*This tutorial was originally published in 2013 & updated on the date seen above
Installing a stair runner may seem intimidating, and the good news is that adding ours was pretty darn easy and we love how it looks (and feels underfoot). So here’s a full tutorial for how to install one yourself, including how to join two runners if one isn’t long enough for your stairs, how to finish off the bottom cleanly, and how to give the stairs and railings a fresher look too.
Update: For anyone asking for the rug info, here’s an affiliate link to the exact one we used.
Project Step By Step
The whole project took us about 20 hours in total, but that included more than just installing the runner itself. We also gave the whole staircase a fresher look with painted risers and darker stained railings. So here are the total steps for the makeover, but we’ll be picking up around Step #5 today.
- Priming and painting the trim and railing
- Selected your runner (more on that and the previous bullet here)
- Remove the old carpet and rug pad
- Paint the stairwell walls and ceiling (more on that and the previous bullet here)
- Prim and Paint the risers
- Stain the railings
- Measure and mark your runner placement
- Cut and lay out the rug pads
- Install the runner (including where to staple and how to keep ends looking finished)
- High five like maniacs!
How Much Did This Project Cost?
Here’s a general cost breakdown of what it took us to complete this project:
- Two runners (here’s an affiliate link to the exact ones we used): $199
- Electric stapler & staples: $54
- Rug pad: $39
- PolyShades stain & brush for the railings: $11
- Primer & paint for the risers, posts, trim, walls, and the ceiling: $0 (we had it already, but a guess for what you’d spend might be $80)
- TOTAL: $283 (or $363 if you need to buy primer, trim paint, and wall paint)
We read here that it would typically cost about $318 for a similar installation job by a pro – which doesn’t include the cost of the runners or the padding themselves (or the staining/painting/priming that we squeezed into this makeover), so this could easily been twice as much if we had hired it out.
Preparing And Painting The Stairs
Wednesday, November 6th – LATE AFTERNOON: Time to paint those risers. Since we knew it would take lots of coats, Sherry taped off the bottoms to make things speedier than having to meticulously edge each time and I applied a coat of primer (since it’s low-VOC, but not no-VOC) to block any wood bleed.
Wednesday, November 6th – NIGHT: With the primer dry, Sherry applied the first coat of paint (it’s the same no-VOC Simply White in semi-gloss that we’ve used on trim everywhere else).
Thursday, November 7th – MORNING & AFTERNOON: Sherry applied coat #2 of paint and I went in for coat #3 later, just to be sure we get a good solid white tone on each tread.
Thursday, November 7th – NIGHT: Right before bed, I applied a coat of Rejuvenate to each tread to restore the wood finish (more on that here). I worked my way up the stairs right before bed so that it could cure overnight while we were all up there sleeping. In the morning we woke up to a much fresher looking staircase. We love the look of bare stairs like this, so we soaked up this pretty sight, and then pushed onward towards our goal of a fresh new runner (we’d just prefer some extra padding with young kids in the house to cushion the blow if anyone does fall).
Painting & Staining The Railing
Friday, November 8th – MORNING: Since we wanted to get as much messy stuff done before the runner was installed (stain drips on a new carpet = the stuff of nightmares) we dove into staining the railings a deeper tone so they’d pick up some of the black in the runner (more on what inspired us to do that here). We found this PolyShades stain + polyurethane that didn’t require any heavy sanding (just a light roughing up) in a nice deep color, so we grabbed it.
Unlike stain, you don’t wipe off the excess once it’s applied. The railing on the right side of the stairs is pictured here, but I also did this to the long rail that goes up the left side of the wall (we had removed that when we painted the walls and ceiling last week and decided to just keep it off so I could easily do that staining outside).
Friday, November 8th – AFTERNOON: The first coat didn’t quite dry as dark as we hoped, but we crossed our fingers that a second one would do the trick. The first should’ve been dry after 6 hours but it was still tacky, so rather than wait an unknown amount of time for it to cure, we switched gears and started painting the newel posts, which we decided would look best white like the other stair posts after seeing some Pinterest images like that and loving them. Like the risers, Sherry taped it off so I (the less perfect cutter-inner of the two of us) could apply the primer.
Friday, November 8th – NIGHT: Sherry applied the first coat of white paint (also Simply White) to the posts while I read weird Buzzfeed articles to her out loud to pass the time. Oh yeah, we know how to party on a Friday night.
Saturday, November 9th – MORNING: Sherry applied coats 2 and 3 of white paint to the posts about three hours apart.
