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 BM 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 *
Katherine says
As I write this note you have had 502 comments – it’s easy to see why. This looks AMAZING. Wow!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks Katherine!
xo
s
Georgia says
FAB-U-LOUS!!!
Karen says
Looks AWESOME!
Allison C says
It’s beautiful! A job well done guys. I’m saving this post for our stairwell!
Sandra T says
Okay, gotta be honest with you…I love the look without the runner. And I think the newel posts and railing would look better if they matched the stairs. I know your reasoning (I promise, I read the whole post and quite a few comments), but the white risers/stained steps is such a CLASSIC look…the rug is just too “in your face” for me! Btw, how’s about a whole house tour? I’m forgetting what you guys have done, and I know it’s been lots! Come on, Sherry, give us a tour! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I owe you guys a house tour video like crazy! We’re in the middle of so many things (half-peeled wallpaper in the dining room, cabinets down in the kitchen) but it looks like I just need to pull the plug and walk around with a camera even with things halfway-done! Hope to post that next week or so for you guys. Just have to wait for a nice sunny day!
xo
s
Katie says
We love the crazy!! Show us the crazy!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Katie!
xo
s
Patty Lucas says
My husband and I painted our living room – sort of a pumpkin color. Really big jump for us. The room was white, then beige now pumpkin. I love it. Also put up crown molding and new wood trim around the fireplace tiles. Not bad for two old souls. Now I’m thinking we need a runner down the stairs, yours looks beautiful.
YoungHouseLove says
Love it! Sounds like you’ve been busy!
xo
s
Shannon says
Holy Wow! I’m dying over here, guys! What an amazing project. I’m feeling really inspired to get a runner on my stairs now. We’ve only lived here for 3 months, but I’ve fallen down the stairs once and so have 2 of my 3 kids. A stylish runner might be just what the doctor ordered.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Shannon!
xo
s
HeatherB says
It looks so awesome, you guys! And staining the railing darker really works. One of the things that overwhelms me sometimes is trying to decide the small details: do I paint the risers or leave plain? spindles stained, painted white or another color? Rail painted or stained? What about the newel post? I am not sure I would have thought to paint the post white and stain the rail darker than the floor…would never have occurred to me…but it was totally the right decision. Which is why your projects turn out “WOW!” and mine turn out “Oh, that’s nice”. It is all in the details, and you guys are awesome with those. Hoping to learn to think more and more outside of the box by keeping up with you!
Oh, and PS-as someone who fell down a wooden staircase much like yours literally minutes before you posted this yesterday: Good call on adding a runner for safety!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks so much HeatherB! This was one of those projects that had a lot of decisions to be made, like you mention. So since everything wasn’t cut and dry, we tried to do things slowly in steps (instead of painting all the trim and posts and risers at once, we did them slowly to make sure we liked each step before going further and painting more). I also think the key is checking out a ton of inspiration images and just seeing what you love best! There were so many stairways with dark newel posts and so many others with white ones so it really was comforting to look at them both and just say “both are being done and look great, so we just have to pick the one we like best” – it makes it feel less like there’s a right and a wrong decision, and more like you’re just choosing which one of two common options you like best :)
xo
s
sarah m. dorsey designs says
LOVE this! Pinning for sure. Thanks for the detailed tutorial!!
SassafrasNA says
That dining room may be winking, but Blue City has officially left the foyer!!!! HOOOPPP HOOOOPPP HOOOORRRRRAHHHHHHHH!!!! It looks absolutely marvelous.
YoungHouseLove says
Hooootie hoo!
xo
s
Sara says
I would love to take our carpeted stairs and do something like this. We only have baseboards underneath so we’d have to install hardwood or something on top (though I’m tempted to just paint the stairs and put a runner up as a temporary solution…)
Kelley says
This couldn’t come at a better time!! Our new house has a staircase similar to yours post-makeover (painted risers, wood steps, etc), and it has carpet runner already installed. Downside? It’s a dark-blue-floral-not-my-style runner. And it also shows every bit of dog hair (we have a cream colored dog that sheds like CRAZY), lint, etc. I hate it and want to replace it–and this tutorial has me thinking that it won’t be that hard after all! Thank you for sharing!
Callie says
I’m not a frequent commenter (but daily reader), but I have to come out of my normal commenting-muteness to say that this may be my favorite weekend project of yalls to date. It makes me want stairs. This looks really fantastic.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Callie!
xo
s
Steph @ SeeStephRun.com says
I am sorry if I missed it but where did you get that runner from?!
