Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas. (Sorry, I'm just now getting back to this page after being sick for a week.) To address some questions: 1) the stairs are not terrazzo - just a bunch of fishtank-sized pebbles set into cement. 2) the top of the cement is not in good shape - it is covered in glue and chunks are missing from where the carpet tack strips were nailed. 3) The upper floor is the typical golden oak you see in a lot of homes - the hardwood floor stores I visited warned against trying to match it to cover the stairs as it would probably age differently.

Thanks so much for all the ideas! I look forward to figuring out a plan. I do not look forward to removing the carpet and glue though!