Saturday, November 9th – AFTERNOON: With the post paint dry and the first coat of stain on the railing more than fully cured, I could go back to applying our second coat of stain. Beforehand, I had to rough it up slightly with some fine steel wool. Thankfully the second coat made it darker, just like we hoped. We were aiming for it to pick up on the black stripes in the runner as well as the dark espresso console table and the oil-rubbed bronze light fixture nearby in the foyer.
Planning And Marking The Runner Placement
Saturday, November 9th – LATE AFTERNOON: With all of the messy stuff done, we could finally turn our attention to the runner. Thanks to a couple of helpful tutorials (like Rhoda’s and Jenny’s) we had some goods tips to go off of – like when Jenny mentioned that she wished she had measured to keep hers centered so the stripes aligned all the way down. Thanks to her post, we decided to create some tape guides to follow so we could make sure the runner didn’t shift from side to side as we move down the staircase (which can be especially obvious when it has stripes). In order to be centered, our guides needed to be set 4″ from each side of the wall, so we marked that line with some tape.
We read that if your stairs widen on one side at the bottom like ours do, it’s recommended that you center them on the narrowest part of the staircase, which means the part up top (if we had centered the runner on those few wider steps at the base of the stairs, it would have rubbed against the right wall on all of the upper steps and looked a lot less balanced).
Adding Your Rug Pad
We also wanted to use some sort of padding to keep the runner from sliding and to add some extra cushioning, but we wanted to be sure to go with something that wouldn’t adhere to or damage the wood stairs, just in case we want to go runner-less again sometime when the kiddos are older, so we got a standard 5 x 8′ rug pad at Target and discovered that cutting it in half made it just about the perfect width.
We took the time to cut individual pads for each riser (long enough to wrap around the nose of them) so that we could get this all done for the cost of just one rug pad instead of needing to buy two. We didn’t adhere these at all, knowing that stapling through the runner on top of them would hold everything nice and firmly.
Starting Your Runner Installation
Sunday, November 10th – MORNING: We took Saturday night off to do something fun, so Sunday was crunch time. Less than 24 hours ’til posting time. Yikes! We started off by using an electric stapler like this one to set the edge of the runner right under the nose at the top. Our runner had a pattern all the way to the end and the rolled edge was barely noticeable, but had it been more distinct, we would’ve cut off the edge and rolled it under so the pattern would look seamless instead of having an obvious border at the top.
We noticed the first staple that we shot through the runner was more visible than we’d like (since it was a slice of silver on a black stripe), so we took a second to color the tops of a row of staples with a black Sharpie (a trick Sherry saw on Pinterest for making decorative gold staples). Then we were sure to staple only into the dark parts of the rug so they’d blend in. Worked like a charm.
With a row of staples in at the top, we then pulled it tight along the riser and Sherry stapled a row along the bottom into the riser, not the tread. We wanted to avoid stapling into the tread since that’s where people would be stepping and we didn’t want the staples to “surprise” any bare feet (even though they generally sink into the rug and aren’t pointy or anything).
Sherry had been firing a staple into each of the big stripes (the pink ones in the diagram below) but we found it wasn’t enough – at least at the top under the nose, where it seemed to sag a bit between staples. So she went back and did another row of staples up top (the blue ones that you see below). Here’s a sense of where we put staples and in what order:
How To Adjoin Two Runners Seamlessly
One runner wasn’t enough to get all the way down the stairs, so at some point we knew we’d have to join the second one as seamlessly as possible to the first one, so we wanted them to meet under a tread nose where the joint would be least visible. First we snipped off the end of the first one so it would wrap just below the nose.
Then we stapled that one under the nose, just like we had done on all the steps before it.
I didn’t get a good picture of the next part (picture us sweating bullets and using all available hands) but we just lined up the edge of the new runner as flush under the nose as possible. Our goal was for the edge to catch your eye as little as possible, so by tucking it under the nose of the stair, it seemed as hidden as we could get it. Can you see the seam in the photo below?
You really have to look for it, but it’s under the nose of the the step there on the bottom. The line where they meet is a little more defined than the underside of the other steps if you’re this close (Sherry was about a foot away when she snapped this photo) but if you’re standing up you really can’t detect it at all, which is a relief because during this “joining of the rugs” we were both really nervous that it would be bulky and obvious.
Finishing Off Your Stair Runner Installation
The other tricky part was the very end, where we also had to cut off some excess runner, leaving about an inch that could be rolled under.
By rolling it under and stapling it like this, it meant that our cut didn’t have to be perfect and the edge would look more finished (and would be protected from fraying).