My husband and I have been staring at these photos since yesterday! We are moving in to a new home in a couple of weeks and will be tearing out some UGLY carpet (thick plush red carpet with green leaves)on the stairs and top level, putting down hardwood and adding a runner to the stairs. We LOVE how the vertical lines carry the eye up! GORGEOUS!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Steph! There’s a link in the budget breakdown in the rug line item about where we got it for ya!
xo
s
Steph @ SeeStephRun.com says
Thus proving that I am totally blind. SORRY! :-P
YoungHouseLove says
No worries!
xo
s
Allen says
Hey John, how much fun was it to write when the kiddos are older? Plural!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Pretty fun. And a little scary.
-John
Sara says
Great job! I’ve been working on my stairs too. I love this stripes! How can I work stairs that have two corners? as in, the stairs turn right, and then right again when going down. Look forward to hearing some ideas!
YoungHouseLove says
There have been some great ideas in the comments here for folks with turns in their stairs! Someone posted a link to a photo where the runners just went down the stairs and stopped on the landings that looked great! And I’ve also seen a runner get a mitered corner on those turns (picture it being cut on the diagonal, so the stripes are rejoined at the seam and appear to make a 90 degree turn with the landing and then follow right down the stairs).
xo
s
Jen V says
I love this so much it hurts to look at it! :) I need this on my steps…like yesterday!
Katy Simms says
I think that you have inspired me to paint my risers white when I tackle the trim/baseboards. I’m not doing a runner but I love the look of the white risers! Very classy. Great job, guys!
Shannon [Our Home Notebook] says
The runner looks amazing on your stairs! I love the light and dark contrast and the stripes seem so classic to me. Love, love, love it!
Jen B. says
Oh dear. This post has me seriously considering pulling up yucky dirty beige stair carpet (has seen two kiddies through messy baby/toddler years, it’s showing battle scars) for an impulse stair makeover. Our staircase curves at the top so I think I need to hunt down a plain runner to keep things simple. Hmmm. Thanks for the inspiration!
Felishia Burchard says
So inspired now!!! I was wondering what to do with our stairs but we have quadruplets, so wondering if that type of rug would hold up against their abuse!!! Another thing, underneath our carpet on the stairs is particle board, not real wood. Ideas???
YoungHouseLove says
I would check Pinterest! There are some awesome stair makeovers where people paint them without then being real wood and add a runner and they look great!
xo
s
Stephanie says
This looks magazine worthy! This is one of your best projects to date! Incredible transformation, looks amazing!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Stephanie!
xo
s
Julie says
This looks great! We have a D+A rug that was left on the stairs when we moved into our home earlier this year. We have no idea how old it is or what care the previous homeowners took, but it still looks great to us. We saw the rug in a store recently and the colors (it’s bright green and white) were considerably brighter in the never walked on rug, but that is to be expected!
The only problem we are having is that there are a few areas where the rug is beginning to fray where it seems like the previous person who installed it cut the rug for whatever reason. I know on the bottom of the stairs, you folded the rug under to prevent this. Did you also do this on the step where you met the two rugs together? Do you have any thoughts or advice on this?
Looks awesome- thank you for sharing your home with us!
YoungHouseLove says
So awesome to hear that it’s holding up so well! My guess would be that not rolling and overlapping the rugs might cause fraying later (we rolled the bottom one and overlapped things where the two meet in the middle so nothing is lose or free to fray if that makes sense).
xo
s
Katie says
This looks amazing – great job! I have been waiting for this post so I can finish my stairs (I like to see how you complete a project of this scale before I tackle myself). I was dreading stripping my railing, sanding then staining – I’m LOVE the idea of a stain/poly in one that goes over the current stain. Now I KNOW I can finish this before Thanksgiving when we have a house full of people over!
Thanks for the always inspiring and easy-to-recreate posts!
Katie
Liz says
So does this mean that the Foyer Listy McListerson is D-O-N-E??
YoungHouseLove says
I wish! We still have floor stuff to do and some other loose ends (and we might hang art on the steps) but it’s certainly closer than any other room here!
xo
s
Ashley B. says
I am so excited about the reveal! :) We rent, so I get my staining/updating “fix” through reading your blog! I’m also impressed and so excited with all of the new things you’ve done with this house! This seemed like a very involved project and I was wondering what Clara does while you guys work? I have a two and a half little girl myself and whenever I try to do any project, she’s always there to try and “help” me!
YoungHouseLove says
I know what you mean! She’s our little shadow. Usually we switch off on things, so if John’s priming I might take Clara for a walk or to the park or we’ll play in her room and then when she’s napping I’ll get in another coat of paint or something. We usually do the majority of our projects when she’s napping or sleeping, although for things we can do in one or two hour intervals, one of us just tries to keep her busy while the other one scurries around getting as much done as they can!
xo
s
Ash says
The stairs look great! I’m eyeing that same light fixture in your foyer for a place or two (or even three…) in my house… I hate that it came with 90% “boob lights!”
As for my weekend show & tell, which I don’t normally do, I know you’re a girl with an eye for a bargain Sherry, so I just KNOW you’ll appreciate that I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and thanks to returning one item, and a coupon, I got over 2 yards of fabric for only (pause for dramatic effect…) $1.17, including 9.5% sales tax! Such a low expenditure has never occured in the history of Jo-Ann’s, I’m sure of it ;)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing!! Such a steal!
xo
s
Kelly says
I love the runner project! I have wanted to replace ours and you make it look fairly easy. One question — how did you measure to know how many feet of runner you needed? Did I miss that in the post somewhere or an earlier one?
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
I literally just measured every stair and riser and added it all up (I did it three times to be sure). Just in case one stair was slightly deeper or a riser was slightly higher, I just wanted to have the exact measurement.
xo
s
Ali says
Looks fantastic! We were thinking about doing this in the split foyer of our new house to give some punch to the stairs since they’re the first thing you see when you come in! Great tutorial. And I love any excuse to (safely :)) use my staple gun! Haha.
Emily @ Life on Food says
I love the new look. Makes me want to put a runner on our wood stairs. Nice call on the white rails. Really brightens up the stairs.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Emily!
xo
s
April says
Did you consider painting the bottom rail to match the spindles? Just curious. It looks like it blends in with the trim in the side picture. I am just wondering if you considered not doing white there? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, if you check out the picture and the paragraph above the budget breakdown we tried to explain our thinking on that. We went back and forth a few times, but thought this way would look the most balanced.
xo
s
Libby Boyle says
Love the runner on the stairs. The stripes look fantastic. I have similar stairs in my home but unfortunately, I won’t be returning to it for about three years. I would love my stairs to look like this. Great job!
Cris says
Dear John and Sherry,
I am from the Philippines. I am from Northern Cebu, a neighboring province of the places that have been destroyed by Haiyan. I have been reading your blog for close to three years now. Thank you for including in this post a link that encourages people to donate to the typhoon-devastated areas in my country. Every little bit helps.
Warm regards,
Cris
YoungHouseLove says
Oh Cris, I’m so sorry for what’s going on! I can’t even imagine. You’re in our thoughts!
xo
s
sarah @makingitmyhome.blogspot.com says
any tips for installing a stair runner on a curved staircase?
YoungHouseLove says
A few folks have asked but I’m not sure how you could do that other than doing each step separately (and maybe not using a pattern so it’s less hard to line up). Anyone have tips for Sarah?
xo
s
Marie says
We installed a D&A striped runner over a year and a half ago. One complaint I do have is that it does stretch with time. It is not horrible but it will shift on the steps. The stretch is especially noticeable down the hall. There was old carpet there before so it had to get covered. My second complaint is that I am paranoid about stuff spilling, puking, getting blood on it. Mainly a problem on the stretch going down the hall once again. Overall I have been happy with it and I hope you love yours as well.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tips Marie!
xo
s
Cynthia L says
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. Couldn’t have been better. Love it, love it, love it.
Claire says
I love the stairs. You’ve inspired me to try this on our stairs! However, how would you handle adding a runner to stairs with a right angle? We have two stairs, a small landing, and then the rest of the stairs to the left.
YoungHouseLove says
I’ve seen photos with a runner just on the stairs with a bare landing or with the rug cut on a 45% angle to create sort of a mitered edge (so the stripes turn with the stairs and then run down the next set). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Claire says
I love the stairs! How would you tackle a runner on stairs with a right angle? We have two stairs, a small landing, and then the rest of our stairs to the left.
Nikki says
LOVE that before and after comparison! Amazing what a difference it makes!
Unrelated: do you recall where you got that white garden stool below the console table? I’ve been looking for one just like it, but can’t find anything less than $100 bones!
YoungHouseLove says
HomeGoods! They’re so cheap there I can’t resist them. Wait for sales, but I have found them for $29 and $39 and seen identical ones in catalogs for $120+
xo
s
Marcelo Souza says
Hey Guys!
Here in Brazil we would stop the process at Saturday, November 9th – AFTERNOON.
I´m not saying that I don´t like the carpet, But here it´s SO unusual, that we barely think about that.
Hugs!
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting! I love learning things like that!
xo
s
Margaret says
Thank you SO much for this post. My husband and I have been stumped by our slippery dark laminate stairs since we bought our house in May. The pets and I are constantly slipping. Never thought I could tackle a project like this on my own but now I may have to try…any ideas for odd shaped landings? Would they just require some precise measuring and knife skills?