I’ve kinda broken from the timeline structure that this post started with, but despite the many steps to installing the runner, it only took us about three hours. In fact it was the fastest step of the whole stairway makeover process (removing those old staples and painting the ceiling while balancing on a ladder were waaay more intense). So to anyone wondering if you can install a stair runner, we’d rank this task as simple and straightforward. Especially if you spring for an electric stapler, which really made things easy.
We’re both pleasantly surprised at how soft the runner is (since some flat weaves can be scratchy). As for the light color, we’re a no-shoes household, so that should cut down on lots of potential dirt or staining (we’ve had light colored rugs like this in rooms like our living room and kitchen for years without any issues). We also hear that Dash & Albert rugs hold up well (Sherry’s friend with two young kids has a white and brown one on her steps and is really happy with it) but we’ll keep you posted either way!
Oh and this photo shows why we opted not to stain the vertical newel posts on the railing that you see below on the left (and painted them white instead). Since we knew the railing on the right would just be a clean dark stripe on that side of the stairs (with nothing vertical going on) we thought something dark on the left going down to the floor might look unbalanced.
We’re really happy with how it turned out. The color scheme and pattern of the runner are still pretty classic and not too wacky, but the high contrast elements still make it interesting.
We especially like how the dark stripe in the runner and the new railing color ties into the light fixture and the console table. If only there weren’t all that blue trim winking at us from the dining room…
Oh yeah, and to complete my timeline…
Sunday, November 10th – EVENING: Finally finished sizing pictures and writing a super long post about the previous week of stair projects. Poor Sherry’s gotta proofread this sucker in the morning. Sorry honey! But the good news is, we made it!
What did you guys do this weekend? Any runners going in, or old carpet coming out? How about using dark stain on something to accent it? We’re really having fun with contrast these days, which is admittedly something that used to scare us. Change is good.
Update – Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint colors we used? Just click on this button:
Note: this project was originally posted in November 2013
*This post contains affiliate links to products we have purchased and loved *
Also, this totally makes me want to rip out the carpet on my stairs. Not sure the landlord would approve, though. ;) Very nice job!
Wow, what a difference staining the railing makes–great choice.
LOVE IT!! Fabulous job and WHAT a difference!!
XO
J
John, with all the mention of “high-fives” and “high-contrast,” in this post about your stair runner, and with y’all’s fabulous penchant for puns…I’m re-naming this post “Runner’s High” in honor of your running career! Speaking of–it’s fall! I ran a 5K yesterday! I’m ready for another running post from you!! I love them.
Ha! I’m doing a half marathon this Saturday, so maybe I can write about it on Young House Life.
-John
Oooh! The half-marathon: that’s super exciting. Please do write about it. I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’m still training for my 10K right now. So I’d love the inspiration!
Sounds good to me! And I’m a big fan of 10Ks. Good luck!
-John
I don’t think my first comment went through. If it did and I’m just not seeing it, I apologize for the repeat love that I am giving to this stairway update. Everything looks fantastic, and classy, and it looks like a very doable straightforward update. So much so that I will be sending this to my husband as a little hint. ;)
Bravo, bravo! You’ve done it again!! The stairway looks absolutely incredible, you guys! I love, love, love it!
This foyer has undergone quite an impressive transformation, beautiful. The post title also ties in nicely with the fact that it’s Veterans Day!
Beautiful!! Did y’all contemplate staining the newel posts? I must say, the way it blends with the door trim in the last picture bums me out a little.
We debated that a while! The paragraph and photo above the budget breakdown explain why we went for paint in the end (from the top of the steps it looks more balanced that way).
xo
s
It looks great! I painted our living room all weekend. Hard work but worth the effort. You know all about that!
What a great title for a post on Veteran’s Day…happy accident or not, I think it was meant to be! Thanks to everyone who has served or will be called to in the future. If you are reading this post today, we truly appreciate you!!!
Amen! We appreciate you like crazy!
xo
s
Here I am…under 155 comments…triyng to reach out my hand.Oh well! Just wanted to congrat once more, on the result of this project!I’m not a huge fan of stripes, but I just love the result.
Love,
Milly
Absolutely beautiful! LOVE LOVE LOVE
Love this! Especially the two-tone dark rails with the lighter treads.
I do look at this and wonder if you’re planning on putting hardboard in the entrance area though? Or are you gonna stick with the tile?
We’re afraid we’ll never perfectly match the hardwood in the office and dining room (both of which the foyer connects to) so we’re leaning towards perhaps some pretty heated tile when we redo the kitchen (we can carry that our from the kitchen to the foyer and half bathroom when we tackle that).
xo
s
It’s so very good.
I miss stairs! :-) This came out beautifully. I love the layering of different wood tones. It adds all that visual interest that will have your guests breaking their necks trying to take it all in at once. I love it! Question: what do you use to clean your stain filled brush after use? Or do you have 1 brush you use all the time just for stain?
My best, Lynn
*thanks for the news link. The world is crazy! I hope none of your family was at the Jersey mall for that shooting last week Sherry
Thankfully none of my family was there, but it was so scary. As for the brush, we do have one we tend to use for that (it’s less pristine) and we clean it with mineral spirits.
xo
s
I’m really loving the dark espresso stain on the railings. It looks fantastic, and I’m glad you didn’t stain the tops of the stairs. It’s a nice contrast and fun!
Thanks so much Carla!
xo
s
You guys are so inspiring! I love how your stairs turned out and for such a low cost. Seriously! I know you hear this a lot, but I am so very inspired by you guys and I’m thankful for your posts!
Thanks so much Rachel! We’re thankful for you for dropping in on us.
xo
s
I like the runner, but I’m not a fan of staining the handrail a different shade than the stair treads and other wood floors in your house. It really makes no sense at all.
We added an update to the post about why we did that (it ties into the dark stripes in the runner, the star chandelier, the dark console in the foyer, and even the dark hardware on all of our doors). It’s not for everyone, but we’re cool with wood tones that coordinate without all matching (for example, a mid-toned wood floor with a gorgeous espresso table on it).
xo
s
I am local to richmond, and I absolutely adore your house! I love the updates y’all have done! I totally wish I could have y’all redo our house :) I recently redid a playroom for our kids that was inspired a little but by y’all:)
Thanks so much Tori! We’d love to see pics of your playroom!
xo
s
Can I get an AMEN for the perfection that this is. The runner with that light gahhhhhhh
You GUYS!! This is one of my favourite projects you’ve ever done!!! Such a difference and I loooooove the stripes. Looks SO good!!
Thanks Andrea!
xo
s
I love how this turned out! I especially love the look of wood treads and white risers against that bold runner. Definitely something to keep in mind for the future!
It looks amazing! Fantastic job guys!
I’m in the process of pulling up all my old carpet and putting in all new flooring upstairs, the stairs, and downstairs. I never knew how yucky old carpet could be! I never would have thought to do a runner on the stairs, and am now considering it thanks to you guys! I feel like it adds so much personality and character. Just wanted to give you kids a shout out for the great idea! Woot!
What kind of tape is the yellow tape? Is it special tape for staining? I have been wanting to stain some trim a darker color and was wondering if such a thing as stainer’s tape exists.
It’s delicate surface frog tape (we thought it would be less likely to pull off the paint in those recently painted areas).
xo
s
We also stained our railing (and newel post in our case) a much darker color than the stairs. I think it looks awesome. Everything does NOT have to be matchy matchy!
I love it. It really makes a huge difference and I really had to hunt for the seam. Just wanted to say that I really appreciate that you’ve recently started including a rough estimate of materials costs for things you already have on hand. I don’t have a garage stocked full of paint and other supplies, so it’s good to get a more accurate figure of what it would cost me to buy everything.
Sure thing! A few readers requested those and we’re happy to include them!
xo
s
Where did you get the mirror over your entryway console table?
That’s from Joss & Main about a year ago.
xo
s
Wow! I wasn’t sure that I liked it when you showed what kind you got a few weeks ago, but now I LOVE it!! Great job!! I wouldn’t change a thing. Man, I wish I lived in Richmond so that you could help me do my projects. You look so professional!!
Sarah
Well done, guys! It looks very sharp!
BEAUTIFUL! The stairs look amazing, as does the entire foyer. I’m so jealous. Ours needs so much work!
Um seriously, might have to copy you… We have wood stairs and I would love something a little softer and slip proof… Love, love, lovvvveee the black and white!!!
Looks great – though reconsider your decision to paint the newell post of the banister white. It would look so much better from every angle (upstairs looking down, and looking across in the foyer) to have continued the black stain. The white looks odd/wrong.
Looks great! Will you guys be installing a quarter round under the bottom step? In that last close-up photo it looks like there’s a decent sized gap, but I’m guessing it’s not noticeable in person? Or are you waiting until you figure out your floor situation?
Yeah that’s a pretty close shot, but it made us realize some quarter round would be awesome.
xo
s
Hi, Love the look. I will be attempting the same project and am a little nervous. I was told to use metal bars/stays across the inside seam of each step, in addition to nailing. I have 4 sets of stairs to do on an open staircase that runs from the top floor to the basement. That’s a lot of rods. Have you heard of this?