Margaret
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, anyone have landing ideas for Margaret? I’ve seen people miter the corner (cut the rug in a triangle, and then turn it so the stripes make a 90 degree turn) or just do the stairs and leave the runners bare. Good luck!
xo
s
Jamie Kronman says
We painted our risers and balusters white a few months ago and it made a HUGE difference. I wanted a runner but my husband firmly did not. Our youngest is almost 3 so hopefully we won’t have any major falls! Fingers crossed. Your stairs look beautiful!
Michelle says
It looks awesome!! We recently redid our stairs by pulling up carpet and replacing the crap particle board under it with hardwoord. We are most the way there but now you’ve got me thinking about staining our stairs. Can you do that if they have been finished or do you have to sand and then apply stain? Or are there other tricks? Sorry if you have already answered this question. :)
Thanks, Michelle
YoungHouseLove says
I think it depends how sealed/glossy they are and what they’re sealed with (wax? poly? etc). I would google around to see what you can do to test if it’s wax or poly and then read the cans of stain to see which ones would work on that type of floor, and what sort of prep they recommend. Good luck!
xo
s
Phoebe Hogeland says
Hi guys!
Wow, that looks great, I’m going to try it! I notice in your foyer picture that you have a built in in the next room just like the one in my dining room (I get the feeling that we don’t live too far from you, we live in Stratford Hills, oh and coincidentally have a daughter named Clara – our others are Eliza and Reid, if you need some name ideas, lol). The top of my built in looks terrible with my more mid-century modern décor – and I would love to somehow change it :~). Our house is a mid-60s split level. I have considered everything from just cutting off the top and putting a straight piece of molding up there, to putting one of those paper mache deer heads on it, lol. Does yours go with the style of that room of your house or do you plan to amend it somehow?
Thanks! Great ideas, love your website!
XOXO
Phoebe
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Love your other kiddo names! And as for those built-ins I’ve seen some on Pinterest that are built all the way to the ceiling or that have just a flat piece of crown molding on the top, and they both look great, so those are our plans as we go in there!
xo
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Phoebe Hogeland says
I love the idea of going all the way up to the ceiling. I will let you know if I somehow get it done before you do! Otherwise I can’t wait for your instructions! :~)
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck!
xo
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Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality says
Great job, you guys!! Love how your runner turned out. And thanks for the shout out!
YoungHouseLove says
Of course!
xo
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betts says
I would love to ebonize my railings like you did, but where the spindles meet the stairs looks like this : http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=stairs+painted+risers&sa=X&biw=1152&bih=533&tbm=isch&tbnid=5JbIak_XIwVBLM:&imgrefurl=http://www.stair-treads.com/common-stair-treads-and-risers/white-risers.html&docid=9JD0a0OOjifMUM&imgurl=http://www.stair-treads.com/images/white-risers.jpg&w=233&h=350&ei=qgDDUajeLcf84AO3ooHgCA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=234&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=96&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0,i:103&tx=51&ty=72
Instead of meeting the stairs like yours. Would you paint that white or would you ebonize it? I would probably paint the end post white too, to make it not too heavy on the right side with one railing on the left (looking up)
betts says
Mine is currently the same color as those treads. My end post also meets the floor, unlike the picture.
YoungHouseLove says
The ebonizing idea sounds lovely! I say go for it!
xo
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Jenelle says
So nice! Love the runner and painted white backs! We recently redid our stairs too, unfortunately there wasn’t nice wood risers under the carpet. Very poor quality and in very rough condition. I didn’t want edge to edge carpet back on and there was no room in the budget to replace the risers. SO we painted the whole staircase white and installed a (well, 3 to make 1) charcoal grey semi shag runner. Not sure if it will hold up to traffic since i used a combo or carpet tape and staples.(where was your post when I needed it!?!) lol. Oh well its a BIG improvement and looks good for now AND was in our budget, Total spent $125… maybe it’s our phase 1.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome!
xo
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Katie says
Can you vacuum the runner like any other rug? It looks great!!
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, so far I just ran the vacuum over each step like we did with the last runner. Seems to work!
xo
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Marie W says
John & Sherry,
Well, your stair rails inspired me to paint/stain ours. We did this over the past weekend and let me just tell you that you make it look WAY EASIER than it really is. It wasn’t difficult, but we learned a lot along the way. Lesson one – the stain drips. Lesson two – to remove stain from carpet – WD40 takes it right out. Lesson three – to remove stain from painted walls – Fingernail polish remove does the trick!! Thanks for inspiring me. Feel free to check out my befores and afters at http://instagram.com/mariewhite617
Thanks again. Love your blog and work and inspiration!!
Marie W
YoungHouseLove says
Love the tips Marie! Thanks so much for sharing! The afters look amazing!
xo
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Jennifer says
Love it! I am actually thinking of replicating it. where did you get the moravian star pendent?
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Jennifer! That’s from a local lighting shop here called The Decorating Outlet, but we’ve seen them on ebay and Joss & Main too!
xo
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