Why didn’t you use this method?
Thanks
That’s another way to go, but from what we have read (even from sources like This Old House and HGTV) the “upholstery” method without them is often used by pros as well as DIYers. We just like the cleaner look (and that additional hardware can get pricey).
xo
s
MEOW!!! Good work guys, it’s beautiful! I’m pretty jealous of the wood stairs. I love the contrast of the white paint. I’ll dream of wood stairs in a future house. :)
I love, love,love the stairs. The foyer picture looks so elegant what a great job. I love how slowly but surely your projects come together. It makes me remember patience is the key word for a great finish.
I think your entryway is my favorite room of any room ever. I could start a Pinterest board just for the things I want to copy from that room!
Thanks so much Kelly!
xo
s
Holy Mother !!!!
it looks SO GOOD :D
Bf and I are currently on a house hunt and I cannot wait to have my own place … you guys have inspired me to want to do so many projects I cant wait ! <3
I’m not sure if you answered this already, I tried to read as many comments as possible to see. Did you mention why you didn’t stain the stairs the dark color like you did the banister? I have a feeling it’s because it wouldn’t make the runner pop as much. Just wanted to hear what the thoughts were going into that. Thanks so much! LOOKS FABULOUS!
We just added an update to the post about that for ya! Essentially it’s because at the top of the steps we have an entire floor of hardwoods in the same color as the stairs, so darkening the stairs would make for a big color change up top, but we prefer a more seamless look.
xo
s
I think it looks great!!!
Did you have any left over runner? Are you planning to use it as a small rug anywhere?
I’m torn between making a little doormat or doing something else with it (it’s a little out there so I have to get John on board, haha).
xo
s
wow that’s really wonderful, I really loved this beautiful art of beautiful stairs and strips. thanks for sharing such a wonderful thing with us.I really appreciate this beautiful art.
Oh you Petersiks have done it again! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!! Looks modern and classic at the same time.
What does Clara think of the new stairs (and has Burger even noticed?).
She’s so funny! Her favorite thing is to look at the dark railing and say “is it wet?!” (because during drying time we told her that so she’s obsessed with checking that it’s dry). She has also had fun counting stripes and Burger flies up and down them like a maniac.
xo
s
I’m having some real issues with staining right now. I sanded and stained an old chair. I used minwax and it said to only let it sit like 5-10 minutes, but I wanted it DARK so I let it sit… 20… well… when I got back to the chair it was sticky and tacky. SEVEN DAYS LATER it’s finally dry. Finally! But I’m scared a/b sealing. Should I just make sure it’s an ultra thin coat? I also did it outside when it was cold, let it sit out overnight (colder) (but I have a 1 and 2 year old and wasn’t about to bring it indoors). What do you think? I have pics over on my blog if you want to see. Thanks!
Hmm it could have been the temp. I think sealing should be easier and faster though, so I’d go for it and just try to apply a thin and even coat.
xo
s
This is exactly, precisely, the look I have been hoping to achieve on my stairs. However, we have a sort of unusual old-house-dangerous-curved staircase to work with. How hard do you think it would be to achieve this look on stairs that are more triangular and curved? Did you happen to come across any good tutorials for handling that in your research?
Hmm, I haven’t seen any tutorials on that. Anyone have tips or a link for Sarah?
xo
s
First of all, I just wanted to tell you I LOVE YOUR BLOG! I read it everyday and have read back quite a bit as well! Your style really inspires me!
I have a Question for you guys:
We are planning on painting our risers white as we’ll but we’re told we had to sand them first, do you sand them? Would you recommend we do?
Thanks!
Ours were chalky and matte so we went right to primer and paint, but if yours are glossy or slick it’s always smart to sand and even wipe them down with a liquid deglosser before moving onto primer.
xo
s
LOVE!!!! We are (hopefully!) moving into a house with stairs next month. Normally I wouldn’t have given making over the stairs a second thought. However, after seeing this transformation, it is DEFINITELY on our to do list! You guys did a fantastic job!!
I’m actually getting ready to install a yellow and grey striped Dash & Albert-esque runner myself. Thanks for the tips. I will put them to use.
Sounds so charming! Send pics!
xo
s
Holy cats. This is amazing.
Great job, guys! It looks unbelievable! I love how different the tread looks with the contrasting black and white instead of the dingy brown color. I know you guys used the rejuvenate as well – I’m glad to see you’re still happy with that? We just moved into our house with thirsty wooden floors and so we’re going to try to use that to freshen up our floors before Thanksgiving guests!
Yes, we’ve been really happy with it!
xo
s